Cross Country Trip: RV or TT ?

Much ado about nothing. :R I happen to think of "RV" as meaning some sort of self powered recreational vehicle but because others apparently have difficulty with this concept I suppose the OP would have been better to have phrased his thread as "Motorized or Towed?", specifying if he had any preference in each category, along with of course defining what he meant by "we". ;) Since we ourselves ("we" meaning our family of four, as well as now just my wife and I ;) ) have long distance traveled towing popups, a hybrid, and travel trailers I'd see no reason to sell one I already owned and trade for a self propelled "RV" just because we were talking about a long distance trip. If what you have works, use it! :B

"Who is "We"?"

we is wife and two dogs..................

As a retired RV traveller, I'd also suggest looking at a short-ish Class A. We started out with a 26' Class C to "see if we liked the lifestyle". We loved the lifestyle, but soon came to hate that turkey Class C with a passion. It was fairly old (an '85 with 10K miles on it). We bought it in early 2000.

It had the Ford 460 engine, with enough anti-smog gear for a small town and it only got 6 mpg. That dropped to 4.5 mpg above 2000 ft.It was much more cramped than we first realised, with a corner bed in the passenger-side rear, alongside the bathroom. We off-loaded it after a half season.

Four years later, we bought a 32' Georgetown Class A, a 2000 model with the V-10 and 4-speed transmission. 8 mpg with no drop at altitude and so much more room inside. We kept it for 4 years before realised we were dipping into our IRAs to fund the lifestyle, so we retired from the hobby.

5outta6 wrote:
We are thinking of a 8-9K mile trip this spring from California to the East Coast.

Who is "We"? If it is just you and your spouse, then I'd say stick with what you have. If "We" is you, your spouse and a couple kids, then the Motorhome is probably the better way to go, travel wise. The kids would certainly have more room in a Motorhome vs. a truck for a trip of that distance. You will want to tow a car behind the motorhome so you don't have to break camp every time you want to leave the campground.

-Michael

PS A TT is a RV, so is a Class C Motorhome

I've had my hybrid for two years now and have towed it 7000 miles.

I am currently living in it for 4 months in Florida.

As said above, we really like the set up we have but above all - I know this camper inside and out! I have fixed, replaced, modified, virtually everything in it. THAT right there gives me peace of mind. There is no nagging 'what if' always lingering in the background.

I can relax and enjoy my southern excursion.

Nothing wrong or hard about towing a TT across country. In 2014, we went from Richmond, VA area to the beach in LA and back, totaling over 7,900 miles. We had no problems what so ever. And it was great when we got to a point of interest. Drop the trailer in the campground, and then take the pickup out seeing the sights.

I pulled the trailer completely across LA from Cajon Pass to the beach at Dockweiler, then up to a campground at Van Huys.

You just have to remember when towing, to be extra aware of your surroundings.

5outta6 wrote:
We are thinking of a 8-9K mile trip this spring from California to the East Coast.

We have a TT that has worked well for trips as long a 10 days and 2000 miles so far.

We have been contemplating trading the trailer for a class c Rv. (we had a class c for about 8 years previously).

I think the RV would be alot easier driving , etc than towing.

The big 'but' is that I know what condition my TT and truck are in and if we buy a new RV, we probably will have warranty issues right off the start so we'd have to take small shakedown trips before the scheduled big trip and then hopefully the RV dealers could get you in for repairs.
If we buy a late model used Rv (I usually buy used) you hope it will function ok.

We would probably run about 300 miles a day. With many multi-day stops at relatives towns along the way.

Anyones opinions will be greatly appreciated.

windinmyface2 wrote:

cruiserjs wrote:
TTs, 5th wheels, class Cs, Class As are ALL RVs!! Let's get rid of the so-called class distinctions please!

your statement makes no sense.........yes, they are ALL RVs. But each one has specific amenities, driving/towing characteistics. Therefore, they ARE distinctly different.

His statement makes peerfect sense. The OP titled the topic RV or TT. A TT is an RV, so the question should be "What is the OP talking about?"

Lwiddis wrote:
300 miles a day violates the 230/2:30 rule of which I adhere. (Miles/time of day)

That is not a "rule". It's nothing more than the way that YOU choose to travel. At 200 miles, I'm just starting to enjoy the drive. I would drive myself nuts with that sort of a policy.

I prefer at least 300-350 unless I plan an interesting stop shorter than that. If I'm only doing it for a couple of days in a row, I have no problem doing 400-500.

On a road trip without my TT, I'll do 700 without breaking a sweat.

cruiserjs wrote:
TTs, 5th wheels, class Cs, Class As are ALL RVs!! Let's get rid of the so-called class distinctions please!

your statement makes no sense.........yes, they are ALL RVs. But each one has specific amenities, driving/towing characteistics. Therefore, they ARE distinctly different.

300 miles a day violates the 230/2:30 rule of which I adhere. (Miles/time of day)