Spousal driving

[Kahoneys]

I have tried many many times to get her to drive but she refuses. She doesn't even want to drive the truck to the store. I tell her that she will need to know when I am crippled or gone and she said that they won't be camping when that happens so I guess I am going to have to live a loooooong life.

[Bookemdanno]

Originally Posted by Kahoneys

I have tried many many times to get her to drive but she refuses. She doesn't even want to drive the truck to the store. I tell her that she will need to know when I am crippled or gone and she said that they won't be camping when that happens so I guess I am going to have to live a loooooong life.

Mines the same way...

[rgolding]

When my spouse and I started dating in 1971, she decided she would rather back the boat trailer down the ramp instead of being responsible for the boat while I parked the tow vehicle. 49 years later, through many tow vehicles on boats, trailers, and now a pickup "toad" behind the Seneca, she does about 40% of the driving and 98% of the parking or backing into a campsite. She says I complain that she doesn't get the RV in the right place at the campsite if she's directing me. So she drives/backs/parks the RV and I direct her movements. We do it all with hand signals and if she can't see me or disagrees with my directions the unit doesn't move until we talk it out. Sometimes she even lets me win the discussion.

.

Work as a team and its a lot more fun.

[WeRJuliian]

Originally Posted by rgolding

Work as a team and its a lot more fun.

X2 on that.
We each have our skills, why not make best use of them?

I seem to have a better ... "spatial awareness" .. ??, in that I can visualise where the TT needs to be, and the path it needs to take, to get there. Though, perhaps, not so good at communicating these concepts. :-)

The Lady From Little Rock has a lighter touch when it comes to coaxing the Jeep along those final few yards, and is better at interpreting my, sometimes cryptic, arm-waving and spoken directions.

Thus, between us, we manage to place it "just so".

In terms of the actual driving-to-get-there, we share that about equally, which makes the drive a lot less stressful. (although, come to think of it, I do always seem to get to drive the windy little mountain roads... Hmmm)

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by rgolding

Work as a team and its a lot more fun.

Yep - I'm glad she drives. Means we can cover a lot more territory if we need to.




I'm still working on all the subsystems with her.
She tries and wants to learn.


But unless you deal with in a lot, it's easy to get confused by 12V, 120V, Shore Power, Generator, Solar...






She's got the water and black tank figured out, so I consider that a big win!

[robkelly]

Originally Posted by Marcm157

My wife will not even drive my truck when we are not towing. She is completely intimidated when we are towing. All driving and backing involving camping is on me...

X2 - that said, a few years ago I got sick while we were out and she was forced into driving for a while. Couldn't have been a worse time for her first experience towing (coming off Cape Cod on July 4th weekend), but he did a great job. Slow and white knuckle, but a fantastic job nonetheless.

She hasn't driven the TV since, and doesn't know how to hitch yet, but that's coming this year.

[spoon059]

I usually drive, but on our Florida trips my bride will often take an hour behind the wheel if we have a long day. This last trip we drive from Charleston back to Maryland in a single day with 3 kids (7, 5, 14 months). 11.5 hours on the road. I needed that hour break to close my eyes, not even sleep, just close my eyes.

[saunterr44]

My wife drives the F-150 as her daily. Hook up the trailer, and she's not even going to try. As another mentioned, I'd have to be on my death bed, and then...only MAYBE she would drive.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by pconroy

Yep - I'm glad she drives. Means we can cover a lot more territory if we need to.




I'm still working on all the subsystems with her.
She tries and wants to learn.


But unless you deal with in a lot, it's easy to get confused by 12V, 120V, Shore Power, Generator, Solar...






She's got the water and black tank figured out, so I consider that a big win!

My wife won't touch that area of the camper with a 12-ft stick!! LOL!! She's content to leave her "leavings" completely up to me! I don't know why... It's her stuff too!!

