Don’t Let RV Road Angst Spoil Your Fun

Some RVers are too proud to admit it, but a certain amount of secret angst rides along while driving down the road. It’s the nagging feeling that something is not quite right with your rig even though you’ve checked everything twice. It can be a funny noise you’ve never heard before or the haunting memory of a spot of fluid on the asphalt under your engine. You run several scenarios through your mind including your engine flaming out on a narrow road with no place to pull off or a blow-out on some tumbleweed infested road in Nevada where the last service station was boarded up with a sign reading, “Regular Unleaded $1.32”. We handle this RV road angst by telling ourselves it will be OK because even in the worst case scenario our refrigerator still works, the bed is comfortable and even though we don’t have cell phone coverage out here in the desert someone will help us before we run out of food and water. Then your heart beats rapidly when a warning light illuminates on your instrument panel. “What’s it gonna be this time? Transmission? Engine? Tires?” You have a hundred thoughts run through your brain in a fraction of a second. You look down at the red light on your dash and see it’s only the exhaust brake indicator and not a problem at all. RV road angst is real and it only gets reinforced with all those stupid Good Sam and Camping World junk mailings telling you to dump your insurance and sign up with them because your piece of junk RV is going to break down the very next time you go out and they want to be the first ones to tow you back to some expensive repair shop. I don’t even open this junk mail anymore because it makes my blood pressure go up thinking about being towed. Unfortunately, until Japanese companies start making RV’s, we’ll have to put up with our RV’s breaking down on the side of the road. By the way, if you have a diesel pusher motorhome do not let the tow-truck operator tow your rig until he has physically disengaged the drive train (see your operator’s manual) or it will ruin your automatic transmission. Also, should you break down pull over as far as practical and be very careful of traffic when putting out emergency flares and triangles. Keep these items on the curb side of your vehicle so you don’t have to open a storage door on the traffic side of your RV. Should you have a flat on a class A motorhome, don’t even think about changing it yourself - call a tow truck. Even on smaller RV’s think twice before changing a tire yourself. One of my dear friends had one of his legs amputated when a drunk driver ran over his legs while on the roadside changing a flat tire on his Travel Trailer. Your good sense and judgment will help resolve any problem RV road angst can bring. So, keep on RVing with a smile on your face because the worst day RVing is better than the best day at work. Jim Twamley - Professor of RVing