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charming's avatar
charming
Explorer
Oct 20, 2013

How do you RV?

We are newbie RV'ers with little experience camping.

We've always wanted to hit the road and visit many of the landmarks and famous places around the country. We've wanted to travel much of Route 66, National Parks and state and national landmarks around the country. We thought about going in a car but we would have to spend our time checking into and out of hotels and finding pet friendly hotels and worrying about the dogs if we left them unattended in a hotel room, etc. Plus the headache of having to dine out almost every meal.

Then we began the debate of RV - motorhome or travel trailer.

After much debate we decided on a B+ MH. It is 29' with 3 slide outs. We have no plans to tow a vehicle that is why we chose a MH so we didn't have to tow something also our MH is an 8 cyl.

With all that our plans are to spend the next 6 months going out for short trips to get the hang of it and to see parts of SC, our adopted home state, we've never visited. We will work our way up to much longer trips until we take our first big one for multiple weeks to visit all these places we've only read about. Using the MH as a base of operations.

Most of the posts I've read are from people who the camping is the reason for owning an RV and little from people who use it as a mode of transportation.

So what is your reason for RV'ing?
  • “Civilization isn’t all that attractive to me and I’ve always had a very strong affinity for unspoiled country. Plus I also have a wanderlust to explore new country. So RVing allows me to do both. I’m predominately a camper and stay in national parks and national forest campgrounds and do a lot of boondocking. But in between campgrounds there are, as you say, a lot of landmarks and things to see and we do that, too. Sometimes the trip is better than the destination.

    A couple of thoughts, if you’re concerned about leaving the dogs in a room you may have the same concern in the RV if you’re in a campground. People can get testy if they have to listen to unattended dogs barking constantly. Also, that’s a pretty big MH and a lot of people using them pull a toad. Mainly because it can be awkward to maneuver something that size in tight quarters sightseeing and it’s a pain to “break camp” if they have to run errands. But I think you’re on the right track making your first trips in bite size pieces. Good luck.
  • Main reason:
    Got weary of sleeping on the ground in our forties trekking into the dark to go potty :)

    Sometimes trailering is more trouble than camping out of the back of the car.
    Personally the main reason I (the DH) is to get away from some of our neighbors.
    The DW still likes to trailer for the positive experiences I guess.

    Frankly I could walk away from RVing and never look back...
  • We always used our travel trailer in pretty much the method you describe. We referred to it as "a big long vacation". Didn't sit in any one place very long and moved on wherever we chose when we felt it was time to do so. You MAY find that you want to re-think the "no towed" rule as it can be cumbersome going to the grocery store, out to eat at a nice restaurant or even getting into some of the major attractions with the motorhome as transportation. One possible way around it is to consider renting a car for any place you will be staying for a given period of time. We chose the trailer trailer for just that reason, we can unhitch and have our truck to get around in easily. Lots of different ways to accomplish the same things.

    The exception to our "vacation lifestyle" was the winter months. We would take a more traditional view to December, January and February and set still for much of the time but even than we had a kind of route and would divide our time between three or four different locations. Old habits die hard :)

    Good luck / Skip
  • We enjoy RVing because it gets us out of the house and gives us a chance to visit new places. We also meet a lot of very nice people and make new friends. We enjoy the truck/fifth wheel combo. The beauty of camping is that everyone can pick what they want for an rv. I even see a lot of folks using tents and that is cool too.
    We started with a 19 foot tow trailer and 5 RV's later we have a 43 foot fiver. My daughter loves to camping and it will give her a lifetime of good memories.
  • First of all, there is no right way to RV as everyone does it for a different reason and has a different style.
    Many like the more remote areas and like to Boondock with no water or power.
    Many like the more commercial resort type parks that have all kinds of amenities, like swimming pools, tennis, and other activities.
    Everybody else falls somewhere in between.

    We do it because we travel quite a bit for work and got tired of living in hotels, we wanted to sleep in our own bed at night and have our stuff with us where ever we went.

    Also the puppy dog enjoys the RV much better than Hotels.

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