Denisa's Motorhome Driving Practice

In most states, anyone with a regular driver's license can take the wheel of any size motorhome and drive it legally.  But of course we would choose to become residents of the state of Texas, where they have decided that operating a vehicle weighing over 26,001 pounds means you must have a special class B exempt license.  In order to earn this special license status, one must pass a written exam and then pass a driving exam in that heavy vehicle.

These requirements have caused quite a bit of stress in locating the correct DMV office to test, making testing appointments, etc.  But Denisa is the most stressed because she has not even driven the motorhome . . . until now.  One morning she woke up at 3 a.m., worrying about passing the driving test.  When she woke Mark up at 3:25, he knew it was time for a driving lesson even though breaking camp was inconvenient.

We waited until daylight, then pulled in the slides, unhooked the utilities, and adjusted the driver's mirrors.  When the automatic entry steps wouldn't retract, we thought it might be a sign from God that Denisa really shouldn't try to drive this beast.  After sitting still for three weeks, the steps had locked up and it took some tools and time to convince them to stow away. 

Denisa got her nerve back up, and started the engine.  Mark insisted that she drive out of our spot down those narrow resort roads with all those innocent white-haired senior citizens milling around.  They didn't know what danger they were in!

Mark thought that after raising two sons through their learner's permit years, he was finished with the tension of riding with a new driver.  But I think he had all those memories of potential crashes flash before his eyes as we hit the open road!

We had a well-planned route to travel that was free of low hanging limbs, avoided narrow roads, and had a good place to turn around.  It took Denisa a few miles to get the feel of just how wide this beast is and where to plant the left front tire to avoid running off the road on the right side.  We did some left and right turns, and even took the ramp on and off the interstate for some high speed driving.  

We picked out a deserted parking lot for practicing some backing maneuvers.  By the end of the practice drive, Denisa felt successful in her ability to drive through the easy routes.  More importantly, Mark was hoping that she would now not wake him up in the middle of the night.

We parked the motorhome back into its space, but left the slides in for the night.  This was our first evening to spend in the shrunken interior that happens when all four slides are not deployed.  We found that we are fine for one night this way, but we certainly wouldn't want to live like this all the time!

We took another practice drive the next day, just to make sure that Denisa's first successful drive wasn't a fluke.  It was windy on the second day, so she got just a taste of a side wind.  We finished up this practice drive in the deserted parking lot to practice parking skills.  We have heard that the Class B driving test includes parallel parking a motorhome.  GASP!  Denisa has no confidence in her ability to parallel park a car, much less a 35 foot motorhome!  After watching a very good you-tube video (how did we survive without you-tube to teach us everything?) Mark made a successful parallel park.  But the really big news is that using the same you-tube tips, Denisa also was able to park this beast!

Please don't notice that the motorhome is a good five feet away from the curb on this "successful" parallel park.  This would probably crush Denisa's confidence, and Mark is worried that she might not be able to sleep at night!