Traveling across the country in a Hybrid???

Hybrids are wonderful if you like to spend time in state/national parks & forests. They are great in nice weather. Like popups, they can be a bit damp in rainy weather, and they are a pain to set up completely in a pouring rain. (Anything is, but if you want to deploy the bed ends, you and the beds will get soaked.) If you are camping in a noisy spot - right by the interstate highway, for example, or in a crowded campground on a holiday weekend - you will get all the noise as if you were outside, since canvas absorbs very little sound. Should you choose to "turtle" and sleep on the couch/dinette instead, be aware that in most models, those alternatives are made for young children, and not full-size adults. (Been there, done that, exactly ONCE.)

If your kids have a minivan, they may have trouble pulling any but the smallest hybrids anyway. Just a thought. (We pulled ours with a 6-cyl older Explorer, and decided to avoid mountains entirely.)

Only you can decide what's best for you, but if it were my choice, for long periods of use, I'd go with a fully enclosed trailer.

Good luck with your decision!

Really nothing different in whatever type of rv you use. May take a few minutes longer to set up and break down camp but that's about it.

One compromise between the two is to look at fiberglass eggs. I have pulled one 36,000 miles around the country with a V6 RAV4. Check the fiberglass trailer link on my web page for manufacturers and models.

Hi & Welcome You may also look into the ultra lite travel trailers as the give you a hard sided travel trailer and are lighter in weight. I have a 25 foot Coachmen Catalina Lite and used to pull it with a 1/2 ton Silverado and have even pulled it with my Ford Explorer when I had issues with my Silverado and I was camping. I currently drive a F250 CC and for now it's a lot of truck but I'll have the bigger truck when the time comes to upgrade to a bigger camper it's just something to think about. Happy Trails

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. We are not stuck with the 8 wk as my husband is retiring in March so will not have a time frame but 8 wks sounded good for the first run out. We have a new Dodge Ram 1500 sport. He was thinking that if we got the Hybrid it would still be able to be used by our kids and their families driving a VAN etc. I personally would like to have a typical travel trailer as I feel that it will be safer (ie: metal all around)??? I don't think he wants to pull too heavy a load either. We will probably have to scale down to doing sections of the country at a time. We are huge blues fans so probably go where the music is.

Hello and welcome to the forum... I would recommend a camper that you do not have to constantly open up the bed areas every time you leave and arrive at a campground. If you are going to tour all over the US in your 8 week time frame, you will want to spend more time relaxing after getting to a campground and some of the hybrids require extra set up time. Look at all your options. You will find the price difference may not be too substantial. Quick set up and tear down will be nice when on your vacation. Good luck and enjoy.