Beauty and the Beast

Each of you can decide for yourself who is the beauty and who is the beast.

The trip is going well. Driving is challenging. I’m not just learning how to drive a 42 foot long twenty ton bus, but also learning all the controls and indicators for the dashboard, engine, and transmission. There is also the navigation system, cameras, and Collision Avoidance System (CAS) and other devices to learn.

Making sharp turns is much different in the coach compared to a car. The front wheels are further back on the rig than on a car. In most vehicles the front wheels are in front of the driver. When making a sharp turn in a car, the driver turns the wheels before actually getting to the turn. On this rig, the wheels are under the driver. If you start to turn like you would in a car, the rig will turn much too soon. You have to wait until you are almost even with where you want to turn to start turning. The saying to remind you of the different steering technique is “Wait until your waist”, or wait until your body lines up where you want to turn before turning the wheel. Then you spin the wheel rapidly and the rig swiftly swings around. Right turns are more difficult than left turns because you are making a sharper turn into the near lane. Left turns are easier because you are turning onto the farther side of the road. I look for ways to make more left turns than right turns if I can.

The cruise control keeps disengaging because drivers keep cutting me off. The CAS shuts off the cruise control if you are too close to a car in front of you. Even though I am traveling at a safe distance from the car in front of me, when someone passes me and then cuts me off returning to the slow lane, the cruise control shuts off. This feature makes the cruise control almost impossible to use when there is even a moderate amount of traffic.

The CAS also indicates if you are in your lane or not. I still have the tendency to drift too far to the right. Lanes are 10 feet wide, and the RV is 8 feet wide. That leaves only one foot on each side until the white lines. Looking in the driver and passenger mirrors is the best way to keep the coach in the center of the lane. The gap seen in the mirror between the rig and the white lines are equal on both sides if the coach is in the center of the lane. When I drift over the white line on the right side, the CAS beeps at me letting me know I am over too far to the right. I’m already getting better at staying in the middle of the lane. There is a natural tendency to drift to the right, especially when large trucks are passing.

One really has to become comfortable driving with large trucks to drive on interstates. There are almost as many large trucks on the road as there are cars. The interstate system seem to have become a conveyor belt of huge trucks. I have become more comfortable with all the trucks. When trucks pass, I still find the sensation that the two rigs are almost touching unnerving. I stay in the right lane, and the trucks leave me alone. If you are in the center or left lanes, trucks will tailgate you until you move out of their way. Actually most trucks are more predictable than the cars.

Except for one truck, or what was left of one I saw on I-95 traveling into North Carolina from South Carolina. I got caught up in an hour plus traffic jam. More than ten cars pulled over because of overheating in the five-mile backup. When I finally got to the accident scene, I saw what was left of the trailer part of the tractor-trailer off the right side of the highway down a steep embankment and into a forest. The accident destroyed the front half of the trailer, shearing off the top so that packages where visible. The tractor/cab was completely missing. I think the cab was probably destroyed. Sixty tons of freight slamming into a cab when trees slow the truck down from 70 mph to 0 mph in a few feet, well, that is just physics. I can only guess that the driver fell asleep, probably forever. The horrific accident was a good reminder to stay alert on the road.

Another important part of driving rigs this big is to keep your eyes focused far down the road. There is a tendency to look down in front of you. This leads to excessive side to side movement and constant correction of the steering wheel. There is a quote, “the car goes where the eyes go.” If you look left, you will veer left, if you look right, you will veer right. By looking far down the road, it’s easier to keep the rig traveling straight. The quote is from one of my favorite books titled “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” The story is about a family told through the narrative of the family dog named Enzo. The book uses car racing metaphors to describe life lessons and offers advice. One of the best quotes is “The car goes where the eyes go.” That really means, wherever you are looking to go, that is where you will end up. The other quote I really like from the book is, “That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.”

I’m getting proficient with the routine of setting up and breaking down camp already. This includes leveling the coach, extending the slides, and hooking up to water, electric and sewage. Everything is working. The only casualty is one of two closet doors in back broke off the slide hinge. This is not something I can fix, so for now cardboard and plastic water bottles wedge the door shut. Shame it will be that way the entire trip, but if that is the worst thing that happens, I will be very happy. At least I have not had to open the roll of duct tape yet.

The cats are fine. Just like past trips, they took a few days to adjust to being in a different environment. When we stop for the night they are fine. While driving ML does not seem comfortable yet. I will know she is comfortable when she take her place on the floor next to me while I am driving.

I’m in the Shenandoah Valley now in VA, the weather is finally a bit cooler than Florida. The drive from Richmond along I-64 to I-81 was beautiful. The road doesn’t even seem like an interstate, more like driving through a National Park. Actually I-64 passes just south of Shenandoah National Park.

Like previous adventures, I find my favorite part of the day is going to bed, and the hardest part is getting up. I always seem to get a good nights sleep in these coaches.

Beauty and the Beast