When you want to get conversation going between RV'ers, just ask for horror stories from driving an RV. Everyone has them or has heard good ones. There are 3 problems with RV's: the length, the height, and the difficulty in turning and/or backing.
Not only is an RV longer than a car (our car is 16' while the RV is 26'), but you're hauling both of them. With some additional room for the tow bar, the total length is around 46'. While cars can easily weave in and out of traffic, it's not so easy with a 46' rig. For us, Houston and Dallas have been the worst cities. The traffic is heavy, the lanes are very specific, and "cloverleaf" intersections can be 7 levels of roads at the same place. When you take an exit, it's very likely the exit then quickly splits again so you end up going north instead of south. Our GPS lady has been no help. Sometimes she thinks we're on a highway that is several levels above where we are. We've wandered back and forth around major interchanges too many times over the last month.
Height hasn't been a problem so far (11'0" for us), but we've been watching. We've heard stories of people stuck in tunnels with traffic backed up for miles. One story we heard was with a guy with a new tall RV and a new tow vehicle. He wasn't watching and jammed his RV into a short tunnel. So, he tries to back out of it. Unfortunately, backing doesn't work with tow vehicles. He smashed his tow vehicle (a new Cadillac, we hear). By this time the police are there. After looking at the situation and the long line of traffic behind him, they told him to just ram it through the tunnel. The damage had already been done. So he ends up with the top of his RV ripped up and a damaged car. So, yes, we watch the height signs on bridges and tunnels.
Backing and turning is a big problem. Since we're traveling all over, we tend to go on back roads we've never been on before. That leads to dead ends or sharp turns. We've learned that school and church parking lots are great to turn around in. We've heard stories of 5th wheels (a different type of RV that can back up) having to back up 1/2 mile when they got to a dead end. Personally, we've had to disconnect the car several times so that we can make a u-turn.
Traveling in a city with sharp turns and little room can be a problem. The worst stories we've heard are on mountain roads with hairpin turns. Some roads restrict the length of vehicles so they can make the turns. In the stories, someone with a big rig decided they would give it a try. They end up stuck with traffic stopped both ways. These stories never seem to have an end. "We never found out what happened to them. Maybe they're still there?"
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