Does your partner tow?

[Rossue]

Met a couple recently who decided to leave camp early when Covid-19 began to spread. One main reason was of concern that if anything happened to the "Driver of the FG Winnebago" the wife could not take over.

Is this fairly common? Susan does drive some, yet mainly when it is flat & easy- like I-70 west of Grand Junction most recently- yet she is not skilled enough to go out on her own and hitch/unhitch.

[Donna D.]

No one is born with a towing gene, no one. Everyone learns. I'm no one's partner. If I didn't do it all, my trailer would never leave the driveway. I can't imagine staying home...

I don't find towing or driving or anything else (cooking? cleaning?) being gender specific. It's more the desire to WANT to do it and encouragement from others to succeed.

BTW: It was my Mother that taught me to drive, not my Dad.

[John in Santa Cruz]

for this very reason, I had planned on several practice sessions with my wife and hitching/unhitching during our numerous scheduled trips this spring/summer. the previous rig was a 6-speed stick shift, and my wife's really out of practice driving a stick, she hasn't had one since the early 80s. and the few times she drove the Tacoma, she consistently shifted way late and rather roughly. anyways, the f250 is an automatic, but its also harder to maneuver to hitch up due to its size and awful turning radius.

[Eggscape]

Yes my wife Marilyn tows the Escape and all of our other trailers. She is also great in backing up trailers, however she has not tried backing up the Escape yet.
She is a strong believer in learning all the functions so that if I was incapacitated she could take over.
On that note...I have colour coded (painted) all the locks and keys to make it as easy as possible.
Photo is a sun rise on the prairies durning our cross Canada trip.

[gbaglo]

My wife doesn't drive, never mind tow.
"Just throw me in a ditch" and call a cab, I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK1XbMXw8rE

[tukwilma]

Years ago, a lady I know said "Honey, always take your own car." It's a life philosophy I'd been raised with, but said so succinctly that day. While it's great to have partners in our journey, we have to be able to survive alone. And frankly, I don't think it's fair that Jeff have to do all the driving.

Before we traveled to the Utah canyons with my family's big 5th wheel a few years ago, I learned to tow, and drove about 25-30% of the time that trip. I also took my turns towing our little tent trailer, and just this Friday somehow got the Everett to Tukwila leg (the part where we actually had traffic) as we brought our new 21 home from Sumas. And that meant that I also got to be the first to back into the driveway. Sure, it took a few tries. But that's how we learn.

[EdColorado]

My wife can no longer drive. She surrendered her license some 15 years ago.

I have a Garmin inReach.

https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/

When we stop for the night I send a location message to each of the kids. Their job is to find and help mom, call 911, etc., should the need arise.

Haven’t ever needed the inReach but it’s only $12/month for the peace of mind it brings us.

Ready to get on the road again.
More than ready.

[padlin]

My wife drives, but doesn't tow, actually she's never driven the truck. We've meant to remedy this but it just never happens.


Part of our reason for coming home early from GA this March was the same reason the couple you met gave, I was worried about getting sick and leaving my wife stuck with the rig that she can't drive. We do both have brothers we could call if we got in a jam.

[Jim Bennett]

While my wife is a good driver, she tends to want to let me drive most of the time. I really don't mind driving though, and am usually good for long stretches and do enjoy it. But, if I need a break for any reason she will gladly jump behind the wheel. She is not fond of towing in congested areas like some city and real busy highway driving though.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

My wife doesn't drive, never mind tow.
"Just throw me in a ditch" and call a cab, I guess.

Hi: gbaglo... When I was taught to drive... it was said "For every mile of road, there's two miles of ditches"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[h2owmn]

I'm like Donna, driving solo. Started with a tiny A-Frame, moved to a bigger one, and now the palace de resistance.

[Dplandry]

My wife first learned to back up our boat trailer about 30 years ago. Once we got our first camping trailer she learned how to hitch up, tow and back up. We never know when something can happen to make it impossible to drive home ourselves. I am blessed to have a wife who can and was so willing to learn everything about the camper. Not to mention the many times we fish together and the many times she out fishes me. Happy camping !

