Thanks for joining us for Part 2 of this guide introducing beginners to the wide, wonderful world of RVing. We covered utilities and the basic monitoring system in Part 1, so this installment will address some additional considerations not quite as pressing as electricity, water, and sewer. Also, I’ve added an update to Part 1 at the bottom of this article regarding alternators and charging house batteries, so you may want to skip to the note at the very end if you’ve read Part 1 before continuing with the rest of this article.

If you’ve embarked on your RV adventure, you’ve probably already thought about everything that’s about to follow. But if you’re still wondering if RVing is right for you, this article might give you a bit more food for thought. (How’s that for an obvious segue?)

COOKING – WHO’S HUNGRY?

Speaking of food – now that you’re enjoying your wheeled home away from home and seeing the sights of a possibly new area, you might be getting kind of hungry. You have the option, of course, of finding a restaurant nearby and enjoying a night out on the town (or remote mountain village, as it were). But your RV most likely has everything you need to whip up something delicious and nutritious without leaving your camping area, assuming you brought food with you. You did pack something to eat, right?

Lots of weekend or casual RVers take advantage of the time in the great outdoors to engage in campfire cooking. While hot dogs roasting over open flames and marshmallows toasting a deep golden brown are certainly appealing treats, after three nights of consuming pork products in tube form and burnt sugary confections you might be ready for something else. I’m not disparaging campfire cooking – it’s a great way to prepare food, especially if you’re RVing with a group of people and the evening campfire ritual becomes a communal event. The culinary possibilities really are endless, from simple coal-baked potatoes wrapped in foil, to an elaborate flame-cooked paella filled with seafood and a rustic peach cobbler cooked in a Dutch oven for dessert. But maybe the weather isn’t cooperating and you can’t convince your significant other to hold an umbrella over you while you tend to the fire. Or even worse, you may be traveling in an area with an enforced fire ban due to extremely dry weather – as has been the case for us during these past couple of months in New Mexico. If open campfires are banned, then it’s likely a charcoal grill is also off-limits. But grilling is another great option when RVing, whether you prefer the charcoal or propane variety. Just don’t forget to pack a grill and propane tank if you don’t already have one on your RV. Side note – propane grills and stoves are still allowed during fire bans (at least in New Mexico), so be aware of local ordinances and park rules before whipping out your trusty lighter.

Since this is an RV guide, and not an outdoor cooking manual, let’s take the food preparation inside for the time being. Your RV kitchen is likely equipped with a propane stove and a microwave. The microwave obviously runs on electricity, which means you either need to be plugged in to shore power, running your generator, or using a huge battery bank and inverter as covered in Part 1 of this series. You already know how to use a microwave, and nothing changes about that in an RV other than understanding the source of electricity to power it.

The propane stove in your RV is like any residential stove – your particular model could vary in size from a single burner, to a four or five burner range complete with an oven. Your RV might even be equipped with an outdoor kitchen and have a couple of burners beside a small sink – the amount of options and customizations in the RV marketplace are astounding. If you’re using your propane range to cook dinner, you’re going to notice a definite increase in temperature inside your RV. Anyone cooking with natural gas in a small apartment has probably already experienced this, as has anyone who’s spent time in a commercial kitchen. If your range is equipped with an oven, it most likely will function less efficiently than the oven in your home. Heat will leak out of that thing and warm up your living space in minutes. Great for a cold day, but not really all that desirable if you’re boondocking in the Arizona desert in the middle of summer. Induction burners and hotplates are valid alternatives to propane and won’t give off much residual heat, but both of these options require electricity just like the microwave.

We cook all the time in our RV and while it’s not the same experience as preparing a meal in a residential kitchen, the results are exactly the same. After spending any amount of time in your RV, you’ll quickly adapt to the space or decide you don’t like it at all and just eat out at restaurants all the time. We use a combination of cooking on the propane burners, (rarely) baking in the oven, grilling with charcoal, and breaking out the induction burner and electric kettle when we’re plugged in to shore power. Flexibility in RV cooking is key, and if you like preparing your own food at home, there’s no reason at all that you can’t continue to do so while RVing. Washing the dishes remains a bit of a pain, unless your RV is equipped with a dishwasher. If that’s the case, please send me your phone number and travel plans for the next couple of months so we can put that thing to good use. As mentioned in Part 1, washing dishes in your kitchen sink will contribute to the contents of your gray water tank and that’s something you’ll need to remember if you don’t have easy access to a dump station.

