Over the years I’ve had dozens, if not hundreds, of new and wannabe RVers ask me about personal safety on the road, and in spite of our own encounter with a burglar last December, I always tell them that they have a lot more to worry about from the fool hurtling down the highway toward them riding three tons of steel, than they do from a criminal.

Our own experience aside, violent crime falls way, way low on the list of threats we RVers face every day. Pure ignorance, carelessness, and neglect on the part of others present much more danger.

For example, check out the tires on an RV that my friend Dennis Hill has on his blog post for March 21st. Can you imagine what could happen if one of the tires on this RV were to blow while he was passing or coming at you on the highway? Pretty scary, huh? But consider what might happen to any bystander if one of those tires explodes while sitting still. The shrapnel from a tire explosion can be deadly. That’s why you will see tire safety cages in many big truck shops. 

A campground is about the safest place you can be, in terms of crime. But that doesn’t mean you are insulated from danger.  We have seen campers start fires and then walk away from them, or go inside to bed without putting them out, even on breezy or downright windy days. We have watched many big rig owners driving down campground roads at rates of speed that I wouldn’t even drive my van in such close quarters. We have also seen frayed extension cords stretched out on wet ground to reach electrical pedestals.

At an RV rally in California years ago, we met an elderly couple that made me want to stay off the highway until I knew that they were at least a hundred miles away. The husband could barely see and was legally blind, so his wife, who did not know how to drive, sat close beside him in a folding chair and helped him stay in the correct lane while serving as his eyes!

At the same rally, we met another couple who pulled a huge fifth wheel with a 3/4 ton pickup truck. The husband had injured his ankle and was getting around on crutches, so I was helping him get the rig ready to travel after the rally. Once we had his fifth wheel connected and secured, I could not find a place to connect the trailer’s electrical cable to the truck. I asked the gentleman where to plug it in, and he told me he never had used it. I told him that without the cable, his trailer brakes wouldn’t work, and he replied “Oh, it takes a long time to stop this thing!”

This couple had purchased the trailer in the Portland, Oregon area, did not have a truck capable of towing (or stopping) it, had no trailer brakes, and had been driving all over the western United States for five or six months! How they managed not to kill themselves or someone else to that point amazed me!

Now, you can say that it was reprehensible for an RV salesman to sell somebody a trailer that size and tell them that their truck was capable of pulling it, and for not making sure that they knew how to set it up for towing. But the RVing community has to take some responsibility for themselves, too. Anybody who buys an RV and takes off down the highway without educating themselves about their rig and how to safely operate it has no business on the road. But there are a lot of them out there!

People don’t pose the only threats. We have encountered pit bulls running loose in an RV park, and even had a raccoon with distemper wander into our campsite once. And on and on.

So does that mean that RVing is not safe? Well, yeah, but then again, life isn’t safe! None of us are going to get out of it alive. But overall, I’d rather live the RV lifestyle than spend my days any other way. I just try to keep my eyes open to the hazards around me, no matter where I am.

Thought For The Day – Dream big, and dare to fail.

After spending the weekend cooped up inside the bus, yesterday I wanted to get out and breathe in some fresh air. We ran a couple of errands, stopped to talk to a dealer about a Winnebago Ultimate Advantage we saw for sale at a car dealer’s lot in Goshen, and decided that they would rather double talk and play games than just give us a price so we could say yes or no.

What is it with these guys anyway? I told them I wanted a price I could take to my credit union, and instead of giving me that price, they wanted me to make an offer, put down a deposit, and fill out a credit application. I told them I wasn’t interested in their financing, I would arrange my own, just give me a price. No, it was their way or the highway. We chose the highway.

Later in the afternoon we came upon a 2004 Alfa SeeYa 40 foot diesel pusher at another lot and decided to check it out. To be honest, we had never given the Alfa’s a lot of thought. Our friends Earl and Sami Aeverman, on whose RV lot we squatted in Aransas Pass, Texas for several weeks last winter, have an Alfa and they love it. After spending an hour or so poking into every nook and cranny on this coach, I can see that’s there’s a lot to love.

I don’t think we’ve been in any motorhome that has so much storage and feels to open and airy. The overall fit and finish was good, we liked the layout, and while there were a few things that weren’t exactly what we had envisioned in our next RV, there were more positives than negatives.

And wonder of wonders, the salesman was straightforward, answered all of our questions, and when he didn’t know an answer, he didn’t try to bulls&%@ us, he just said “I don’t know, to be honest with you.” I can appreciate and respect that. We’re not jumping into anything, but we’re doing our research and have added Alfa to our short list.

Since I still wasn’t ready to go home, we stopped to check out a gun shop with an indoor shooting range located a few miles from Elkhart Campground. Finding a place to shoot while traveling can be a problem, and I was pleased to see that they have a very nice facility. We’re in a saving mindset, so I really had to drag myself away from a great deal they offered me on a new AR-15 rifle they had in stock. I have absolutely no use for it, but did I mention that it was a heck of a deal?

Back at the bus, we had an e-mail from Michael and Christi Hargis telling us about a cover story Christi had in the August issue of Bus Conversions magazine. We have not met Michael and Christy yet, but we feel like we know them from their excellent website and blog. Michael will be performing at our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally next year in Yuma, and we’re really looking forward to seeing his show.

We never get bored when we’re in a campground, because the neighbors always give us a lot to talk about. Late in the afternoon a fifth wheel pulled in a couple of sites down from us, and we noticed that the couple in it was standing outside looking confused. Their problem was obvious, they had pulled in on the wrong side of the utility pedestal, so it was on the curb side of their RV, while the utility bay is on the driver’s side.

Finally, after they stood there looking lost and confused for quite some time, I walked over and asked if they needed any help. “Our water hose and cord are too short” the woman said.

“Actually, you pulled in on the wrong side of the pedestal,” I told them. “Just pull out and make a big circle turn and come back in on the other side and you’ll be fine.” They talked it over for a while, so I went back inside, and a while later the man got in his truck, started it up, and made a big circle, just as I suggested. And then he pulled up on the wrong side of the pedestal again, jus where he had been before! And his water hose and electric cord were still too short! Go figure.

Thought For The Day – Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

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