“What is the most difficult thing you have encountered while RVing?” This was a question recently asked on Facebook by contributor Zoe Ariana of the RV Boondocking group, of which I am a member. At last check, more than 700 members had responded to that question.
Many told of problems with their RV: breakdowns, part delays, leaks, tire problems, becoming stranded, etc.
Others offered rants about RV owners with dogs that choose not to follow campground rules concerning pets.
Some related rather scary encounters.
A few complained of fellow campers that were stupid or rude. Some even chastised themselves for being stupid.
The best part was that many of the “difficult things” were comical. My two favorite answers to the question, “What is the most difficult thing you have encountered while RVing?” are as follows: The first one involved attempting to have quiet sex in the middle of a packed RV park. They should have read this article in advance to prepare themselves. The second was from a gal named Becky who realized her male traveling companion needed to be her ex and wanted to get back home immediately to end it!! These are both called out with italics in the list of responses below for those looking for the “rest of the story,” along with an assortment of some of the other 700 comments.
For me, the most difficult thing I have encountered while RVing is having the underfloor potable water tank fall out of my RV at the beginning of a two-week boondocking trip.
How about you?
What is the most difficult thing you have encountered while RVing? Please share the most difficult thing you have experienced during your travels using the comment box below. I suspect the answers will spawn future RVtravel.com articles.
Some of the 700 responses on Facebook
In the meantime, below is an assortment of the over 700 responses to the question, “What is the most difficult thing you have encountered while RVing?” Can you relate to some or most of these?
- A slide that wouldn’t retract!!!
- Tire blowout damaged holding tank amongst other things. Don’t use extensions
- Running out of fuel… not having an extra fuel container
- The RV itself
- Stupid people
- The front landing gear not raising when we hooked up. Called mobile repair. Seven hours later on the road. Ten minutes into our drive one of the landing gear dropped and snapped off on the highway. **honorable mention goes to the highways in CO. I thought I-40 was bad. The highways in CO are a special kind of hell to pull a fifth wheel on.
- Running out of beer and all the stores are closed.
- Stubborn moose
- The initial down payment!
- Other people
- My own stupidity and carelessness
- Mainly, People!
- Some of y’all, are Rude!
- Trying to have quiet sex in the middle of a packed RV park. Five or six voices chattering away right outside the camper. We could clearly hear every word they said. I don’t think we were as quiet as we thought, because afterward you could have heard a pin drop outside.
- Staying in RV at 18 degrees waiting for a part
- AC breaking down in 100°+ heat with pets in the RV and no shade (or gas station) in sight.
- People who don’t leash their dogs
- So-called “Karens” and campsite etiquette. I had a lady from the campsite across the road come over and complain to me about the smoke from my campfire
- Another issue we had was a brand-new Puma bunkhouse on its maiden voyage with 4 kids. 2:30 a.m. smoke detector goes off, unit is full of smoke. The electric fireplace had caught on fire! It shorted out without being sprayed with fire extinguisher. We also had a bad converter/inverter so no power. Storm came up and we could not roll in awning. The arm of awning was torn out of the tt frame in one gust of wind. Traded that “new” piece of junk. Refused to put my babies back in it!
- Two flats within four hours of each other. No second spare. 28 miles outside of SLC.
- Realizing he needed to be the ex and wanting to get back home immediately to end it!!
- Mice getting into my toy hauler. (Rodents are always a difficult thing when RVing—per author.)
- Stink Bugs in Ohio. It was a virtual rampage. Unreal. Never seen anything like it anywhere else.
- Getting a reservation for a decent size site for our large 5th wheel in National and State Parks. We’ve had it pretty easy compared to some of you.
- When the car broke loose because of a faulty pin. Thankfully we had crossed safety chains. We were able to stop at an exit. Unhooked the car, drove it and the rig to a side road. The husband went to find a new pin, the dogs and I read a book. All worked out. We now travel with several spare pins.
- Our Class C got struck by lightning at 5:30 a.m. while we were sleeping in it.
- Getting reservations
More difficult things
- Heat, wind and dust of Burning Man … also, the after-burn clean up
- I bought my pull-behind not realizing the previous owners did not clear out the septic, started to leak as I drove. The stench, y’all. The stench.
