Tool, Texas (in East Texas on Cedar Creek Lake)

As mentioned in the first post, we spent August 2021 through mid-December 2021 in East Texas preparing to travel. After purchasing our RV, that time was spent locating and purchasing a Ford F-350 for towing the RV, medical checkups, vet checkups, collecting vet records, and having slide-out awnings installed.

DRIVING LESSONS

Having never towed anything larger than a motorboat with a passenger vehicle, jumping up to a diesel dually super duty pickup towing a 36-foot RV with a fifth-wheel hitch was a whole new experience. To learn to maneuver the rig, I enrolled in a fifth-wheel driving course with the RV Driving School ( rvschool.com ). The investment was well worth it as it included exercises such as backing a fifth-wheel RV in a straight line, into angled parking spots on both the driver and passenger sides, and parallel parking. Emphasis was given to using side mirrors while driving, changing lanes, and backing. Numerous other topics such as braking distances, etc. were also covered. This course is highly recommended if you are driving an RV for the first time, or if you are stepping up to a larger RV or a different class of RV.

REQUIRED DRIVER'S LICENSE UPGRADE

Something I discovered in the driving course was the fact that, due to the combined weight of the truck and RV and the stand-alone gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the RV, I was required to upgrade my Texas driver's license from Class C (regular passenger vehicle) to a Class A non-CDL license (for towing an RV for personal use). That required two separate steps: (1) applying for the license, getting the vision test, and passing the computer test on commercial driving rules and regulations; and (2) passing a road test while driving my vehicle and towing my RV.

WEIGHING THE RIG

In my research on becoming an RV owner/operator, I learned that weights are a big deal - axle weights, gross vehicle weight rating of the truck and of the RV, weight on the hitch, and gross combined vehicle weights. During my stay in Livingston, Texas at the Escapees RV Club (https://www.escapees.com) for driving lessons, I took the opportunity to have the truck and RV combination weighed through their SmartWeigh program. I was extremely relieved to learn that we managed to slim down what went into the RV initially so as to avoid any weight issues.

Once all those i's were dotted and t's were crossed, we were ready to begin our travels. More on that to come.