We don’t assume you’re mechanically inclined or that you know which end of the hammer gets used for installing screws.
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout this book, you’ll find icons (little pictures in the margin) that will help you spot material of special interest. Here’s a guide to what the icons mean:
Beyond the Book
In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet for a quick rundown of the different types of RVs and campers, tips on renting an RV, advice on what you can and can’t do in rest areas, and information on where to come for free. To access the Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type RVs & Campers For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.
Visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rvsfordummies for updates, videos, tips, tricks, and more.
Where to Go from Here
Like all For Dummies books, ours is designed so you can read it from cover to cover. (We always advise everyone to buy one copy for every bathroom.) Or you can head straight for the topics you’re most interested in — use the table of contents and index to find what you need.
If you’re looking at motorhomes, you won’t need to read Chapter 7 on tow vehicles. If you’re already familiar with the various types of RVs that are available, Chapter 2 may bore you to smithereens. If you climb into your rig, turn on the power, and nothing happens, sit down at the picnic table and thumb your way to Chapter 14 about electrical systems. It’s your book now, so use it as you see fit! There’s a lot of information stuffed into these pages.
Finally, before we jump in, a word of caution about this or any other book about RV ownership: Never make a potentially expensive purchase based solely on something you read in a book or online. Depending on your personal circumstances, investing in an expensive RV may very well be the biggest purchase you’ll ever make, with the possible exception of a house. We know everybody has their moments of weakness and susceptibility to pretty looks and a smooth line of patter, and your first RV can be a lot like your first teenage romantic crush: The heart wants what it wants. But throughout this book, we repeatedly urge you to avoid impulse buying and do lots of research before you hand over your hard-earned cash. You’ll be glad you did. Happy travels!
Part 1
Getting Started with RVs and Campers
IN THIS PART …
Discover the world of recreational vehicles (RVs) and life on the road.
Learn the difference between a trailer, a motorhome, a fifth wheel, and more.
Choose the rig that’s right for you, factoring in size, shape, arrangement, and price.
Chapter 1
Joining the Cavalcade of Rolling Nomads
IN THIS CHAPTER
They’ve been known by different names over the last hundred years: campers, caravans, tin cans, trailers, Winnebagos, motorhomes, and RVs. There are teardrops and minis, pop-ups and tagalongs, fifth wheels and toy haulers, and motorhomes as small as vans and as big as buses.
When we were growing up, camper was the word for a shell on a pickup truck, while recreational vehicle (RV) was strictly something with its own engine, like a motorhome, and no single word fit everything you could camp in. Nowadays, both words are used more loosely. We had to pick one, and in this book, we chose to use RV as the best overall term for anything with wheels that you can eat and sleep and have fun in, including motorhomes, trailers, fifth wheels, and truck campers.
So, what sort of people have an RV? People just like you — and almost anybody else. Identifying a cross-section of RVers in order to define some “average” owner is as futile as trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. RVs are owned by campers and glampers, nomads and full-timers, homeschoolers and gig workers, loners and families, retirees and newlyweds, weekend warriors and tailgaters. Super-rich, middle-class, and flat-broke campers park side-by-side in campgrounds every day and then sit around each other’s campfires and share in the fellowship of RV life.
All the other chapters in this book are the how-to’s of RVing, from buying to boondocking to plumbing. But this first chapter is an overview of who’s RVing, why they’re doing it, and what effect it’s having on the culture. Friends and family, even acquaintances, ask us all the time, “What kind of people go RVing?” And, more commonly, “Why would you even consider living full time in an RV?” In this chapter, we try to answer both.
RVing is wrapped up with the romance of the open road. Sooner or later, the majority of RVers you encounter will say that they hit the highway because they wanted to actually see and explore the country around them. So, we talk about how and why those highways came about, why Route 66 is such a big deal to RVers, and why the United States, in particular, really is the land of the RV.
Everybody’s Doing It
Perhaps life on the road as a modern nomad sounds like an exciting adventure you’d like to attempt. Or maybe you want to take your kids on one last great adventure as a family before your oldest goes off to college. Or if you’re older, maybe you want to bond with your grandkids by exploring the country