Thinking of renting a small RV of some kind for a couple months this summer. Would like to travel with DH and our two Bichons while we still can enjoy. Have no experience with RVs whatsoever. Would want something small and manageable that we could take into state parks, etc.
Charlotte, and others with knowledge, please share anything you think would be helpful. I have no idea where to start.
Renting is a good idea, you get to find out if you really want to buy one or not. I would get the biggest that you feel comfortable with driving. I would do it for a weekend first and then plan on a month or so.
Thanks Moorsb. I definitely will not be buying one. There are many different types out there. Hoping someone can enlighten me on the pros and cons of each and where is a good place to start looking. Plus, has anyone ever learned to drive one of these things later in life? I'm 58 and have never even had a big car.
Go to the rental place and rent for the shortest period of time (weekend??) the smallest one that at first glance seems to have everything you think you would need and see how it goes. You can do this, go for it.
Thanks Weejun. Of course. couldn't see the forest I guess. Will try to find a rental place and just try out one. I tend to "over research" and make things more complicated than need be. Thanks again. WIll keep you all posted. If I don't post in the next few months contact the highway department.
Oh, and see the thread I started on The Leisure Seeker, a novel about an RV experience with an Alzheimers person driving!
Terry, I would go with a Class C motorhome,start with a 25 ft, no bigger than 30ft for such a long trip, because they are closer to driving a truck - they are the style that looks like a pickup with a camper on it. Plus, they are the ones most often rented and tend to not be as wide as a Class A. Things to check out even when renting are: no cab over bed (or make sure there is another one) as they are hard to get in and out of especially in the middle of the night; sit on the toilet, stand in the shower to make sure they 'fit' you; I prefer for the toilet to go straight into the black water tank. The reason is that when there is an angle they tend to get clogged in the pipe, especially for someone not use to an RV. Also, the sensors seem to never work so you can look into the tank with a flashlight to know how full it is. Make sure they show you how to empty the tanks and do not be afraid to ask for help when in an RV park.
The majority of RVers are more than happy to offer help and advice. When driving make sure to just make wide turns.
Before taking off make note of what type power you have (30 or 50amp) and if it is 50 amp you also have a plug along to kick it down to 30 amp. RV parks always have 30 amp, but do not always have 50 amp. Really important is to know your height clearance. You do not want to drive under a low bridge and wipe out the a/c on top!
Often when you rent they will send you off missing important things you need like sewer hoses, couplings, the plus to drop down to 30 amp or even 110.
Please feel free to email me and ask any question as you get closer. And yes, you can learn to drive them. I have yet to drive ours but know I will have to soon. I know many women who have taken over the wheel when in their 60s and 70s.
Just picked up RV Handbook at library. I think what I'm after is a Class B Camping Van Conversion. They look like regular vans and are supposedly the easiest to maneuver however tiny. Now, to see if I can find a rental place.
Tiny is the important word. If you are going to spend a month or so in them, I would not recommend them. Remember they are a van, so you can't stand and walk around unless you get one with the pop-up on top. They usually have very small holding tanks - basically they expect you to use public facilities except in emergency.
But they are worth checking out so you will know. And wherever they rent them they probably rent Class C.
Terry: I am jealous and a little bit envious. I wish I could do what you are talking about, but, it is to late. DW can't travel anymore. Do it while you can and have a good time.
We had an 18' motor home and lived and traveled in it for six weeks and 6000 miles with three young children. Don't remember feeling cramped. only remember the fun we had. This was before AD.
I miss our motor home. We used to have a 40' diesel pusher. Our dream for retirement was to travel the US and Canada. It isn't going to happen. I sold it so that I could use the money to pay for care for my husband.
Regarding recommendations, if you've never had one before, think about a class b or class c. A class b is like a van. It would be a fairly easy transition to drive. The next is a class c. You can get small ones to large ones. I would recommend you not get anything bigger than 25 feet. They are wider than a car so it will take some getting used to but they are also similar in that they have a cab like a truck.
If you rent, make sure they walk you through how to hook up. You can get supplies at a Camping World or Walmart. You will need stuff for the black and grey water tanks. I'm more than willing to share everyting I have learned and what I've done. If you would like more information e-mail me at diane.tomasevich@comcast.net
Correction - you do not need stuff for the black and grey water tanks. We have owned them for years and lived in then full time for over 10 years. Also, you do not need to buy special toilet paper, just avoid the 3 ply.
