Check things a few days before you're ready to leave
We all know that it's a good idea to check things on your RV a few days before you're going to hit the road, but we don't always do it.
This is particularly true if you've been parked for more than a few days. When you're ready to pull out of the campground or your driveway, and you start checking things--tire pressure, brake lights, turn signals on your toad, etc., what if something is not exactly right?
If you check things a day or two before you're ready to leave, you have time to take care of the problems. But what do you do if the family is all loaded up and you're ready to pull out, and you find out that one tire is 10 pounds low? What if the lights on the toad don't work?
It's tempting to go ahead and hit the road. I had a friend who was getting ready to pull out of the campground yesterday. He had been checking tires, batteries, and about everything for the last few days getting ready to hit the road.
He had not checked the lights on the toad because he couldn't connect the wires without disconnecting water, electric, and sewer and moving the motorhome. Sure enough, on the day he was ready to leave, when he got the motorhome pulled out and got the toad connected, the lights didn't work.
He wiggled wires for a few minutes and finally decided that since he was only going to be driving for about two hours before he would be stopping. He decided to go on.
He arrived with no problems
I talked to him this morning, and he said that he arrived with no problems. He didn't get stopped or have an accident, but he did take a risk. I forgot to ask him if he got his lights working and what the problem was. It was probably a fuse or a bad contact. Problems like that are easy to fix when you're not rushed.
If you have a flat tire, you will do something about it, but what if you find that a tire is 10 pounds low? Do you get your air compressor out and air it up or just go on?
You get the point. It's good to do a final check of everything just before you leave, but it's also good to check things a couple of days before you leave too. By checking things a few days ahead of time you can correct problems and not be tempted to take risks by hitting the road when you know there are problems.