[dfandrews]

This was a good issue to raise, Ross. Like the other responders indicate in their cases, I am the primary driver when towing, with my wife occasionally taking a shift between gas/scenic/etc. stops.
When we first got our Escape, she drove occasionally, to get the hang of it.
Then, we started making a concerted effort to make sure she could do it all.
We took the trailer to any empty parking lot, and practiced backing, especially into particular parking slots.

Now, each time we camp, we share the different set up and take down procedures, and also the walk-around before taking off.


The result is, either of us can do it. We think it is very an important item to

practice and be prepared with.

[Bea]

Originally Posted by h2owmn

I'm like Donna, driving solo. Started with a tiny A-Frame, moved to a bigger one, and now the palace de resistance.

Me, too. I do all the driving/towing and parking. However, I am blessed to sometimes also have a great co-pilot who has multiple screens all around him, showing our route, helping to navigate our way around all the traffic congestions. So helpful! What's worked well for us, was for him to handle our international travel (we love to travel) and for me to handle our domestic travel. (Domestic = fancy word for camping)

My favorite thing to do when our boys were young was.... on various Fridays, I would drop them off at school, run home, hitch up the tent trailer (had 3, our TT grew in size as our boys grew in size), dive to a cg and set it all up, rush back, pick up the boys from school, wait for DH to come home, then we all drive to an 'all set up site' for dinner and enjoy a fun weekend in the great outdoors. When on business travel, sometimes hubby would fly into a nearby airport, rent a car and crash our cg party.

With our new Escape, I think our style of camping is going to gradually change from destination camping to more road trips. So in the future, I foresee dear hubby getting behind the wheel and helping out on those long stretches and gradually getting to a point where we can both do everything, for safety sake. Besides, our desire for foreign travel is starting to be replaced with a desire to see and explore more of our great North American continent. I feel for you solo drivers. It's not easy...especially driving in new territory. You guys are amazing!-Bea

[arniesea]

Paula drives / tows but gets nervous on narrow, winding 2-lane roads so I usually do those stretches. She will do pull through sites but leaves the backing up to me as well.

One feature I love about our truck is the memory setting for the drivers seat and mirrors. Makes it real easy to switch drivers since at a push of a button, everything is set. We also have an acronym before we start: "BLT" - stands for Brakes, Lights, Tow / haul button.

Eastern Montana ...

[Doug2000]

Your significant other needs to know the ropes too.

A friend of mine and his wife was 8 hours from home when he started peeing blood. Off to the hospital. He was in hospital for a week. His wife who was far from comfortable driving drove the motorhome back to the house across Toronto to collect the car and other necessities. Just a note, Toronto traffic is the worst traffic I have experienced.

What I'm saying is your partner needs to be able todrive the rig without you in the worst case scenario. It's in your best interest.

[P&L]

'Does your partner tow?' you ask?
Yes, My husband drives and backs up just as good as I do!

Lorna

[Upfisk]

We split the driving duties 50-50, every 2 hours we switch drivers. Backing into a space, that is Gary 100% of the time.

[salmo7000]

Originally Posted by P&L

'Does your partner tow?' you ask?
Yes, My husband drives and backs up just as good as I do!

Lorna

Awesome Lorna!! I'm with you, I'm the female in our partnership, and I drive almost all the time, towing or not! My husband can tow but does not enjoy it. He's one of those rare guys who is more than happy to turn control of the vehicle over to the wife, which works for me . He does drive, however, when I get tired.

He can also hitch and efficiently implement our pre-flight checklist.

Anyone can learn to tow a trailer, male or female, you just have to want to and get over being scared. It requires practice and adjustment to one's normal driving habits. After doing it a few times, it gets to be like second nature.

[Yakanaka]

We both tow but I have more time off in the summer so
I drive with the kids and my partner flies out to meet us. We are hoping the border opens so we can experience Alaska without cruise ship tourists this summer. He plans to fly home from Anchorage while we take 10 days to drive home.