The Motorhome Experience

After acquiring a motorhome, but having driven nothing much bigger than a Toyota Echo, I was a little concerned about my ability to handle 28 feet of metal traveling along the highway in the company of big-rig trucks. “There’s nothing to it,” those with experience told me. “You just have to watch your back end when you turn a corner,” they added. While these things are true, I felt there must be a whole lot more that they had failed to mention. What about the width, the height, the lack of visibility, my nervousness? They had forgotten to mention those things.

As I climbed behind the wheel for the first time, I looked in the side mirror and was convinced the motorhome was closer to 100 feet long rather than the 28 feet they told us it was when we bought it. Shifting into gear, I inched away from our house while I kept my eyes on all of the mirrors. “Don’t worry about the rear-view mirror,” I was told. I inwardly scoffed. ‘Who had ever heard such nonsense?’

I drove slowly, heading towards an area of quiet streets to do my practicing. Block by block I slowly began to gain confidence and an hour later I felt comfortable enough to drive into a garage for gas. It was easier than I had anticipated. I hadn’t broken out into a sweat and nor had I had any near misses. This certainly wasn’t as bad as I had expected when I lay awake thinking about my ‘maiden’ trip the night before.

With two hours of experience under my belt, we headed for the open highway on our first trip with me as the driver. We were going to be traveling through mountainous terrain. Having always prided myself on taking ‘the bull by the horns’, there was no way those words, ‘I can’t do it’ would ever pass my lips. However, to be on the safe side, another couple followed us for my first experience ‘just in case’ I happened to turn chicken on route.

We traveled the Hope Princeton Highway which is considered to be one of the most difficult roads in the province of British Columbia. I was told when we set off, ‘don’t worry and don’t look down’. I believe they thought those were words to instill confidence in my first-time effort to navigate this highway while driving a motorhome. As we traveled, I kept my eyes on the road; they looked nowhere else.

I began to realize as I drove that ‘voices of experience’ are so comfortable that they forget to tell all they learned as new drivers of a motorhome. There were several things I learned in those first few hours that those experienced drivers didn’t think to tell me.

- In spite of what I was told, the rear-view mirror is a big help. When vehicles traveled too close behind me, I was able to see the tops of their roofs even if I wasn’t able to see them in my side mirrors; so I was aware that someone was traveling much too closely behind me.
- Keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel I found was very important when traveling where big rigs are sharing the road with you. I was surprised to discover that the wind they make as they pass will rock the motorhome. Also, when traveling in open spaces, there is a strong likelihood there will be gusts of wind across the highway and the motorhome could shift quite significantly.
- Steer wide when making right-hand turns.
- Stay at a speed that is comfortable to you. I felt 90 km/h was a comfortable speed to begin with. (When traveling at a consistent speed, gas consumption is also reduced.)
- The small round mirrors on the side mirrors can save your life; they are the ones that will let you know if someone is in your blind spot. Make good use of them.
- Try to angle the vehicle when pulling into traffic in order to get the best view possible of approaching traffic.
- Stay in the slow lane and don’t feel pressured to go faster than you are comfortable with.

When we stopped in Princeton for coffee, our friends told me that if I can drive the Hope-Princeton Highway, I will be able to drive anywhere. I proceeded to our next destination with a lot more confidence than I had when we first began our trip.

Once again the words, ‘I can’t do it’ didn’t pass my lips and I was able to do what I initially thought would be even scarier than a trip to the dentist. After several trips, I now feel very comfortable driving our motorhome.