- Chrysler automatic transmissions.
- Getting my RV back from the dealership
- Pretending like you’re having fun when it’s actually a lot of work
- Class A caught fire at gas pump!
- Rude campers that party loudly until 2 a.m. I camp to enjoy the quiet of the woods or the sound of running water out my window.
- Traffic and lousy neighbors.
- All the nasty people sh**ting behind bushes and trees and leaving it and paper on the ground and trash everywhere.
- Can’t find bulk propane for motorhome.
- Haven’t had a fridge in 7 weeks.
- Lost the generator in 107-degree heat 2,500 miles from home.
- Mice
- Stuck in foot-deep loose sand that took more than two hours to get out with the help of an off-road vehicle that had a winch.
What’s the most difficult thing you have experienced while RVing? Please don’t forget to share below.
Dave will be speaking at the 2023 America’s Largest RV Show in Hershey, PA, September 13th – 17th. He would love to meet RVtravel.com readers that are attending. Feel free to introduce yourself after one of his seminars. Breaking News – Those attending Dave’s Dry Camping Tips and Tricks seminar (10 a.m. daily) can enter to win a soft start device. One given away daily!
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Years ago, my parents RV septic tank straps rusted off and the tank fell off on I-75. Had to tie it to the ladder til we got back home. Left a stinky trail.
Have to agree with the pain of losing the generator in 105° heat on a long trip. Took three weeks to get the diagnosis and the part. Turned out to be a faulty ignition module.
Having to back a half mile down a road because the bridge that google maps thought was there wasn’t.
In May of 2021 FedEx drove down our driveway to deliver a package. The driver climbed back into his truck, put it in reverse and floored it. He backed into our travel trailer with such force it was pushed 4 feet, buried the tongue jack into the ground, bent all four leveling jacks, forced the tires over the chocks and split the back corner open from top to bottom. He came to our door and told my Wife, “I scratched your trailer”. FedEx would only pay us slightly more than our own insurance company would. I wrote to the CEO. I sent pages of documents. All to no avail. Our trailer was 27′ long with a GVWR of 4200lbs. FedEx destroyed our ability to camp. Nothing like our trailer is made today.
I detected a lot of stupidity reading this article, as the comedian Ron White says, You Can’t Fix Stupid!
Campsite sewer connections that are uphill from the RV. C’mon campground owners, EVERYONE knows sh-t does not roll uphill!
I admit, I do not enjoy campfire smoke from green wood or long smoldering fires. Apparently, I am not the only person either. This summer, someone called 911 over a smoldering fire a camper left when they pulled out. Three fire agencies responded with engines which drew quite a crowd.
The most difficult thing;
Is getting on and off the hwy. Nobody wants to let you in!! Or off!!! Crazy.
I’m not sure that I understand. Are you expecting cars that are traveling at highway speeds to stop and allow RV’s to pull out?? Because that would be ridiculous…
They just need to slow up enough so you can merge in. No need to stop.
Minor. I guess, but annoying: LP detector beeped All. Night. Long… due to low house battery. Took us a while to figure it out
Broken spring and spring hangers: first was up in Alaska and second time in Pennsylvania. Broken mono spring in Texas that resulted in all springs and one axle being replaced over six days. The plus side was it forced us to spend time in an area and explore it. We found some great BBQ, too.
Swarmed by thirsty bees wanting water from our a/c condensation in 110 degree desert weather.
Pretty minor, compared to some. Had the water line become disconnected under the sink, twice with two different faucets. The bad part was it took a few minutes to realize that was why I didn’t have water to the other faucets. Many wet towels later all was good until a few years later and noticed a soft floor in the baggage compartment.
10 years ago driving through Colorado on I-70 with a newly purchased Jayco Flight TT, encountering a severe thunderstorm and feeling the wind blowing from one side to the other only to find out later we were on the outer edge of a tornado! Yikes!!
A blowout on I 95 in 103 degree temperatures. Luckily AAA responded pretty quickly, but scary with all the trucks and cars going by at 80 miles an hour!