Tips and Advice for RV Camping

RV Camping Tips and Advice

1 

Rent an RV for a short trip: it’s the ideal way to explore your true needs before buying.

2 

With the purchase of a new recreational vehicle – whether self-contained or towed – consider taking a professional driving course attuned to the specialized demands of safely and efficiently operating an RV. The money-saving tips on driving, maintaining and repairing your RV will more than offset the tuition.

3 

Practice your new skills in a vacant parking lot, on roads less traveled. And make your first trip with your new RV a short one, a trial run of sorts.

4 

Take along the youngest member of your traveling family on tomorrow morning’s camp-based walk. But remember to take along a snack (granola, trail mix, cheese, peanut butter on crackers) and plenty of water. If your walk will take you into the woods, don’t forget bug repellent, appropriate clothing (in layers), and protection from the sun. Bring along a whistle to call home little ones who love to wander.

5 

If you’re 62 or over, obtain a Golden Age passport. It’s your ticket to free access to parks, wildlife refuges, national recreation areas and national monuments.

6 

While you’re on the Web, check out www.workamper.com, where you’ll find tons of information about ”wonderful new lifestyles that combine all kinds of work with full- or part-time RV camping.” The opportunities are indeed multidimensional: part-time seasonal to full-time year-round, volunteer positions, new careers and potential investments wait at this friendly, eminently useful site.

7 

If you plan to take pets along on your longer trips, be sure to prepare the pet with a series of short jaunts in the RV. (And offer a treat after each of these little shakedown cruises.) Bring along a familiar blanket or toy to make the pet feel at home.

8 

If you run a diesel engine, pay careful attention to cool-down periods (with the engine running at idle) after especially hard pulls.

9 

Resist at every turn the impulse to park, uninvited and unnecessarily close to another camper. Respect, by factors of 10 and maybe even 100, the other person’s search for quiet and solitude.

10 

Cradle modems will allow you to connect to the Internet from the road, even from a pay phone.

11 

Diluted bleach poured into the freshwater tank, drained, refilled with water and drained again will prevent odors over a long winter.

12 

Take two coolers – one for beverages, one for food – a particularly important consideration on longer trips. Think about investing in a thermoelectric cooler.

13 

Camp directories can be your best friend in unfamiliar places. The Trailer Life directory has earned serious devotees among experienced RVers, as have the Woodahl and AAA guides. And, free of charge, check out the guide to the Federal Bureau of Reclamation’s 300-plus recreational areas in 17 states. (Available from Roundabout Publications, Free Lakes Guide, Box 19235, Lenexa, KS, 66285.)

14 

As you roam the byways looking for wildlife, consider a 400mm as the best all-around lens for the photographs you want to take home.

15 

The ultimate economies of a long trip accumulate – a consistent 55-mph traveling speed for best fuel economy, a keen eye for campground discounts (such as those that often accompany early arrivals or those that apply to the members of various campground chains or those that belong to senior travelers) and thoughtful use of the free public sleepovers for travelers applicable in some states.

16 

Families traveling together can enjoy glorious, stress-free time in great big dollops. Maximize the enjoyment with on-the-road games that can quickly become family traditions: memory games, trivia games, imitations, charades, whatever. Here’s a starter, perfect for everyone regardless of age, driver not included: shout out a letter . . . ”S,” for example. The first person to spot three things that begin with that letter (a general store, a swamp, a spaniel loping nonchalantly toward a Sewanee sunset) gets to choose the next letter.

17 

Take along good reference books that will help you better understand and enjoy the flora and fauna, the local history, the skies overhead in the geographical areas in which you travel.

18 

Save wear and tear on your air conditioner: park in the shade whenever possible.

19 

Always pay particular attention to your loads: overloaded trailers can seriously damage the towing vehicle, and overloaded motorhomes can cause tire failure and worse. In the latter case, electronic tire-monitoring systems can keep you apprised of what’s happening where the rubber meets the road.

20 

Plan trips to out-of-the-way places. To small towns, miles off the interstate, for after-harvest festivals, arts-and-crafts gatherings and other local celebrations.

21 

A checklist of desirable gear to take along on your journey follows. Keep a customized list of your own, adding and subtracting items according to your specific use or non-use. Simple is best, especially on the road.

22 

Take Mosquito Deleto™ Trap and Inhibitors to create a pleasant base site.