Preparing for our first weekend away from home! - RV-Dreams Community Forum

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Preparing for our first weekend away from home!

manycats · RV-Dreams Family Member

AMEN TO THAT. We avoid Atlanta like the plague. Better to pack than to be stuck or run over in nightmare traffic.

DebbieM · RV-Dreams Family Member

That's very smart Ruth, Bay Area driving is CRAZY!!! Besides, you can make it a little "vacation" even though you're working!

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Debbie, this is not a vacation and we are missing home but so nice not to deal with traffic in this area while towing. Great news though, DALE won an award at his art show this weekend, so very proud of my sweetie!

-- Edited by NWescapee on Saturday 17th of May 2014 09:04:03 PM

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

Do you have a website or a blog that shows off his work?

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

I can fully understand why you want to avoid some of those streets. Too bad they don't have a camp ground at the Presidio. That would be awesome. San Francisco is my favorite city so far. Too bad it's going to fall off. We will miss it.

We managed to find a COE camp ground close to home for Memorial Day weekend. We finally get to take our hulk on a shakedown cruise. We are so excited.

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Wow Mark love that you'll get your shakedown! Agree with you about the Presidio. And city driving, we think the Chicago area is worse than LA! The park we're in is quite reasonable but driving into the city to see friends or our kids was not fun!!!

Ruth, The part we liked least when we were part-timers was the packing and unpacking for each trip and you two even have to include your display and products! Hope Tazzy did well.

Sherry

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

It is difficult for me to remember that not everyone is seasoned at pulling 53 feet of trailer around in big cities. I don't have a problem with city traffic at all. In Chicago, I came across an 11 foot obstacle. A guy came out of a liquor store and helped me stop traffic so I could blindside into a side street and turn around. In the dark. I find that most people are helpful, making room for lane changes and being patient when you need to take all the lanes to turn a corner. I guess the mindset is a bit different when you are commercial and must go someplace versus being an RV and want to go someplace.

Driving in the city is a bit more challenging. Once, in Louisville, I had to go up on the sidewalk within two inches of a building for the trailer to clear a parked car. For the most part it is just slower going and you must try to plan your next move a little sooner than you would in the BMW. every once in a while you find yourself in a pickle and you swear you won't do that again till the next time.

They talk about defensive driving but I find the two most important components to city driving are patience and a really flexible sense of humor. Signal early and signal often. Do your best to communicate your intentions and most will help. Some won't but that's what air horns are for. As a last resort I can always fall back on the fact that I'm old, cranky, and have good insurance.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

MarkS wrote:
.. As a last resort I can always fall back on the fact that I'm old, cranky, and have good insurance.

Don't forget your superior mental attitude. biggrin (Steven Seagall line in "Hard to Kill") It becomes clear that in all things I've read on here that having a sense of humor, patience and the right attitude are the keys to successful RVing, good insurance notwithstanding. wink biggrin

DebbieM · RV-Dreams Family Member

I know you'll be working, but hopefully you'll find a little bit of time for a little fun too! Yay for Dale's award!

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, we're back home, settled back in and are seriously considering that we do not want to do art shows where we can't find reasonable RV parking. Hated not having access to our home and some tools. Setting up on Friday caused a bit of humor biggrin Situation: Setting up in a park with very unlevel ground, Dale made a comment about using a 1 x 2 and cutting it to better level one of our displays. I just looked at him and said, what do you mean, you'll do this when we get home? We won't be home until the show is over

Tazzy did fine with our RV neighbors feeding her, she sure conned them into feeding her well, she gained a full pound over the 3 days we were gone, she's back on a diet, poor kitty. smile

We have one more show scheduled this fall where we'll be in a hotel, then we'll make a decision if we are willing to do this again, it was certainly a learning curve. I think going on vacation would be much easier to leave the RV behind, when we're working it's hard not to have access to all our tools.

Billy Bob · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi this may be a little off topic. But the talk about driving in city's made me think of this experience. We were going through Lander Wyoming on our way to Idaho to volunteer in a state park. As we had a little time we wanted to spend a few days in Lander. We heard about a nice City Park in Lander that had a few RV sites. So we set the address in our GPS as we entered town. The GPS took us through a residential part of town and down a hill to the park. About 2 city blocks before we got to the park the street turned into a dirt road. That is when I should have stopped and checked things out a little more. "O" did I say it was raining & were towing a 30ft 5thwheel?
When we got to bottom of the hill there was a narrow one way bridge, we could make it across the bridge ok, but on the other s ide the road make a sharp turn to the left or right the right. No way you could get a 5th wheel in there. By the way did you ever back a 5th wheel up a muddy hill in the rain? The morale of this is don't always trust your GPS LOL

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

OMG, Billy Bob! I don't know what I would have done in that situation! Is google maps any better?

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

the nice thing is now you can just use Google earth and look the whole route over without moving a thing.......I use it for scouting boondocking spots!

manycats · RV-Dreams Family Member

Most of the RV parks in the North Carolina area we like tell you not to follow GPS or MapQuest. Your experience is proof. Same with Dale and Ruth's non-level. Whenever possible we scout ahead in the truck, if not possible, I cringe and my DH turns the air a deep shade of blue.

Billy Bob · RV-Dreams Community Member

I still use my GPS a lot just check things out before pulling the RV in city areas. Google earth is good too we have used it.
When we were backing up that hill in Lander it wasn't funny, but looking back at it now it is. I just don't want to have to do that again.

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

Is there a difference between Google Earth and regular Google maps using satellite and street view?

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

its probably the same other than it is in the satellite view from the get go ,no matter what your looking for

MarkS · RV-Dreams Family Member

I like google earth and maps because everything I flat. No hills to climb no difficulty leveling. Hmmmmm