Chapter 6: Where Do You Go To Take Motorhome Driving Lessons?

This is the wrap-up of my three days training session at Motorhomes of Texas in Nacogdoches, TX where I took part in a pilot Learn To Drive A Motorhome program. This program came to life due to my desire to learn to drive a motorhome prior to making the decision whether or not to make a purchase. It seems that the standard operating procedure in the RV industry is to provide training after the point of purchase.

Personally, due to the sheer size of many motorhomes, I found this practice to be counter productive and simply not the safest way to send a new buyer down the road in a new RV and went on a mission to find locations that would provide training prior to making the purchase decision.

Motorhomes of Texas was one of the few locations I could find that agreed to provide training to a newbie who has not made the definite decision whether or not to buy a motorhome. There was a price for this training class and I was happy to pay the fee. Simply stated, if I wasn’t comfortable behind the heel of a 45′ motorhome or decided this wasn’t for me, the price would be a heck of a lot less than what I would have spent buying a new or pre-owned RV and then realizing that I didn’t want to drive it!

I’ll point out that I’ve had the motorhome bug for many years, but haven’t had the opportunity to drive one to see if I could feel comfortable behind the wheel. I’ll add that during my Today Show days and many years as a syndicated columnist, while I produced segments or newspaper stories about what’s new in RVs, I had never driven one. Due to the vast reach of my stories, I was honored by being named the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association’s (RVIA) Journalist of the Year in 1997. Click Here to view an NBC Today Show segment I hosted and produced in 1996.

While I called various dealers and manufacturers around the country to see if they offered any sort of one-on-one training programs, I was coming up empty. However, Motorhomes of Texas gave this a try and it went well.

In this video, you’ll meet Mel Cordray of M.O.T. and we talk about why he made the decision to provide this type of program.