A really long vacation....

[HunterdonPaul]

And so I am turning 40 this year (yeah yeah lordy lordy..) Weeeee.

My kids are now old enough to take a rather major vacation so I thought I'd see the country. I live in NJ and have been to California but haven't been to most of the states in between. My thought is to take 2 months next summer and really experience the US. I have national parks on my mind (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Badlands, Grand Canyon, Mt Rushmore, you name it). I also have cities and other touristy things on my mind too.

I think that I'd rather rent a rec vehicle and perhaps camp. My wifes idea of roughing it is a Marriot - I'll have to see if we can make a compromise because that 30 or 60 days in a hotel sounds pricey.

Have any of you ever done a trip like this? Can you give me any advice. Its probably time to start planning for it.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

Can anyone give me any ad

 

[s1120]

Have you priced out renting an RV? I bet you find out that a hotel is not that bad. Also add in how much more gas a RV will use, over a normal car/van. Not that an RV would be a bad idea, it sounds like a good time, just don't do it just to save hotel costs.

 

[Bird]

So your wife doesn't think she'd like an RV? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif In 1971, when I wanted to buy a slide-in pickup camper, my wife did not think that was a good idea; said she'd still have to cook, wash dishes, etc. just like at home. Well, I bought it anyway, and within a couple of months, she'd decided she LIKED an RV; just wanted a bigger one! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif So, over the years we've had two conventional travel trailers, one fifth-wheel travel trailer, and two motorhomes. To me, an RV is the ultimate in traveling pleasure. However, it's an expensive hobby and most workin' folks ain't got enough time to use one enough to be worth the cost.

Renting one is a good way to learn whether you'd like to own one, but it is NOT a way to save money on a vacation. Rental rates are quite expensive and double to quadruple your fuel costs. RV parks are not inexpensive either (experienced RVers have big thick directories to help find the right places). On some vacations, you'll find that you want to go places that rigs the size of most RVs simply cannot go. A motorhome is the ultimate in RV travel, but we very quickly learned that a motorhome is no good unless you have a small car or pickup to tow behind it.

If you've used an RV before, you might enjoy one on your vacation, but if not . . .. Remember that in addition to the automotive aspects of an RV (somewhat similar to a car or truck with a few minor differences), you have all the comforts of home; TV, stereo, cookstove, air-conditioning, furnace, refrigerator, hot and cold running water, etc., but those systems are different from the ones at home and can be quite baffling for a novice.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but we did a lot of traveling, and lived full time in an RV for 6 years, and I can't even remember how many people we met who were on their first, and swore it would be their last, trip in an RV. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[TimSullivan]

Our family owned a motor home for several years and traveled cross country twice. The first trip was for eight weeks and the second for nine.

As far as my wife and I are concerned it is the only way to do it. We rented a motor home for a trip to Florida just to make sure we would be happy traveling that way. Even though several things went wrong with the unit we started looking for one to buy on our return.

I lucked into a class c that had been purchased and used to go across the country then traded in on two new cars after the trip. It was fall and the car dealer wanted it gone before the snow flew in upstate New York .

All I can tell you is that we put 40k on that motor home and it was the means to many wonderful experiences. I also sold it for 70% of my original cost. The motel/hotel route would have been far more expensive. The freedom is the most wonderful part. First you can just flat do more traveling and in more comfort. You are eating your own cooking and not wasting time looking for a restaurant. My wife would pick me up from work on Friday in the motor home and we all would head South for the winter break. One year we took turns driving and sleeping and drove from NY to Key Largo by Saturday night. We spent the rest of the week in the Keys and loved every minute.

A well equipped motor home will top a Marriott any time. It just is not camping. You may be in a camp grounds but todays units have all the comforts of home.

An example is our stay in Yosemite. We camped seventy-five feet from the river and stayed for three days. Our plan was for two days but it was so beautiful we just stayed. We were in a small camping area with room for eight units. Their were no hook ups but we were careful with water and waste. We had to run the generator in the day time as did most of the units to charge the batteries but it was a time our family still talks about.

In the Grand Canyon we arrived late in the day on purpose. We had been told that if the camp grounds were full the rangers would send motor homes to sites off in the woods for the night. Then you could move into the camp ground the next morning as sites opened up. We found a site that was back off the main track and stayed there for three days again. We watched coyotes check out our site in the moon light, had deer looking in our windows. On the third day a ranger stopped by and with a smile asked us how long we had been there. When I told her three days, she responded with it is a wonderful spot but you are only suppose to be here one night. I told her we were leaving in the morning could we stay the last night in our special place. She just told us she would see us in the morning and have a good night. We did see her the next morning as we started to pull out of the site and exchanged waves we as headed out.

There are many tricks to having the best experience , just do your research. Split up the chores so that your wife feels that she is on vacation too. Mine hated to go to do the wash so that was my job. We all took turns cooking even our eight year old. Just plan plan and then plan some more. You will always change them because a motor home gives you that fexibility.

My wife and I are retired now and we have been traveling to other parts of the world. We are starting to talk about another motor home and the places that we want to visit and revisit. Maybe this fall will be the time for us too. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[HunterdonPaul]

Wow! Thanks guys.

Sounds like really good advice.

