Someone mentioned this in the welcome folder and then another lady solo from another forum emailed me on this topic so figured I'd get a thread started.

For me the first big fear will be driving in general....I like small vehicles and love my motorcycle for its ability to get out of the way. <g> I plan on attending an RV driving school but those are limited in the when/where so may be a bit. I know to take it slowly and watch things around me. Tight corners, backing and heavy traffic in construction zones will be my worst areas.

The other big fear is that I won't be able to handle the trailer hookups easily. This will apply whether I get a fiver, bumper pull or a motor home with a toad of some sort. It IS something I have to address...

What are or were your biggest fears as a solo RVer?

I'm a 67 year-old coot who will be 70 when we buy and use our very first motor home.  I, too, am concerned about being a safe driver.  We have looked into finding an experienced RV driver/teacher, but so far the only one we found was in California (we are in Illinois).

But then I got to thinking.  Driving a school bus can't be that much different than a motor home.  And then I remembered that my 42 year-old son's best friend drives trucks for a living.  He knows how to handle a 50' over-the-road semi or a 36 foot straight truck.  He is willing to give us lessons.  So there are two sources of learning you might not have thought of.  Hope this helps. Sometimes resources are right in front of us and we don't even see them. 

We will be driving a motorhome, not a 5er.

Good luck. Isn't this just the greatest forum?

George

Hi all,
Now that I've joined this folder I might as well throw my two cents worth in. I attended the Life-On-Wheels conference in Moscow, Idaho last summer--something I would recommend for anybody out there who is preparing for (or just starting) a fulltiming life. These conferences are held all over the country in the spring, summer, and early fall so there is probably one close to your location--check out their website for schedules. Now back to the point. After the conference I spent two days with the Dick Reed RV Driving School and it was well worth the time and cost. So those interesting in getting some driving instruction should consider this alternative.
Secondly, I specifically chose my toad because it can be hauled four wheels down--I didn't want to hassle with a trailer or a tow dolly. I had a tow bar system installed on my MH and on the truck (toad) and for a long time avoided hitching the two up because I had it in my mind that this would be a difficult operation particularly for just myself. Needless to say when the time came last summer to drive up to Idaho I had to overcome this reluctance. My brother made the trip with me (at least going up--I returned on my own) but since he was there mainly to assure himself that I could handle it solo, he wisely stood back and made sure I hitched and unhitched by myself. I quickly learned that this process is much simpler then I thought it would be and really no problem at all. The only thing is that I forget to set the parking break on the toad before I disconnect it from the MH. More then once I have found myself chasing my truck as it rolls backwards down a hill.

Hi George, great to meet you! I don't consider 67 or even 70 "old", not in this day and age. So there! LOL!

I know that Dick Reed does his class at most of the RV Life on Wheels conferences. I attended the one in Bowling Green in 2006 but since I had no rig, there was no driving course to take.

Now, as to the truck drivers....definitely a good resource and I know two who are retired and one who still drives. Great thought!

sgad wrote:

---

I attended the Life-On-Wheels conference in Moscow, Idaho last summer--something I would recommend for anybody out there who is preparing for (or just starting) a fulltiming life. These conferences are held all over the country in the spring, summer, and early fall so there is probably one close to your location--check out their website for schedules. Now back to the point. After the conference I spent two days with the Dick Reed RV Driving School and it was well worth the time and cost.

---

Ah-ha! Someone else recommending Dick's classes & LOW.

