Washing your RV on the road

We have washed ours at a forest campground, county parks, a small city parks and at a couple of small private mom & pop campgrounds. None of these facilities have city water that they have to pay for and none had any problem with use of the water for this purpose.

I just finished washing three vehicles in my driveway to get the road salt off from our recent snow. I absolutely will not take my vehicle to a car wash in the winter. Around here, and I suspect in many places,car washes are required to recycle their water. The filters that they use will take out oil and dirt but there is no cost effective way to filter out salt which is why desalination plants are so expensive. I am not going to spray high pressure salt water on my vehicles.

I don't know what state the OP's Carrollton is in. But living in western NYS, if I leave out this time of year, it is guaranteed that I will be traveling over salt and sand treated roads and that much of that will end up on the underchassis of my motorhome.

Once I get far enough south, I head for a Blue Beacon Truck Wash that has the Salt-Away Undercarriage Rinse. If I remember correctly it only cost a extra $5 on top of their normal $35 they charge for my 36 foot diesel pusher (some locations charge a extra 8%). Blue Beacon uses only warm, soapy water for all recreational vehicle washing and no acid washes. WeatherShield™ or RainX® Complete paint protectants are also available at a extra charge..

If I have to wait a hour or two in line, it is still well worth the wait, cause I want to get that salt off and the undercarriage properly taken care of.

Re: reservations: About 18 miles from my house is a truck-stop (Bordentown, NJ) that has a truck wash. Going there to get information, speaking to the clerk, he told me the BEST time to arrive....would be about 2AM on a Sunday morning. Then....I would be there (maybe) for 3-5 hours. First come, first served.
Observing an 18 wheeler getting washed....the hi-pressure bothered me....my decals.
So....I wash it myself, or like in my previous post, have it hand washed at my snowbird destination.

Meffrig wrote:
Sounds like I may have to try Blue Beacon-would one need to call ahead to make an appointment? Thanks for the input.

No, drive on in. They don't take reservations.

I wash the MH just before we leave and right after we get back. Most campgrounds don't care if you do a little touch up with a bucket and a sponge, so that's all I do on the road.

In the Southwest most people that travel hire a mobile wash to come out to your RV location and wash your coach for you. They use soft water to wash with! If you wash yourself with the hard water it leaves huge water spots on your vehicle.

When home, and doing weekend trips, I wash the motorhome before I leave. When doing our winter "snowbird" runs...either to Florida or Arizona the rig gets really dirty on the way out. While on the road...I simply keep the windshield clean. Most of the time, the windshield washer/wiper is enough. Sometimes not. So, I get on a 3 ft ladder and take care of it.
At my destination...the RV park or cg always has SOMEONE who will clean the RV for a nominal fee. Sometimes a liquid wax is included...sometimes not. I always ask the guy to do the roof, too....maybe 10-15 bucks more.

Motorhomes are supposed to be WASHED???

DW drives me crazy. She wants me to wash ours every year! :B