SLIDES – BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Slides, slide-outs, bump-outs – whatever you may call them, some RVs are equipped with expandable rooms that mechanically pop out of the sides or rear area to create more living space. While slides won’t make an RV as cool as a Transformer morphing from a big rig into a bipedal robot, they are capable of increasing the interior square footage of your RV when parked. Slides are operated by electricity, which as you well know, has to come from somewhere. Be sure to take a peek outside before you press the slide button to ensure you aren’t going to hit a tree, a utility pole, or your next door neighbor’s rig after you’ve settled into your parking space. If you’re still in the market for an RV, take some time to see what you can and can’t access from inside the living area when the slides aren’t deployed. Some slides prevent the bathroom door from opening, which could be problematic if you’re still on the road in the middle of nowhere and you or a traveling companion hears the call of nature.

We have a slide for the main bedroom, which means our bed folds in half when the slide is in, and we can’t get into the closet until it’s expanded. Not really a big deal, but if your main bedroom is on a slide and you happen to be parked overnight in a location that prohibits you from deploying the slide (maybe a Walmart or somewhere with a lot of traffic that might make you feel unsafe sleeping in a box popping out of the side of your RV), be prepared to sleep in an alternate area of the RV. In the unfortunate case that a slide motor fails or malfunctions, you may want to be aware if the slide can be manually retracted (usually involving brute force, sweating, and possibly swearing). You definitely don’t want to drive down the road to an RV service center with a slide sticking out, and you may not even be able to start your engine in a self-propelled RV while a slide is deployed.

SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS – LIGHTS OUT!

OK – you’ve fed your family, cleaned up everything after dinner, and safely deployed any slides you may have. Everyone’s getting pretty tired from all of this activity and you’re ready to turn in for the night. You’ve probably already considered sleeping arrangements at this point in your journey, but let’s say you were so excited for RV life that you hopped in the first RV you found and took off down the open road, trailing a cloud of dust and melted rubber in your wake. Your RV might be a small van with a single fold-out bed that doubles as a sofa or storage area during the day, or maybe you have a bunkhouse fifth-wheel travel trailer that sleeps ten people. No matter the size or model of your RV, getting ready for bed likely involves slightly more preparation than simply walking to the bedroom in your “sticks and bricks” home and pulling down the covers.

In addition to the main bedroom, some RVs have sleeping areas crammed into the kitchen (in the form of a convertible dinette “bed”), above the cab accessible by a ladder (like in a Class C), or along the walls (in a bunkhouse with stacked cot-like beds or sleeping compartments). A convertible dinette bed is usually comprised of a tabletop and cushions from the seating around that table. If you or someone RVing with you is using this as a bed, you’ll need to assemble it before sleeping, or leave it set up all the time and not have a kitchen table available. Sometimes the cots or sleeping compartments in a bunkhouse fold up to allow more hallway space during the day, which means they too need to be setup in some fashion before bedtime. If your overhead cab doubles as a storage space, the lucky person who’s sleeping there has to move all that stuff before settling in for the night. None of this is very time-consuming or difficult, but it does take a little extra effort than most traditional residential sleeping arrangements. If you have the luxury of testing the various sleeping areas before embarking on your RV adventure, it’s probably a good idea to do so. The RV manufacturer may claim your new rig sleeps six people, but that doesn’t necessarily mean comfortably. A convertible dinette bed sure sounds convenient, until you’ve precariously perched yourself upon the flimsy cushions and shifting tabletop platform for a night or two.

You’ve probably realized this already, but just in case – assuming you’re traveling with someone (or multiple someones) other than yourself, you should throw the notion of traditional night-time privacy out the window. You probably don’t have a door you can close between your bed and the next closest sleeping area, and if you do, it likely won’t muffle your dad’s snoring in the middle of the night or someone getting up to use the bathroom at three in the morning.

STORAGE – WHY DO WE HAVE SO MUCH STUFF?!

You might not think much about storing items in your stationary home. Plates go in the cupboard, dry goods wait on a shelf, clothes hang in a closet, books stack on a coffee table – things are placed where they belong and remain there until needed. That’s not exactly the case when you’re jostling down the road, braking to avoid potholes, and rumbling over rough patches in your RV. Securing items suddenly becomes a priority assuming you don’t want an RV full of broken glass and spilled food when you arrive at your destination.

“Glass?”, you might be asking at this point. “Why would you even have glass in an RV? Just use styrofoam plates, plasticware, and red plastic cups!”

Aside from the negative environmental impacts of disposable goods (yeah, it’s a theme in our lives and I’ll continue to share it in these articles any chance I can), glass jars can be useful storage tools, as well as versatile drinking vessels (Ashley happens to prefer Mason jars for this purpose). Since you may be parking your RV in natural settings, you’ll encounter creatures living in nature. Any precautions you can take to keep these creatures out of your home on wheels will be a boon in the long run. Plastic storage bins, reusable food containers – whatever you might choose will need to be secured for travel no matter what. We just happen to use glass storage jars, real plates, and ceramic coffee cups because we had them before we started RVing and saw no reason to replace them with unbreakable counterparts. Sturdy, reusable plastic plates and cups work equally well without fear of breaking, and are inexpensive options for outfitting your new RV, assuming you aren’t moving your existing household belongings into it for extended use. But since we travel in our RV full-time, eating dinner off of a real plate or pouring an occasional beer into a pint glass can be downright luxurious.

