I guess, being RVNana and all, I feel obligated to give you youngins’ a good talking to from time to time. This is one of those times. The lesson for today is: How To Prevent Driving Your RV Sleep Deprived.
People, I’ll tell you right now. If you are tired, stop and rest. You are creating a hazardous situation for you and those you share the road with. You may not even know you are tired until you start feeling the effects of road-hypnosis. That’s when you know you’ve driven for a while, but can’t remember the last landmark you passed. That’s tired, people. You need sleep.
You can really avoid sleep-related problems while RVing by setting a comfortable schedule of driving and resting. Take the time and pace yourselves. Set aside enough time to make the trip there and back easily, otherwise save that trip for another occasion. As much as the seasoned RVers understand this, there are times when our experience can become dangerous by instilling a false sense of control. At the end of the day there aren’t any magic tricks that will keep you awake while driving. Sure, go ahead and open a window, drink a cup of coffee, or try blasting the music, but the experts will tell you that the only thing that will help a sleepy driver is sleep. Go figure.
I’ll make this simple. Plan your trip with the goal of covering 250 miles per day at the most. 100 to 150 miles per day is better. If you must drive farther to reach your destination, plan on having at least two qualified drivers taking turns. If both drivers are exhausted, it’s time to stop and sleep. You are bringing your bed with you! What kind of fool falls asleep at the wheel with a bed in the same vehicle?
So, there you go. You’ve been scolded by RVNana. If you need to pull over, just pull over. RVing is a lot more fun when you are actually traveling and not towing your rig out of a ditch, or worse, because you fell asleep at the wheel.