Hello friends, It's a newbie here. Travelling by RV for a few months is one of my dreams too! I have been talking about it for over a year now. DH is 69 going on 6. I can still have fun with him though and it helps to keep laughing and I have good support from daughter and daughter-in-law. I think the travelling is more for me than him, but I figure if he is confused in our own home he can be confused anywhere as long as I am at his side. I would be doing the driving but I am a sturdy 56 year old still working at a good IT job with Univ. of Colo so would need to ask for leave of absence to pull this off. I have 25 years in our state retirement system so could retire, but I like my work. It would hurt my pre-retirement income to take a leave of absence, but hey, which would I rather have, money or fun? I have a couple questions for my you my new best friends (even though this is my first post I feel right at home already after a few days of reading on this site). I really don't want to buy an RV. What would it cost to rent one for 2 or 3 months? Can you rent them from individuals instead of commercial dealers? How about pros and cons of retiring to take care of DH even though I enjoy my work? I was recently approved to work at home one day per week (yea!!) so get some support/flexibility from my managers. I have someone with DH 3-4 hours daily and he is on his own for a few, so far this is working out. Reading your posts about our future issues makes me realize these are still the good years (I have been saying this for about 4 years now). I am probably answering most of my own questions, but I welcome your comments. --Marcia
Marcia-taking a leave is the best gift you could give your husband. Long after he forgets you will remember. If you will need health insurance through your work you might want to consider not quiting just yet. We rented our camper at first to find out if we really liked camping (we did) and what suited our needs. Welcome to our group and good luck with your RVing
Google rv rentals to find some. Cruise America is one of the biggest RV rentals. I agree that renting if you have never done it before as a good way to go. But, for a couple months could be costly. Best would to be call around and see. You can rent privately but I am not sure what the insurance issues are.
WOW, what great responses here. I'm getting excited and have ordered a few books from amazon by people who have taken off and rv'd for awhile. One Live Your Road Trip Dream by the Whites is written by a couple who bought a Class B Van Conversion and that's the type I'm interested in. I know they're not big but at this point I don't anticipate spending most of our nights in one, but want to have the option to stop when we want and also in some parks. I hope I can find a place to rent out neaer here. Charlotte, will follow up on your suggestion.
I have to admit to being very inspired by The Leisure Seeker and also by the movie The Bucket List. Many months ago I posted a thread here asking for your favorite places to visit within the U.S. There's so much I'd like to see again and still haven't yet seen like the Grand Canyon.
Marcia, Welcome! My first thought when reading your post is "don't stop anything you enjoy" at this point. I made that mistake. Temporary leaves are another thing altogether. Your sitaution sounds similar to mine in that I'm 58 and he's 67. I stopped working, he took early retirement and we moved half way across country.
Marcia, "How about pros and cons of retiring to take care of DH even though I enjoy my work?" You might want to start a discussion with this question so you'll get more responses. It's an important decision with serious repercusions. As I said before, I wouldn't give up so much I enjoyed if I was starting this over again. I feel like I gave up "me" and I'm not sure what's left now.
DEAN: Thank you. You made my day. The idea that anyone could be envious of anything about my life gives me pause. I definitely need to be able to appreciate things as they are now as they certainly will get worse. Depression (the third member of this household) makes "appreciation" so difficult most days, but your comment gave me a little push. thank you. I wish you were in a place to do more of what you'd like.
Terry - here are some websites for RVing. www.irv2.com http://www.rvtravel.com they have a newsletter, forums, books, movies, etc. http://www.gypsyjournal.net/index.html Don't be afraid to ask questions. The newsletters from rvtravel are very good and interesting.
Terry, Afterward I realized I had really put it all out there, because I was just spilling my guts all in one post. I will use other discussion threads for these other topics. Thanks for the comments, all.
Frankswife: I relate totally. I find myself doing the same thing. Once my fingers start hitting the keyboards in a certain mood I just let it rip. There's nothing wrong with reposting a concern or question under a separate heading. I just want to make sure your question gets the attention it deserves. We'll all benefit.
terry and everyone else.......my idea of a vacation has NEVER been one in which I take along all of my housework (cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., let alone dealing with that water/sewer hose thingy). Just my thoughts... Jen, the stick in the mud.
You RV thinkers....the very best vacation I can remember taking with John was to Sanibel Island when we lived in FL. Just stopped at a Mom and Pop style old motel and spent a week just strolling the beach. No reservation, no phone, no pager. Real simple and CHEAP.
I've gone from camping in a small tent for several weeks to, six weeks later, dinner at the captain's table on a 10-week cruise. Guess what? I enjoyed both equally. I don't think it has to be an either/or situation. Any kind of vacation can be fun.
I grew up with RVs tents, trailers & motorhomes Class C & A. Mom & Dad still go out monthly in their 40 ft Class A.
It can not be stressed too much that you must rent/travel for a short trip before you even consider anything longer. A week is nice, plan a trip of about 500 miles or so. Include 3 different camping locations. (so you will learn how to hook and unhook the utilites and plan your supplies)
RV life is a love or hate thing. There is no real room for just tolerating it. I will discuss the dark side of RVing so you have a balanced discussion.
While it is very romantic to imagine the gypsy life of traveling whenever and where ever you want. In reality it takes lots of planing. Because you have your 'home on your back' you have to think about everything it takes to live a daily life. You are responsible for everything needed to cook & eat and clean up afterwards. (unlike a restaruant) This includes such things as making sure your food supplies are stocked before you get to the wilderness camp because you cant count on having a market.
