Newbie a little nervous about driving a class a

[Stevenryals]

My wife and I just bought a very nice, well maintained 97 Thor Manor

I have never driven a class A.
Are there any classes I can take?
Are there any resources online that helps route a large vehicle to roads tahat are easily passable? This is a major concern for me - finding myself on a road I can pass or turn around. :-0

Did everyone else have a bit of nerves before their first time driving a long class a?

I pick it up next Wednesday. Looking for resources and reassurances. 🙂

[Stevenryals]

God points. Good links. Good stories. Thank you all very much. It's actually reassuring that others felt anxious about it at first.

[rgatijnet1]

Go rent a 24' box truck from one of the local truck rental companies and practice with it. Be sure to get insurance. :B
Seriously, this will help but your seating position is a little different than in a big box truck as opposed to a class A but at least it will give you some experience driving a large vehicle.
The main thing to learn, which the truck rental will help with, is to give you the experience to learn where the truck will fit and where it will not.
Think back at some of the unlikely people that you have seen driving large trucks, buses, etc. If they could do it, so can you. :B

[Twomed]

RV School

Great place to start. 🙂

[Doin_it]

When I started driving Class A someone told me the first thousand miles would be nerve racking. And that was about right. I remember having to consciously relax my shoulders, loosen my grip and uncurl my toes. After the initial thousand, things eased considerably, except for fueling up. That caused angst for quite a while! Ha! Learn to quickly scope out the station and don't ever, ever pull into a spot you're not sure that you can pull out of. Do you know anyone who owns a Class A that could do a ride along with you and give some pointers? Practice in a big lot first. Always be aware of your tail swing. Fourteen years, second rig and 70,000 miles later, it is all still glorious! Have fun!

Ann from Kansas

[Stevenryals]

Thanks for the responses. :). Good ideas.

I found this. Looks pretty cool:
Rand McNally RVND 7730 LM RV GPS with Lifetime Maps and Wi-Fi https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N3RM186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PGrtzb7W9Y725
Anyone use one of these?

[NMDriver]

Try your local school bus company for classes. They may allow you to participate in their training for new drivers. I suspect that it will be expensive though.

You can practice in a parking lot. The main issue is the turning radius of the back wheels and the need to go far into an intersection before turning the front wheels. That and parallel parking 🙂

They look bigger than they are. You may need to reverse a time or two on Cul-de-Sac streets and watch out for crossings/driveways where you have a steep approach or departure angle but otherwise you will be fine.

[jplante4]

Plenty of YouTube videos about driving a class A.

This channel has videos about almost everything RV.

[midnightsadie]

you,ll learn ,just take some nice short trips around the block. always remember its not a VW,have fun.