DW Training

[jkwilson]

I think it’s important everyone have some understanding. My wife has admitted before that she gets lazy because she knows I’ll take care of making things work. Some is just the way men and women are, some societal roles and some the differences in people. I want her to know how to do routine things because you never know when she’ll have to.

She can drive the truck pulling the trailer though she hates to back. It would be a mess if I had an injury or illness and she had to break camp or deal with dumping tanks etc..

I used to travel a lot for work, and I started making owner’s guides for things like our pool, irrigation system and farm equipment. Need to the same thing for the RV. Maybe she wouldn’t use them, but somebody who was helping might benefit greatly from knowing what needs to be done.

[TucsonJim]

Your post really got me to thinking. I do the driving and the maintenance on the RV. But she does things I'm not prepared to handle (Yet). For example, being an accountant, she volunteered to handle the bill paying responsibilities years ago. I don't even know the passwords to most of the accounts. If something happened to her, I wouldn't know where to start. So, you've prompted me into thinking about getting more involved with that task and others. Thanks (I think).

Jim

[Cate&Rob]

Like most of you, Cate has her RV responsibilities and I have mine. We've tried to "coach" each other on what we each do, as preparation for an emergency, but always seem to fall back to what we each do best. She has tried driving, but I am not sure who is more nervous about this . . . Cate or me! As mentioned earlier by others, we have Good Sam Travel Assist to get the rig and the critters home if something happens to me. I always tell her . . . if something happens to me, go on the forum and explain what you need . . . this will answer your questions .

Rob

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Like most of you, Cate has her RV responsibilities and I have mine. We've tried to "coach" each other on what we each do, as preparation for an emergency, but always seem to fall back to what we each do best. She has tried driving, but I am not sure who is more nervous about this . . . Cate or me! As mentioned earlier by others, we have Good Sam Travel Assist to get the rig and the critters home if something happens to me. I always tell her . . . if something happens to me, go on the forum and explain what you need . . . this will answer your questions .

Rob

This is probably all that most people are comfortable with, but it's only a temporary fix and won't help the surviving spouse in the long run.
In our case it wouldn't really help at all since DW would continue to Rv full time in my absence.
I also don't recommend waiting till something happens to look for help when all you have to do
is take a few minutes out of each day to prepare for a situation that inevitably is going to happen eventually.

[MidwestCamper]

When I was dying from heart cancer I used to joke with the DW about going on a dating site to find a new DH. I did make sure to tell her to do what makes her happy but just be careful if she wanted to find another. She should be sure to watch out for abuse, gold diggers, miscellaneous baggage, etc.
I fought hard to stay here so she will be stuck with me a while longer. DW will never do any maintenance type work where its just not in her DNA. I do bug her to drive the truck and trailer since I would like to see her do this in case of an emergency and also just to keep her independent should things change. She just responded to me on this subject and mirrored the class C purchase so she could continue camping with our family.

[Cate&Rob]

This is probably all that most people are comfortable with, but it's only a temporary fix and won't help the surviving spouse in the long run.
In our case it wouldn't really help at all since DW would continue to Rv full time in my absence.
I also don't recommend waiting till something happens to look for help when all you have to do
is take a few minutes out of each day to prepare for a situation that inevitably is going to happen eventually.

DMB,

For most of us, our DWs will have no intention of continuing a towable RV lifestyle, if we are not there to do the towing . . . so, your situation is different. For us, the intent of the plan is to get everyone and the truck & trailer, home to the sticks & bricks, safe & sound.

Rob

[livinthelife]

We had the Good Sam Travel Assist plan, but we found, when reading the fine print after purchase, it wasn't that great a deal (FOR US). Yes, they will assist the surviving spouse/pets/rig to get home, "without additional cost", but we had to pay the rig driver, the airline/train/bus tickets, and actual transportation costs to get pets home.

Basically, the "insurance" covered the assistance that they would give you to find the rig driver/transportation options.

I can drive the truck while towing. If my husband were to die enroute somewhere (as so kindly pointed out by our driving instructor), it would be on me get the rig home and parked. Practically all RV parks we've been in there have people people around willing to help with hitching/unhitching. I can get the rig back to the storage lot, and part of the cost I pay there includes the ability for them to park my rig in it's appointed space.

All that said, once home, I'd sell it, as I have no desire to be a single RV traveler. Not sure about my husband, but he's free, if he wishes, to continue traveling if I'm the one to die first.

[Cate&Rob]

We had the Good Sam Travel Assist plan, but we found, when reading the fine print after purchase, it wasn't that great a deal (FOR US). Yes, they will assist the surviving spouse/pets/rig to get home, "without additional cost", but we had to pay the rig driver, the airline/train/bus tickets, and actual transportation costs to get pets home.

Basically, the "insurance" covered the assistance that they would give you to find the rig driver/transportation options.

I can drive the truck while towing. If my husband were to die enroute somewhere (as so kindly pointed out by our driving instructor), it would be on me get the rig home and parked. Practically all RV parks we've been in there have people people around willing to help with hitching/unhitching. I can get the rig back to the storage lot, and part of the cost I pay there includes the ability for them to park my rig in it's appointed space.

All that said, once home, I'd sell it, as I have no desire to be a single RV traveler. Not sure about my husband, but he's free, if he wishes, to continue traveling if I'm the one to die first.

Thanks for the “heads up” . . . obviously, I need to read the fine print. Why am I not surprised? After all, this is nothing but another “Good Sam’s” scheme.

Rob

[livinthelife]

Thanks for the “heads up” . . . obviously, I need to read the fine print. Why am I not surprised? After all, this is nothing but another “Good Sam’s” scheme.

Rob

Well, it looks like that's not entirely the way it is now. At least, when I looked at the link Jim posted, it does say they will locate AND PAY FOR a driver to bring your rig back. But the wording regarding helping the surviving spouse get back home is a bit ambiguous, "They will assist in getting economy fares for the return trip AT NO ADDITIONAL EXPENSE". Doesn't really say they they will pay for the economy fares. So, I'm not sure about that part.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Maybe ya'll should start a seperate thread on using the Good Sam's TAP?