Hi fellow singles. Since this thread is devoted to our personal revelation of our darkest fear about RVing here goes.
Beyond the classic blowout of a tire while driving my rig down the highway at 60 mph, my biggest fear is getting my rig into somewhere that I can't get out of! These rigs are big and including a toad, even bigger--and I don't know about hauling your toad on a trailer or tow dolly but with a tow bar you CAN NOT BACKUP. So everytime you pull into a parking lot or a side street you may not be able to get out (at least not easily).
This happened to me my first trip out last summer at a Flying J. This was an older station so they didn't have the separate 'RV friendly' island--instead they had set aside the last (outtermost) set of pumps for this purpose and there was a pickup truck parked there. So I pulled in and around (between the pumps and the store) and waited for the truck to move. After a few minutes it became apparent that something was wrong as the driver was nowhere to be found. Inquiring inside, I found that the pickup had broken down several days ago and just been left there in front of the pumps. Now since I was in the middle of a turn my toad was at a rather severe angle to my coach which made unhooking the tow bar impossible. So I was struck--I couldn't backup and I couldn't continue forward to complete my turn--and I was blocking the pumps and the store entrance. Finally several people had to come out and push the disabled pickup out of the way so that I could complete my turn. Every since then I have always favored the trucker pumps to the 'RV friendly' ones and have tried to be sure in my mind that any place I pull into I can get out of.
This has also had a detrimental effect on my routing. Early on I read all of those 'discover small town America' books and thought that I would travel the 'blue' highways but I fear that road conditions on these lesser roads could trap me somewhwere. In the western states this mainly means mountain passes that are too steep to go over or too severely winding to maneuver. Luckily there exist two publications (Mountain Directory East and West) which you can reference ahead of time to avoid this, but I still find myself sticking to the interstates and other major highways.
And what about overpasses or tunnels that are too low (or, speaking of tunnels--those that won't let you pass through because you carry LP tanks) or (older) bridges whose weight limits are absurdly low. You don't see these out west much but I have found a number of them on the backroads as I move easterly. I also worry that in road construction situations those concrete barriers are too close together and my rig with end up like a cork in a bottle.
Assuming that you recognize these situations in time--what do you do, STOP in the middle of the road (and then what). I must confess that on occasions when it looks like my likely route to the next campground will take me across some minor roads, I will take a day and drive the path with my toad just to scout out any problems. So far this has resulted in only one change of plans to skip a state park.
So there is my biggest fear--being struck somewhere because the path is too narrow or the ceiling is too low or the road below me (i.e. a bridge) would crumble if I passed over it or the grade is too steep to go up or, worse yet, to come down.

sqad, great, Great, GREAT post....I look forward to reading any replies (even from the not-so solos folks <g>). I have all these fears and it's part of the reason I worry about what size rig I will be getting. Trying to find that compromise between big enough for full-timing, small enough for comfortable (to me) navigation).

Thanks, Karon! Great input....

Thanks. Karon,

I have added those two resources to my list of books to buy.

George

George,
Don't forget to add the Mountain Directory East and Mountain Directory West to you booklist.

Fears, here's mine:

Driving through mountains. I don't mind mountains as long as they're on both sides of me. Don't like to be dangling over any edges. Don't think I'll be driving through Colorado and Utah for that reason. Pretty states, but I don't want to drive in them. I'll stick to the American heartland and southeast for awhile.

Not being able to find a place to stop. I guess time management is a good skill to learn.

Security. That's why I want a Newfoundland to be my traveling buddy. The sight of a big, black, shaggy MONSTER barking at 3:00 am will make a intruder think twice. If said dog slobbers and drools while barking, all the better.

Being able to do everything by myself. Another reason for a working breed, large dog. I can train him to haul a cart with water, wood, groceries, ect. Maybe he can even bring things to me and help with hitching duty. "Newfoundland dog hitches travel trailer to truck, news at 11:00."

These are all fears of mine as well. BTW, I looked up the Life on Wheels conferences and they seem to have been discontinued in 2012.

How about getting stuck going up a one-lane mountain road by oncoming trafic and having to back down? Or getting the truck and trailer stuck in sand or mud boondocking miles from nowhere? How about low-hanging limbs taking off your AC unit, damaging your roof or even getting stuck under a low bridge or a rounded tunnel?

www.youtube.com/watch

www.prochan.com/view

Be afraid, be very afraid!

Chip