Unlike staying at a motel you are also responsible for your own utilites. Fresh water, electricty and yes sewage. When to fill the tanks and when to empty them is always on your mind when traveling. Joy is finding a dump station when your holding tanks are full :-)
Showers are not 10+ minutes in length (unless you are in a park with with hookups) because you will quickly empty your fresh water and fill your waste tank. RV showers are closer to sponge baths. Electricty comes from either a battery (that will go dead) or a generator that uses fuel and commmonly must be turned off after about 9PM. (campground rules)
Can all this be learned and managed. SURE! but again it is either a love or hate experience.
As for picking the type? If you are traveling in an RV remember you will spend more hours "Living" in it than "Driving" it. As noted above think more about being able to stand up in it and being able use the bathroom than being able to get it down the highway. BTW - If your decide you love RVs there are schools/places that will teach you how to drive it properly. ;-)
While you probably wont have much of a choice with a rental, a piece of advice I give people before they buy an RV is to SIT IN IT for an hour or more. It will be your home on the road, if you cant stand to just be inside of it for an hour, then a week (maybe a month or more?) is going to be unendurable.
My husband and I used to have a 60ft yacht kept in St. Petersburg. Brought it with us to Newport News when we moved back to Virginia in '94. Went out a lot in it (he loved this stuff....I never trusted his "captain" skills) but I always knew that somehow, one day, I was going to die in the deep blue sea if this kept up. (He also kept telling me that this kind of boat wouldn't ....likely....sink in heavy water. Said the mast might go under (!) but the boat would right itself. Yeah. I kept a harness on all the time). Yep, we had to consider the supply thing (MY job) and were always looking for a "dump station".....which COSTS....espkecially the FUEL. Lesson learned? I still think that RV stands for "Ruined Vacation". Just my opinion. Jen.
m-mmman - thanks for your very helpful thoughts. And thank you to everyone who has responded. I'm definitely looking to rent and have no desire to ever own an RV. I had my heart set on renting a Class B van conversion. Ha! They are almost impossible to find and none anywhere near here. They have become very popular of late from what I'm learning. I like the idea of being able to drive it around town fairly easily. I've been surfing the web and learning all kinds of things about the RV lifestyle and people who live in their vans (vandwellers have their own site). Since I can't rent a van conversion I'm considering renting a minivan and putting a mattress in it. We don't intend to spend a lot of time in an RV/van but just want to be able to travel with the dogs and occasionally SEMI CAMP a day or so at a state park and also have the option of sleeping in the van if finding a pet friendly place is too difficult. In the parks I've been to the amenities are wonderful which I'd prefer over the camped quarters of an RV anyway I think.
Quite a lot of people do travel in just a van with a mattress so I'm thinking it might be worth a trip from here in Northwest Arkansas to Tucson where we could stay for awhile with my brother. That should tell me whether I'd want to travel to the bay area in CA this summer.
For years we camped in a pop up towed easily behind our car. It slept 6 people easily. All it had was a propane heater and stove. We used camp restrooms and that was fine with me-no dump station.
bluedaze, we did too. We had a Starcraft tent camper, four children, and a station wagon that hit the road every three day weekend, plus trips halfway across the U.S. staying at state and national parks and at KOAs (when they were new and had pools and showers that the kids loved). Some of our best family memories were in that camper! The kids remember those trips with love and fun and now try to get their families to go!
NOW, I am like Jen and Vickie - when I go on vacation and to sightsee, I want my comfort and I want others to wait on me!!! Give me a Hilton, Marriott, or Hyatt!!!!!
Mary-ours was a Bethany. When we moved to Florida we sold it. Too hot without a/c. Those were the best times of our lives. I used to keep it loaded and ready to go at all times. Sprur of the moment trips were the greatest.
We did a little of the crude camping ourselves but DH hated it. Do they even make the pop-up campers anymore? If they do forget about taking teenagers with you. I enjoyed that also but like Mary, now I want to be waited on.
Some of my own best memories are of sleeping in the dressing room of my horse trailer! I'd park near the showers, toilets, and other amenities. Sleeping bags. we'd be there for DAYS sometimes. Some of my buddies had "live-in" trailers......wow. Kitchens, beds, toilets, TV, a shower.....everything. Lucky ducks. At one time, we had a conversion van that we liked to travel in as a family when our kids were small. The back area would flatten out with the push of a button and form into a bed. The kids could sleep, watch TV, Play Nintendo games. Yes, we saw a lot of stuff we wouldn't have seen if we had gone to our destination by airplane.....I got tired of "are we there yet?". Yes, now, I prefer to be "taken care of" at a nice hotel, thank you. Been on plenty of cruises, too. Now, I just want to GET THERE and have fun at my destination. Right now, I can't go ANYwhere......I'm lucky to have been able to do all the stuff I did earlier in my life. Yes, I'm trying to remember the "good stuff" from the last 28 years. Thanks for reminding me of the good stuff!