My family and I have been traveling and living full time in an RV for over two years now. We’ve been across the U.S. seven times, visited many of the National and State Parks, National Monuments, and have seen so much beautiful scenery in between. Through our travels, we’ve learned so many things. I’ll share the best ones here. If you’re thinking about living in an RV full time, or if you’re just planning an RV road trip, I’ve got some tips for you! (We travel in a Class A motorhome, so some of these tips may not apply.)
Here’s my Full Timer Tips, so You Can Have a Great First RV Trip
- Get to know your buttons and switches before getting on the road. The last thing you want, is to need the headlights, defrost, or windshield wipers and not be able to look down long enough to find the right switch.
- Plan ahead when mapping to an area that may have no cell phone signal. Screen shot your map before you lose signal. Extra Tip- take a zoomed in screenshot as well.
- Some may disagree, but in my opinion, I would not travel with the propane on if you don’t have to. We did this in the beginning before talking with other RVers. Some of them have witnessed horrible tragedies because of this. I won’t go into detail because I want to keep the tone of this on a happy note. We travel with ours off now to protect ourselves and others.
- I recommend not driving down a road you don’t know. Especially in a neighborhood you don’t know, or at night. The things you could run into are trees not trimmed to the right height, cars parked on the streets, tight turns, or even finding a dead end. Any of these can really cause problems, and you’ll likely end up unhooking if you’re towing, potentially at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood. We’ve learned to look ahead at where the map is leading us and not to fully trust the directions it’s giving us. Not doing this has led us into a few predicaments.
- Call ahead to where you’re planning on staying, instead of driving there first. This is so you don’t potentially waste time and fuel with time ticking before dark.
- For safety reasons, make sure you turn off your generator and propane (if you travel with it on) when you pull up to the pumps for fuel. It’s simple and is a good just a precaution to take.
Thinking About Safety Before You Travel to Ensure it’s Not an Issue During Travel
- Find a weigh station to weigh your RV to make sure you are under your max weight rating for your tires. Set your tire pressures cold and for the average temperature for the day. Remember that you lose two pounds for every ten degrees. The most common cause of blowouts is overloaded and underinflated tires.
- If possible, have a second person do a walk around the RV, looking for anything on the ground or underneath. Have them double check everything. Have them make sure the jacks are up, that nothing is stored underneath the slides before pulling them in, check the tow bar and safety cables if towing, have them look over your tow vehicle, making sure that all the bays are completely shut and the step is in. You’ll also want to make sure that the steering wheel on your tow vehicle isn’t locked. Finally, it’s also a good idea to look at all the tires before you go as well.
- Running a little water into all your drains before leaving can help to avoid holding tank fumes while going down the highway. Believe me, that is not fun when you can’t stop for a while.
- If you’re in a motorhome with hydraulic leveling jacks, make sure you don’t raise the back wheels off the ground, especially if you’re not level. Not all RVs have a parking brake in the front, so you’ll always want to keep your drive wheels on the ground.
- Check the roof, making sure any antennas or fan covers are down before travel. I would also check the height of your RV. Having a map app that shows height restrictions can be helpful.
- Leveling blocks are great for leveling your RV if you don’t have leveling jacks, or if one of them is not to working.
Above All, Having Fun is What RVing is All About
- It’s a good idea to bring a tool kit with you, including a level to check if you are completely level when getting set up. Some RV refrigerators will not work when off level and can even be ruined if not level for too long.
- Since you will have a limited water supply when traveling, prewashing all your fruits and veggies before leaving on a road trip will help conserve water. I like to prep all our food before we leave. It makes it much easier when we’re on the road when all the fruits and veggies are prechopped. Meals are much faster to prepare this way, saving you a lot of time. If you’ll be on the road for several days, you may want to freeze some of your prechopped vegetables to keep them fresh.
- Knowing how to dump your holding tanks ahead of time may be the most important thing to know about your RV. You’ll want to confidently know what you’re doing beforehand in case your first time is with the pressure of someone waiting behind you in line to dump. Here’s a video on how to do this.
Most of all, enjoy your first RV road trip! It’s such a fun way to travel and be with your family! If you liked this post, check out my post, “After Living and Working Full Time In an RV for Two Years, Would We Do It Again?” here.
Share with me in the comments below where you’ll be going for your first trip. I’d love to hear about it! Be sure to subscribe for more RV tips, hacks, and my favorite destinations.