[pitman44]

Originally Posted by tallcott

We switch drivers every hour , with out stopping got rid of 5th wheel for that reason, just keep rolling down the road

Could you please upload a vide of the driver change under motion? I just have to see this.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by pitman44

Could you please upload a vide of the driver change under motion? I just have to see this.

LOL!! I thought I was the only one who caught that. I didn't say anything because surely they don't mean that literally!

If so, I need a really good, accurate description, and maybe a plate number so I can be sure to get off the road when they're around...

My dad tells a story about how the boy scout troop I used to be in chartered buses and drivers for really long trips (this was back in the '80s). One night he literally watched the drivers "hot swap" while hauling 50 boys down the freeway. They never chartered again. They bought an old schoolie and the scout masters all got their CDLs (my dad already had his).

[JudyB]

Are you married to my husband too????

[Peoples16127]

My wife will drive the truck while towing either the 5th wheel or the gooseneck equipment trailer, I usually try to have her drive when the weather is nice and the roads are good. But invariably, she gets in the drivers seat and either the roads get bad or traffic gets bad. A couple of years ago she drove through Jacksonville Fl on I-95 and the roads were under construction and the traffic was heavy, but we made it. Later I learned to use 301 and 200 around Jacksonville.

[Mrlin10000]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

It's always a good idea to cross-train some of the more critical functions in RVing.

DW will drive, and she would tow the trailer too. She likes driving the MH more than she enjoyed towing the trailer, but she'll do either if she has to.

The reason I say it's important is that if the person who always does the driving gets sick or injured, you need to be able to get home. I hurt my back once while breaking camp. So DW had to hookup the trailer and drive it home basically on her own while I sat in the truck barely able to move. Thankfully I was still able to speak, so I could walk her through the connection process and my pre-flight check, and she's towed boats a lot, so towing the TT was okay for her even though she was a little uncomfortable. Worst part was trying to get her to slow down; I constantly caught her creeping up on her speed... She still does it in the MH these days too...

I whole heartedly agree. Was so glad she had learned to drive and back the truck/trailer rig, when the same happened to my back. It is a matter of safety and common sense. Always, always have a plan B.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Mrlin10000

I whole heartedly agree. Was so glad she had learned to drive and back the truck/trailer rig, when the same happened to my back. It is a matter of safety and common sense. Always, always have a plan B.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, she couldn't back the trailer to save her own life. It's weird. She did okay with boats, but she just couldn't do the trailer. I tried talking her through it, but she just couldn't do it. I had to suck it up that trip and do it myself. It was EXCRUCIATING. Later I realized I should have just had her pull into the driveway "nose" first and worry about it later...

[Bugman]

My lovely bride has always done 100% of the driving...always from the right seat!

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

My wife can drive and she enjoys it, although I do most of the driving and all the backing and tight maneuvering. For that she is an outstanding spotter in more ways than one.

However, I'm not fond of driving over the Mackinac Bridge and have done it for the last time. On that occasion she wanted to drive it, but it was extremely windy (50+ MPH), trucks and trailers were relegated to 20 MPH and it was a white knuckle 15 minute trip. From now on, if she wishes, she will be the bridge driver.

[hamerjk]

Well my wife says she wants to learn how to drive our new motor home. I just sit back and think she has said that every time we go to Disney every other year. Well I am still waiting for her to ask to drive our car for the past 6 years and still has not happen once. She does a good job of driving from the passenger seat though. So I do not think she will ever drive the motor home except from the passenger seat. Sure would be nice to be able sit back and drive from the passenger seat though..

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by hamerjk

Well my wife says she wants to learn how to drive our new motor home. I just sit back and think she has said that every time we go to Disney every other year.

My older brother, God rest his soul, took me out in in VW bug. Got out, pulled me out of the passenger seat and sat down.


Told me that if we wanted to get home, now was the time I needed to learn to drive a stick.






Something I'm indebted to him, forever.

[DamonBecky]

Becky loves to drive, and drives well. She was driving both times we had blowouts on the truck, on interstate, once in heavy I 40 traffic, and the other time in rain on I 10. Held it down and in place w God's grace.