How do you see the sights without a toad?

We have a 24' and a CRV toad. Both with and without have advantages and disadvantages

With toad you can drive around and sight see using the MH as a base. You might even make up the gas milage you lose towing (for us, about a mile per gallon). You can go to places the MH won't fit, metro downtowns for one example.

The downside, while towing, you might not be able to stop at the little cafe, or the quilt store DW just spotted. Gas stations take some planning to get in and out. You bought the 24 footer because it was easy to handle, now you're driving a 34 footer.

Here's the test we did before getting the toad. We picked a fav campground a few hours from home. My wife followed in our regular car. We liked it so we went ahead with the hitching up. Luckily, we already had the CRV.

The one thing about having a toad is you have the option of taking or leaving it and thats how we roll.

BTW - I really wanted a motorcycle, but Mama said no way was she going to ride on the back!

Norm

I've found how well this works depends on where I am going. Without a towed vehicle, the issue is not so much about getting around (road use restrictions in urban areas need to be understood) as it is parking. Where parking demand is low, it is not so much of a problem, I can use a partially empty lot and can often find the 2 to 4 spaces I need (narrow spaces sometimes mean taking double for width).

FWIW, the width is more of a problem than length most of the time, so a C it matters not so much whether 24 feet or 26 feet or 30 feet; with spaces marked 7-8 feet wide for 18-20 foot vehicles, you still don't fit. My daily driver is an 18-foot van, I have to be judicious selecting parking for that, avoiding places where parking spots get marked smaller.

Where lots tend to stay packed full, or demand is so high space is almost all in garages, I might end up some distance from where I would like to be. Where demand is high, you will also find shorter, narrower spaces and narrower aisles cutting into maneuvering space. The mall my daughter uses in Wichita, parking her minivan almost always means an extra backing maneuver to get in, SIL's crew cab truck takes a couple of extra passes, and there is no way you are going to find a single space to accommodate an 8-foot wide, 24 foot vehicle, let alone two spaces nose to nose.

I find in this environment, the toad adds to the problem. To use the towed vehicle, I need to find parking big enough for RV + toad so I can unhook the toad, and then when I get back I have to hope nobody has filled the space behind the RV. So towing can sometimes mean driving the combined rig only to RV parks, and using the second vehicle only from there.

My experience is mostly the Midwest, rural South and Southwest. If I can stay out of cities and suburbs, the RV parking experience is mostly OK. I've also found that I can drive around in cities like Detroit, KC, St Louis, Memphis, Houston, Wichita, OKC, Tulsa, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, but I can't always find a place to park. What makes it worse, there is sometimes no place in the metro area where I can safely park the RV for storage and drive around in a towed vehicle; Detroit and Chicago are particularly difficult for this, RV parks are way outside the city center, and outside the "nice" suburbs. I prefer in these cases to terminate the RV part of the journey where I have access to public transportation.

Can't speak for West Coast, nor for East Coast, except my experience visiting Megapolis without a private vehicle is that it is almost a solid mass of RV-unfriendly territory.

I forgot to mention this in post above-

I have a touring mode sometimes. Short distances between campsites with lot of stops in between. If I want to eat at an Oregon coast fish restaurant, I'll often plan it into a touring type travel. Not leave a campsite and come back, but incorporate it into a shorter drive between sites. Or tour that lighthouse, beach, etc. I've had travel days at 50 miles or so with that in mind.

I can close up the RV and be on the road in 15-20 minutes including some cleaning and organizing. Like others have posted I only usually hook up electric (or dry camp)-I use tank water and dump as needed. So basically unhook power, put a few things away and go.

I have many one day stops in campgrounds. I don't do it always that way but I find it a fantastic way to travel.

I also have a motorcycle on a trailer if I want to stay somewhere and look around on a deeper level.

We tried it without a toad, for our life style it didn't work. We usually stay or week or more and don't like breaking camp every time we want to go somewhere. Tried renting cars, where we stay that didn't work very well. Taking our 2013 Honda CR-V is not a problem. If you buy a 24 to 26' MH and find you need a toad you can always get one. Dick

We either:

a) Park further away
b) Use bikes
c) Take the toad
d) Stay put

Many times where we are is the destination. We cook at camp, walk to the beach, lake, trails, etc.

Our toad is a very small 4x4 so it goes where the RV (and most other vehicles) can't.

Bikes can get places no 4 wheel vehicle can.

Have a 32' and need a towed. Went to Helen GA, and found that there were no rental car places within 20 miles and the campground was 3 miles from town, and there was no place to park in the small town parking areas... Went to Beverly Beach and found that the closest place was more than 2 miles from the campground to get a beer or anything else. Several others also, like St Augustine, is impossible to drive around in and finding a parking lot for an RV is a trip. I would never give up a towed, of motor bike of some kind to get around on when parked.

I also hate taking everything down just to drive to town.

Markiemark:C

We have a 27 foot Class C. We have traveled across the country to the western states and national parks three times, and this past summer traveled to Alaska all without a toad. We have had no trouble parking the RV close by to various venues. At times, we will call ahead to make reservations, then ask them where to park the motorhome.

As to unhooking, often we will only hook-up electric at a CG. When we want to go somewhere, its only a matter of un-plugging the cord and going. It takes less than 5 minutes.

We have parked in small towns without issue, think Jackson WY, Estes Park CO, Ft. Collins CO, Great Falls MT, etc. We have also parked in the lot for the Santa Monica pier. Only once were we not able to park to see something, but there were no available parking spots, not even for a toad.

We are travelers as you can tell. No toad works for us. But, if you tend to stay in one place for a longer time to see local events, a toad might be the best for your circumstances. Like many things in life, there is no right or wrong solution, only different ones. Best wishes on your trips.

We are thinking about a small motorhome such as a Trend or View and prefer not to tow a vehicle. What problems or obstacles do you encounter when trying to park at restaurants, museums, tourist attractions, etc. with a 24 motorhome? We now travel with a 29' tt and want to make life easier. The smaller space is not a concern. Ease of maneuvering and not having to hitch up a trailer are a priority.

Since you are switching to a 24 foot MH you won't have ANY problems! :C

I started out with a TT also and ditched it for the same reason.

I now have a 31 foot and traveled on the road for several years before adding a toad and quite honestly I didn't find it a problem going anywhere in it. The class C maneuvers better and you can virtually park them where ever you need to same as a car.

A 24ft will open up even more places you can venture into. The View will go where any car can go!

Come on over to the MH world of RV'ing. Pull in, put in park, and open a cold one. No more unhooking, hooking up, etc, etc, etc. :C

To the O.P. richy2,

Our rig measures 23'-8" long, and we tow a 2006 Jeep Liberty to be more mobile. National parks, monuments, forests and such is our primary focus. We have gone on one 4 week trip out west without towing the Liberty and we regretted leaving it home. We were able to get around with the house, but with limitations and inefficiencies.

Once you get near 22 feet long, it becomes difficult to get around in the places we travel to. Below that length and you can still fit into a regular parking space. That's what it's primarily about from my own experience.

It really is not that big of a deal to tow a vehicle once you get used to it. If you really like your 29 foot rig you own today, I would keep it and just tow something.

Here is our 23'-8" long rig and tow.


Something like THIS sibling of our rig is as long as I would go without bringing a tow vehicle along.

ADDING: I can see one trip we would leave the tow vehicle home, a trip to Alaska. I would think it is more of a "sight see as you travel along" kind of trip with very little "base camp with day excursions" where a tow vehicle is most handy. Am I right????