If you’re using your RV on a casual basis, storage may not be a big concern. You’ll probably have plenty of space for clothing, kitchen items, and recreational equipment. No matter what you decide to take on your RV adventure, be sure to secure it in some manner whether through cupboard latches, ropes attached to tie-down points, or cargo netting. Those canvas or fabric compartmented storage trays used for shoes or jewelry also work well for storing cups, mugs, and other items in cabinets. Plastic or rubber storage tubs are invaluable for packing goods away into stackable units when placed inside an exterior storage bay. Kitchen equipment like pots and pans or mixing bowls are easily cushioned with that foam cupboard lining material, cut to various shapes and sizes and placed in between stackable items. It’ll only take a trip or two before you’ll figure out what needs to be firmly secured or carefully stowed before rolling down the road.

PARTING THOUGHTS AND THINGS TO PONDER

So you’ve read this guide a few times and you’re still excited about RVing. Maybe you’re ready to go shopping tomorrow for your very own recreational vehicle. Maybe you already have one and all of this stuff is old news to you (heads-up: this final section definitely won’t apply to you, if that’s the case). Now that you’re familiar with the basic systems and main options available in the world of RVs, take a bit of time and think about where you’ll most likely use your future RV. Do you want a separate vehicle for going on excursions while your RV stays parked? If so, maybe a trailer style RV is best so you can unhitch and leave the RV at your destination, or maybe you’d like a small car to tow behind your cumbersome yet comfortable Class A. Perhaps you’d prefer a small Class B van that’s easy to slip in and out of almost anywhere, while doubling as a commuting vehicle for getting from your camping spot to the closest town and back again. Maybe all you really want is a bike (or moped, for that matter) that you can hop on to see the nearest sights while your Class C remains stationary at your state park campsite. This all comes down to personal preference, and maybe a bit of a trial period with the least amount of additional equipment possible to see what you really prefer in practice.

The overall size of your rig could also pose restrictions on where you can and can’t park. Some campgrounds or camping loops within a park have size restrictions. We’ve seen a few recently in New Mexico that have a maximum length restriction of 18 feet, and the couple of parks we visited in Vermont last year were definitely tight. You might be able to drive a 40 foot Class A down a bumpy dirt road to a BLM site tucked away far from the beaten path, but maybe you really don’t want to do that very often (or maybe you do, I’m not trying to persuade you otherwise). But we are firmly of the opinion that you should strive for an RV that’s smaller than what you think you actually want. Smaller RVs open up more parking options, provide better gas mileage in general, and are easier to drive through narrow city streets and across tight mountain passes. As I briefly mentioned in Part 1, RVs are inherently wasteful from an environmental and financial viewpoint, so anything that can increase gas mileage is better for both our shared planet and your bank account.

This concludes our beginner’s guide, but there’s so much more for you to discover should you decide RVing is right for you – from leveling your RV in a parking space and searching for your preferred camping areas, to deciding how far you really like to drive on any given day and how long you like to stay in one place. People choose RVing for very personal reasons and no option will be right for every person. We’ve only been full-time RVing for about a year and a half, so we’re far from experts – but I’d like to share two tips we’ve heard in our travels from a veteran RVer:

1. Don’t be in a rush.

and

2. Don’t be in a rush.

From both a strict safety aspect when moving a large vehicle and from an all-around travel philosophy, every future and current RVer can hopefully find valuable guidance in those words. Safe travels and we’ll see you on the road!

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*UPDATE TO PART 1: When describing the methods to recharge RV house batteries, I commented that the alternator in a self-propelled RV can be used for this purpose although doing so may shorten its lifespan. I recently received more technical and authoritative information on that subject from a reputable and reliable source (my dad, who is a skilled and knowledgeable mechanic). The alternator in a standard automotive engine is designed to keep the ignition battery charged while the vehicle is in motion. If an alternator regularly overheats through excessive use (charging RV house batteries in addition to the engine battery) and improper cooling (when a vehicle is idling rather than in motion), this can lead to premature failure. So if you need to rely on your alternator as a method to recharge your RV house batteries, you can prolong its life by not simply idling your engine when you need a charge. If you run into some emergency situation and your only option is an idling recharge, open the hood at the very least to allow some excess heat to escape. Topping off your batteries or even an occasional “full” recharge when driving shouldn’t put additional strain on your alternator assuming it’s cooling properly when your RV is in motion and you’re not trying to recharge a large battery bank.