Newell Gurus

Your welcome! Good to know. But better is
Take good care of the tires and hopefully you'll
Never have to use that skill.

It's VERY tough to actually hit the throttle in this situation. It needs to be "practiced" (simulated) a bunch of times before you're even close to being comfortable. The instinct is to hit the brakes. I had a left front blow in an sob I was driving. After the tire blew, it started to shred and tear up the fender. It wasn't pretty, but it was controllable. That's why I'll always have a HUGE steering wheel for the extra leverage.

Very tough for anyone of any strength in a loss of control situation. Many years of racing cars and a couple of bad experiences prove to me that in any situation where there is loss of control, "Technique" and a strong, determined personality will better suit you than "strength".
I agree with Chester and another poster in that a few hours behind the wheel means little in the real world on the road, but , it has to start somewhere ! Anyone's spouse can take a good lesson from Carol taking the initiative to learn and begin what should be many more experiences behind the wheel.
Everyone in a coach travelling "fulltime" should be able to drive with confidence and learning to "hard brake" or drive grades with shifting is essential to that education.
So don't worry so much about muscles to control a coach in trouble as you do your brains reaction to a contrary thought like "hitting the brakes" instead of acceleration or "turning in to a spin"....

Thanks Larry for your comments. Left Camp Newell last Friday after the driving lesson and headed to Ketchum, OK - just down the road hoping to meet up with a couple we met there last year. We stayed 3 nights with plans to leave Monday morning and go back to the Tulsa area to spend some time with kids and g-kids before heading south. As we were preparing to leave I told James that I would like to drive. This route and general area is very familiar to me having driven back and forth many times to and from Grand Lake so it was a great opportunity to get in some driving time and James' first experience being the co-pilot. He agreed so I got behind the wheel and he directed me as I backed out of our spot. He hooked up the jeep and off we went. I drove 85 miles through Tulsa freeway traffic and a couple construction areas and pulled into a truck stop for fuel. I backed into our site while James gave me hand signals. I honestly never thought I would be driving the coach, but I really enjoy it. Luckily all our tires are new. James handled my driving well. We had a couple issues. He said he's not ready to kick back and catch some zzzz's yet while I drive. Understandable. I'm looking forward to getting in a lot of driving time and getting more experience. I love teamwork and this lifestyle is all of that.

Congratulations! That T-town traffic is a beast! It makes the OKC stuff seem like a Sunday afternoon drive in the country.

Carol,

Congratulations on learning to drive the coach!! And this coming from another woman. When Jeff and I first got our 88 Newell he started out driving, and I told him I wanted to drive! So I started driving and it was 38 Ft. It drove like a champ. With the wheel base shorter than the 45 that we now have. I do 99.9% of the driving! I had to learn how to drive the mountains, shifting when needed, interstates, narrow 2 lanes hwys, stop lights and traffic, braking and so on. I absolutely love driving our coach! Jeff sits back and plays Xbox, watches tv, and even sleeps on each trip. Not to say that sometimes hitting a ruff spot in the road he doesn't get up and say "You ok?" LOL

Good luck and keep practicing!!

Pam

Way to go Jeff! You're my new hero

LOL Forrest! I told him what you said! He hadn't seen the post! He grinned...

I have another wreck to report. Got an email yesterday from a friend who totaled his late model Beaver in Florida resulting from a blown front tire on the interstate. He reports that it was impossible for him to control the steering. Guys and Gals on this forum, be careful out there and please be sure to view the Michelin video. Our Newells are very heavy on the front end and the front tires, in my opinion, are the most important safety item on the coach.

Chester,
Was anyone hurt? Any pics?