Fly Drive USA
RV Information

Welcome to the uk-2-usa.com RV page. This page has been created because of repeated requests for RV information from site visitors that I have been unable to answer. I have trawled the internet and posted messages for help in many forums and have gathered the information given on this page. I hope this helps you. I will develop the content of this page with the help of site visitors posting information they have or questions that I will seek answers to.

RV Basics

• RV is short for Recreational Vehicle. Sometimes also called Winnebagoes or campers, although camper also refers to much smaller vehicle.
• A self contained RV has toilet, washing, cooking and sleeping facilities on board.
• You should be sat down with a seat belt on when on the move.
• You should not cook when on the move for safety reasons. The driver cannot put the vehicle into cruise control and get up and walk around ! This comment is based on the true story where somebody sued an RV company for not explaining cruise control properly.
• If you are a novice RV driver, look out for "pull through" campsites which mean you drive in from one end and drive out of the other and can therefore avoid reversing.
• Reversing especially on one of the really big RVs is said to be the most difficult manouevres. Get in the parking lot of a larger store and practice as soon as you can after picking up the RV.

• Where do I hire an RV ?
  Cruise America seem to be one of the biggest in the business, so I would start looking there. They have 151 pick up points.
• What does it cost ?
  An example of prices is California & Nevada costs $900 - $1100 Jan to mid June and September to December (low season) and $1300 - $1565 in the high season. These prices are for 2003 and include 1,000 miles travel and 7 days hire.
• What is a hook up ?
  You connect to mains electricity, water and drains from your holding tanks
• Where can we stay ?
  RV parks have hook up points (see above) and often shops, pools and other amenities. They typically cost $30-$40 per night for two people. You can stay free in the parking lot of most Wal-Mart stores. The national forests often have free camp grounds (without hook up points) and most of the national parks also have camp grounds often with hook up points.
• Should we make reservations ?
  You should only have to do this if you are visiting a very popular place at a popular time. It rather defeats the object of freedom of movement if you have a strict itinerary.
• How easy is an RV to drive ?
  I am informed that it is surpisingly easy with the power steering and automatic gears. The most difficult thing is the reversing of very large RVs