valhalla360 wrote:
For short trips with lots of miles, leaving the RV behind often makes sense.
- You can travel faster.
- You buy less fuel.
- You are paying premium short stay rates for campgrounds.
- You are probably going to go out to eat several times anyway.
Reduce the miles or longer duration trips and it starts tilting back toward RV.
This has been my experience also. When I retired in 2004 I kept track of each trip we made on a spread sheet. Trips less than 3 days it was cheaper to take the car, longer than 3 days the RV was cheaper for me. 95% of my trips were dry camping no FHU campgrounds so this might factor into costs. My trips averaged from $67/day in the lower 48 states to $107/day for a 3 mo trip to Alaska. The biggest expense has always been fuel. Fuel to Alaska and back was about $5000 about 1/2 the cost of the total trip. However, by car and hotels where can you find a hotel for less than $100/day let alone eating out and fuel for the car. An RV trip is totally different experience, I had my bike, fishing rods and rubber raft with me, was able to stay inside the NP's and NFS campgrounds with the RV instead of trying to find a hotel outside and driving into the scenic areas. The trip up and staying at the NP's in the US and Canada was just as nice as the destination. Having said all that, we flew out to Las Vegas last Nov. for my nephew's wedding, rented a car and went to Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Sedona, visited friends in Snowflake and Phenix AZ and returned to LV to fly home. It was a good trip now that we are older, just not the same as taking the MH. I did not figure the cost, but it was much more than a MH trip.
