HELP! Family road trip questions - no prior experience

OK, here is my opinion, after doing this exact thing, twice. First, take a breath, hold it, and release. Good.

When we traveled with our children, we bought a Class "C" for the over-cab sleeping area. That MH did not have slides, but we never felt cramped. Weird, I know. We found one that was not too big (29ft) knowing we would trade up when the kids were no longer traveling with us. We bought used, making sure it was in good working condition and not too much in the way of interior repair, etc.
As for "gas vs diesel", I hate that question, because there are those on both sides that swear you have to have one or the other. For us it got down to the availability of diesel near where we live (none), and because my husband does all of the motor maintenance and has zero experience with a diesel motor, we went with gas. A Ford V10 chassis. We tow a 1998 Camry, so not a small car, and have had absolutely no problems as far as weight goes, and no problem going up hills (except that time in Colorado going up a ridiculously steep incline that had no end, but that is a story for another time :-))

I am in the "do not rent" side, because we were going to do just that, until we penned out the overall cost and figured that would pay a good portion of buying one. However, do whatever you feel comfortable with. Just know this: Once you do this, you will most likely want to do it more and more. Our children have seen most of this country, and we had a blast doing it. We had enough adventures, laughter, close calls, and everything in between to last a lifetime of memories. And that is what you are doing. Making memories. I know you are feeling overwhelmed, but trust me, once you are on the road, you can leave all your worries behind, until the heater coil goes out, haha.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Sharon

P.S. Now we have a 2008 Clsss A, with 2 slides, and a dog instead of the kids, but we still have a blast when we take off in the winter to the south where it is warmer.

don't fear the unknown. If your family is up for it, and you can make the economics work, just pull the trigger and do it.

Definitely rent first, as I find there is a large learning curve to Rving. Our friends rented a class A diesel pusher and it scared the bejeebers out of them! They were so glad they rented it because now they know they don't want a DP.

If you want to try it out without investing several hundred thousand dollars, here are my thoughts:

With just 4 to travel I would look for a motorhome, either gas or diesel, that will tow a car that will seat all for and a little extra for shopping etc. We towed a chevy tracker with a 97 30' motorhome on a Ford 440 with no problems, well over 100,000 miles, living in it for up to 6 months at a time, with 2 large dogs instead of the kids. Of course the dogs often slept on the floor!

Some years ago we met a lady with three kids traveling all over the Americas with three kids about the ages of yours. The were trying to visit as many World Heritage Sites as possible in a year. They had already done the far east (not China) and after Central America were going to Ireland, renting a camper van there and doing Europe! Daddy flew in to meet up with them when work allowed--he mostly had to stay home and work to pay the bills!

After a few months or so you will probably know what you need and or want.

There are also some 40'-45' truck conversions that have upto 30k lb towing capabilities if you want to have an enclosed car trailer. Since these started life as a Class 8 truck (the over road trucks), they have the power for 80k pounds. There are ones with bunk models and lots of storage as well, multiple bathrooms, etc. Look into Dyanmax, Haulmark, etc.

Don't worry on these about needing to shift, the new modern ones are basically an automatic transmission with no clutch pedal.

There's also a guy in Missouri (Hawk Engineering) that makes custom conversions to meet anything you'd like, including the trailer. This is just one of a few I've found that does one-off customs for reasonable prices.

There are a lot of campgrounds (public and private owned) that can handle 65-70' rigs without disconnecting a trailer (or toad), so don't worry about length or having to park a trailer somewhere. When you look into campgrounds just make sure they can handle the length of whatever you end up with.

I don't necssarrily believe renting will answer your questions. If you can make your questions very very specific it will help. It will probably be difficult to rent units with a wide range of features, length and slides will be items you can judge. Renting will not be the final answer for specifying a unit for long term living.
Just take it easy talk to a lot of people and read read read.

Bob

I heard on another forum that Winnebago/Itasca is rolling out a new family friendly model motorhome. One with bunk beds and one with optional bunk beds over the cab area. However, unless you have money to burn I would second what Mr. Mark said and RENT FIRST. You also do not necessarily need 400 h.p. for a toad. It all depends what you want to tow.

I know this is done by many - successfully. Try Googling to find some blogs by 'full-time RVers with children'. The blogs are out there but I've never really paid attention to them because we don't have children along. It would be a great learning experience for all of you. You might want to mosey on over to the 'full-timing' forum on this site and perhaps some bloggers will show up.

As for taking along 2 cars, that would be very difficult and totally unnecessary. You can't tow 2 cars behind a motorhome and that would mean you'd tow one and you, yourself, would be driving the other. Not being all together in the same space doesn't leave time for good conservations on what you're seeing out there! It would also be very expensive - double the fuel, registrations, insurance, maintenance.

Good luck and it is definitely doable.

We bought a Fleetwood Discovery 40G last year. It has bunk beds, lots of storage, W/D. It has the 380hp diesel and we tow a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. The 380hp is plenty, although I wish I could get the 450hp diesel in it. It slows down a bit on the mountain passes but we can still pass some of the 18 wheelers. otherwise the engine is fine.

We have 2 girls 16 and 18 now, but we have been RVing since the youngest was born. We have had 2 travel trailers and this is now our second motorhome which in a few years we will plan to full-time in. Usually we take a 2 week trip each summer and a 1-2 week trip in winter.

Having a motorhome with a four wheel down toad has been for us the easiest and quickest setup. I don't think taking more than 1 car is practical at all. You would than have to have a trailer and then unload the cars and find parking spaces for them would be a hassle. Also in a lot of states you are limited to 65ft length.

I also agree that you should try renting and shorter trips to find out what you need and want in a motorhome.

David

Natalie, have you and your family ever camped before? For people who have never 'RV'd' before but think they might like it should definitely rent first.

You mentioned 'cars' as in more than one. That will take a nice size trailer and hopefully the cars don't weigh over 10,000 lbs. together including the trailer. A Honda CR-V weighs about 3,500 lbs. To take both cars you will need a diesel coach in the hp range that you mentioned.

What a nice way to teach the kids about this country and they can see everything in person instead of just reading about it.

Good Luck,
MM.