First day out

[SamsamMom]

Just bought a gently-used ACE 27.1 ; our first night was at the Camping World dealership so that we woke up with guestions that needed to be answered. We fixed the small issues and drove 97 miles to our first solo set-up! Any suggestions about a driving class? Good idea or waste of time/money? we are experienced with U-Haul moving trucks but have questions like "how do you plan a trip and avoid bridges which are too low?" and "what are safe speeds" and "just how many RPM's on the tachometer are right?"

We are no longer scared silly; just excited, pleased, and planning---

Delighted to have found this site and community--
thanks for making it easy to join and feel part

 

[mcr1010]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your almost new Ace. I would guess you use a gps and if so, you can find a lot of useful files at the Point Of Interest Factory here;
POI Factory | new & interesting places for your GPS including bridge clearances to help with avoidance.

I guess a safe speed is what you are comfortable with within speed limits. We usually stay around 58-60 mph mostly for fuel cost which is around 1950 rpms. We normally do 200-350 miles a day sometimes more or less depending on destination, sights etc. We try to stay in PPA campgrounds, national and state parks and some boondocking for convenience and to save a few bucks

RV safe driving courses are sometimes offered by the dealers. We took a course offered by the dealer we bought from a few years ago and picked up some good tips. You can see some of those here;

 

[Mr Sunshine-THOR]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your purchase! This is a great place to bring your questions, a wealth of knowledge here willing to help you.

As to the driving school, that should be mandatory! Check with Lazy Daze near Tampa. They do a class, then everyone has a chance to drive a new Class A around a course. My co-pilot and I both did the course, even though i do all the driving. She's my emergency back-up driver, and needs the confidence to take over if necessary. There are some online videos, too, but you miss out on the Florida sun!

You are unlikely to have a height clearance problem on main roads, you'll clear anything a semi will. Know your height, and put it on a label right in front of you on the dashboard with it. Bridge height is always warned with a sign, just watch for them on backroads. Most GPS won't help you with that. Oh, and if you forget to put the TV antenna down, you might leave it on the highway! (Note my tagline!)

Forget the tachometer, your automatic transmission will take care of all that. Drive a comfortable speed, and don't worry about keeping up with the speed of traffic. So what if you slow them down for a minute or two? Higher speeds=lower mpg.

Some folks are "wanderers" who travel without a plan, and some are "planners" who carefully plan out an agenda. We take our time in the mornings, travel 300 miles most days, and like the smaller towns. We use a free app called RVParky to locate campgrounds and places that allow boondocking in their parking lot with no connections. We especially like the Crackr Barrels that allow RV's overnight.

Happy Camping!

 

[JamieGeek]

Speaking of RPM: Don't be afraid of high RPM's the V-10 loves it--of course it also loves gas