Paul

 

[bgott]

I lived in a 19 footer for four years and a 30 footer for six. If you're handy you can buy a cheapie and fix it up. Once you get used to them they aren't that complicated. When traveling I skipped the campgrounds except for once a week or so to dump tanks and refill the water. You can spend the night in just about any big parking lot. The Walmart here has four or five high dollar rigs overnighting it at any time. When I moved to Florida I found a bunch of RVs on a wide spot in the road with for sale signs so I pulled mine up and dropped it and put a for sale sign in the window. No info, just the sign. I managed to live there for a couple of weeks before anybody griped. The point is, you can save a lot of campground money with a little practice. You probably won't want to go that low buck but you don't have to completely bottom feed to save a hundred or two a week while RVing. One thing that bugged me about RVing it, people have a tendency to peek in your windows. I guess it never dawns on them that someone lives there and they are just curious.

 

[OkeeDon]

I love it! We've stayed in hotel parking lots, WalMart lots, Interstate rest areas, truck stops between the big rigs, stadium parking lots and once even the Orlando Chamber of Commerce parking lot when they were closed for the weekend, but I never though of mixing in with RV's for sale. That one is definitely getting added to my list of tricks!

We use our motor home primarily as a way to do other things - the few times I have been a "normal" RV'er and stayed in an RV site for more than one night have not agreed with me. It seems to be a campsite tradition to wander in, sit down at the picnic table when you're trying to eat breakfast, and proceed to share an entire life story. In some others, "one-upmanship" is the rule (my RV is bigger/better than yours) and unless you pull in with a $2 million Prevost someone is going to be arrogant. So, we have learned a whole bagfull of tricks to "beat the system".

One time, when we just had to get away for a weekend, I reserved a spot in an RV "resort". It had a long entrance road, and my fuel pump went out just before we reached the check-in gates. They sent out the hay-ride tractor and towed us to a field used for overflow camping, where we were the only ones. It turned out to be closer and more convenient for all the amenities, and, after riding our bikes back to the spot we had reserved only a few feet from all the other RV's, I just decided not to repair ours until Monday. That was one of the better times!

There's nothing like an RV for travel. No matter where you are, you get to sleep in your own bed, use your own toilet, eat your own food, wear whatever you'd like and bring your dog with no hassle. If you work it right, you can avoid the cost and nosy neighbors of campgrounds. You don't always get to open the awning and put out the deck chairs, but that's not why we go.

If you're traveling for seminars, trade shows, quilt shows, races, football games, DCI shows, antique hunting, etc., how much time would you spend in your hotel/motel room, anyway? And, how cool is it to have your RV right outside, tucked in somewhere so it looks like it belongs?

WalMart actually sells an Atlas with marked locations of all the 24-hour stores where RV's are welcome. Many rest areas and truck stops have dump stations and water for refilling.

 

[rancar]

<font color="blue">"...thought is to take 2 months next summer and really experience the US. I have national parks on my mind (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Badlands, Grand Canyon, Mt Rushmore, you name it)..."</font>

Hi Paul....

YES, YES,.....do this trip. If you've got the time, it will be a trip you'll remember for the rest of your life. I did this trip myself right after college in the 1970s for about a month. I too was living in Jersey but attending school in Utah. I traveled throughout the entire West and hit most of the National Parks. My favorites (not in any particular order) were the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Olympic, North Cascades, Lassen Volcanic (northern CA), Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Glacier, Zion, and Grand Canyon. On the east coast, I enjoyed visiting Shenandoah and the Great Smokies. Camping at some of these locations is great to do but you may have to reserve right now for next summer. Campsites are in high demand. Check out the Natl Park System's website for information on reserving campsites. Just make sure you budget at least 3-4 days at some of these bigger parks, like Tetons and Yellowstone. There's lots to see and experience. You'll love it.

...Bob

 

[itsmecindi]

Fred and I traveled from Texas to Washington state in a pickup truck with a camper shell on the back. That was our motel room. We stayed at RV parks and camp sites. I would do it again in a heartbeat but it's not something you could do with kids of course.

We had that tiny space equipped with a full sized foam rubber mattress had a little shelf for a lantern and a coffee maker and even had a thirteen inch color t v up near the front. It was one of those pop up things. Cooler up in the front seat between us served as navigation desk and always had lunch meat fruit and drinks in it.

I remember waking up in New Mexico, so cold over night that the jug of water had ice in it, and sitting on the tailgate sipping coffee watching the sun come up. Flapping to the public shower in questionable attire and flip flops, bag of toiletries in hand, people saying, you talk funny.... where you from?

Then the further north we got it was....you talk slow...where you from? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Golfgar4]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Then the further north we got it was....you talk slow...where you from? )</font>

I don't want to steal any of Paul's thunder form his post, but you're comment about "talking funny" reminded me of when I was in the sixth grade.

My Dad was sent to Tucson for a year to oversee the building of a golf course. When we got down there, all the kids in my class kept complaining because .."I talked too fast and had a <font color="blue"> Yankee </font> accent (Yankee accent from Wisconsin?? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif). One year later we moved back to our home in Wisconsin, and when I started hanging out with my friends from before, they complained because..."I talked too slow and had that <font color="red"> Southern </font>accent! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif