Gloria, another newbie!

peacetara · Jan 11, 2013

I rarely go over 55, the giant semi's can just go around me if they want to go fast. I was totally scared as well when I first started driving Ferdy(my van) but after a week or two I got the hang of him.  But I rarely drive for more than an hour at a time. the best part of having the house attached, I can pull over and make home whenever I want! Stay safe, and be confident, you can do it! With Love, Tara

natureglo · Jan 11, 2013

Thanks, Tara. I was feeling like I wanted to just stay at 50 - 55 anyway. It feels the safest speed, plus, it's better on gas mileage. Save for the occassional turkeys, I think most semi's are willing to go around me. Otherwise, there's not much they can do other than ride me and I sweat bullets, like I did. LOL. Soon I was calling all the semi's sweeties and asking them nicely to go around me and singing nice positve made up tunes to them, which helped keep me in a positive mindset. There were FLEETS of them at times! I was traveling about 100 miles at a time and "earning" my break. I do try to push myself hard, plus I was eager to finally get home.  I know, I felt that lovely privilege of making home wherever, when I needed to pull off. Gloria

peacetara said:
I rarely go over 55, the giant semi's can just go around me if they want to go fast. I was totally scared as well when I first started driving Ferdy(my van) but after a week or two I got the hang of him.  But I rarely drive for more than an hour at a time. the best part of having the house attached, I can pull over and make home whenever I want! Stay safe, and be confident, you can do it! With Love, Tara

bobbert · Jan 11, 2013

natureglo said:
 I"m not comfortable yet driving her faster than 60 mph and most of the highway speed limit was 70 mph. Boy, am I glad to be home. I was sweating bullets when one tractor trailer decided he didn't want to pass around me while I had my emergencies blinkers on. I just COULD NOT travel down the darn mountain at 70 mph!! He rode my tail through a tunnel.

OMG... Stay away from State Route 250, from Durbin, westward over to the Cheat River watershed up to Huttonsville/Mill Creek. Them fricken' dump truck coal haulers are insane, driving down Cheat Mountain. They pass up us "four wheelers" when we're going over 65 mph on a 9% decline!!! They're total idiots.  From what I've seen, West VA's Appalachain Mountains' roads are MUCH more steeper than the (some) of the Rockies (in certain areas at least). Glad to hear yer' safe <img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif" class="bbc_img">

Lifemagician · Jan 12, 2013

You're not alone, that is exactly how I felt the first time I drove my van - a mere 9 months ago.  Amazing how much smaller it got as time went on.  It also seemed to lose a lot of weight.  In fact, it must have become aware of my reluctance to drive at anything more than 55 - 60 mph, it decided to become ever so much more managable.   <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> As a rule of thumb, I rarely drive at more than 100 kph (63 mph), as that is the speed to which I am accustomed, and the speed with which I feel comfortable.  Yes! I too have had eighteen wheelers sit on my tail, sometimes so close, all I could see was the radiator grill. Thing is, safety on the highways depends a lot more on consistency of speed - use your cruise control - and lane protocol - don't sit in the overtaking lane.  That way other traffic will know what you are doing.  Doomsdayers are always telling me I will have an accident, if I do not keep up with the highway speed, but in more than 123000 miles, that is yet to happen.  I doubt it ever will, and I have never heard of anyone held responsible when a vehicle hit them from behind. Lifey

Kevin H · Jan 12, 2013

Welcome and I'll give seconds to Teri at '<a href="http://www.mydakotaaddress.com/" rel="nofollow">My Dakota Address</a>'.  We have been with her for almost two years now.  If all businesses ran as well and reliable as she does we consumers would be in heaven.  Can't say  enough about her. Teri will help you get all your residency and vehicle registrations in order.  Madison is a small enough community that her office is about a half block from the County Court House.  We were passing through so we decided to do all our work in person.  Very smooth and easy. The only glitch was our driver's licenses.  We did not have all the required paperwork. The problem is the chain of names for my wife.  She was adopted as a child and has been married before.  We did not have all the papers with us showing her name chain.  They require a complete chain of names and name changes from birth to present - birth name, adopted name, marriage certificate with name change - divorce papers with name change and any repeated iterations of name changes. You MUST visit SD to get your license and you will have to provide proof of at least one night's stay in the state - hotel/ campground receipts. On another note - We were in Asheville for Thanksgiving.  When we left we stopped in Waynesville for fuel.  I knew your van was there and I sure liked it in the pics here.  I thought about the coincidence of our passing through. If I had been in the market for a van I certainly would have checked it out.  Glad it worked for you. Good Luck with getting everything set up. Happy Trails!! --  Kevin