Many of us have experienced driving at night to arrive at a campground “after hours” and therefore: In the dark. Sometimes these campgrounds are somewhat off the beaten path, maybe down a narrow two-lane street that is lacking any form of lighting or the solid white-line at road’s edge. Driving in such a scenario can be a bit scarry. My personal story is as recent as the Dogwood Christmas Rally at the Rockahock Campground at Lanexa, VA. We arrived much later than we anticipated, and the righthand turn off of Rockahock Road onto Outpost Road was a challenge on that very dark night. Our GPS showed that we were approaching the turn, but the turn for the Outpost Road was very difficult to discern. I observed a vehicle behind us with bright headlights, and I can only envision that the driver was perturbed at my 5mph speed for the last two blocks of travel as I strained to discover the turn. Any thought of him passing me was dashed as I began migrating into the oncoming lane in anticipation of the upcoming hard-right turn. Point is: My RV’s headlights, whether on low- or high- beam were no help at showing exactly where the turn was. Since then, I’ve wished that I had one of those police-car spotlights! Short of that, I do carry a long throw LED flashlight (powered by C-cell batteries) and I think I will make available to my copilot to help when I find myself in a similar dark-night condition.
For normal cruising, seasoned RVers make a point of a walk around before getting underway, but we might be focused on the RV’s rear brake and turn signal indicators … along with the similar indicators on the towed. I’ve now added to my list a check of the RV headlights (or if you have a 5th wheel or trailer, check your tow vehicle headlights) to ensure that both headlights are working. Having noticed that my headlights were not as bright as they used to be, I replaced both with similar bulb types: Halogen. One of those bulbs failed after only two years of service even though I followed installation instructions (“Do Not Touch The Bulb With Your Fingers”). For this bulb’s replacement, I chose to proceed with an LED -type bulb. I have yet to drive at night with this combination of “one each” technology, but even in daylight, the Halogen bulb’s light throws a “warm” light (white with a tinge of yellow), and the LED has that “blue-ish” cast that is sometimes distinctly obvious with some of today’s late model cars.
As for internal lighting of our RVs, “safety” might be a harder sell. I’ll not offer much. But we’ve all wished for better/brighter lighting when opening a cabinet door and staring into a dark cabinet. Or how about those times when you drop a pill on the floor and finding where it rolled requires being on hands-and-knees. Even though they are small but none-the-less terrific LED flashlights that use AAA batteries, I have experienced that the AAA batteries fail me just when I need them the most. “Fail” in this case can have several causes: The dreaded acid oozing out of a battery or merely some age-related corrosion on the contacts such that the flashlight is just not working. What I’ve now found is the small, LED flashlight that is rechargeable. The charging source is that of the standard 5vdc transformer that has a USB port. You know the ones: They come with your new cell phone. And for those retired or traded-in devices, we probably have several of these transformers in a bin somewhere. The rechargeable LED flashlights, sometimes sold in a pack of 3, probably keep their price lower by not including the necessary transformer. These little guys also offer adjustable lenses: Highly focusing the beam (great for finding that dropped pill) or a broader beam that illuminates that dark cabinet on your RV.
THINK
SAFETY
EVERYDAY!
Wishing everyone safe travels.
FRVA Dogwood Chapter
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