Add my voice to the large chorus of folks saying "Take the Camper!". Apart from the freedom it offers to stop, stay, or drive off in a huff, the costs will, at worst, be a wash, and may be even better. Back in 2012, DW and I and Brother-in-Law had a trip to Salt Lake City - they were going for a convention, I was going to take pictures. We only had two weeks. I looked at three possibilities - air, car/hotel, & RV. It worked out such that, so long as gas was below $3.50 per gallon, it was cheaper (tho not by much) in the RV for all three of us. With gas now down around the $2.00 level, it's even better. Car Rental and hotel costs killed the air option, and after considering it closely, even our large Caddy Deville would have been cramped with three adults and all our******for two weeks. Hell, I nearly assassinated my BIL once or twice as it was.. :)
Food costs were lower, and since we spent eight or nine of the 14 nights in free camping spots (Flying J, Walmart, etc) it was great. We did rent a car for the four days we were in SLC, but other than that we were completely self contained.
http://lens-flair.net/blog/the-road-to-perdition-vacation-2012/
