[padredw]

I'm sure that most of you survived. What suggestions and advice do you have for thie newbie towing couple????

Some very good suggestions. Note especially:

-Make wide turns. You do not want the trailer wheels going over or into curbs etc. This will damage the axles.
-If a gas station does not look large enough, do not pull into it. You may have a hell of a time getting back out. Also make sure the canopy is high enough.
-Leave as much room in front of you as possible. You will not be able to stop on a dime (trust me).

The biggest problem I had was cornering. It took me a full year before I stopped running over curbs on corners - and my rig was just 34 feet long. After 10 years or so I figured out to always take whatever is available on corners

At first MAKE yourself think that you are DRIVING a 50+ foot long, 13+ foot high vehicle. In other words, you are NOT driving a pickup truck--that's just the engine. You are driving the whole rig. As you get experience you will feel this instinctively as you make turns, slow down, go down steep hills, pull into stations; but at first you will have to make a conscious effort to think like this.