Towing with a minivan

Terryallan wrote:

pscaravan wrote:
Wow, thank you all for the quick and helpful replies.

I apologize if I skip anyone, all your help is much appreciated!

There are three kids in car seats. Two adults will always be present, with another 1-2 adults joining in at various lengths along the way.

I have looked into pop-ups, but it's basically a tent on wheels and I feel like it would basically be the same as setting up the tent and sitting inside it. I could be wrong though

!

You would be mistaken. Popups are VERY nice. Ones with a 12' box are super roomy inside, Some even have slide outs for the table. They have AC, and heat. Some have a "wet bath" Which is a shower, and potty in one. They have dinets, and sofas, like travel trailers, some have U shaped dinets. They also have awnings. Some have an automatic setup system, and some just have power winches to raise the roof, Some use a drill to raise the roof. You can have a pup setup, and be under the awning in 20 min.

Also, and this could be big for you. 12' box, pups sleep up to 9 people very comfortably, and usually have a queen size bed at one end, some have a King.

The 12' box models are 24' long when opened. That is a pretty good sized RV. And most can be towed easily by a minivan. On the popupexplorer web site. You can find all kinds of info about pups.

A pup is a great way to camp. A great way to travel. Also think about this. A popup sits down out of the air when towing. With a travel trailer, You will be lucky to get 10 mpg, no matter what you tow with. With a pup. You can get 15 to 20 mpg, with the minivan. And "MOST" minivans have a 3500lb towing capacity. However. I believe the Town and Country has a 3800lb towing capacity. Thousands of folks safely tow pups with minvans.

To be honest. We miss our's.

To add to this... I grew up camping with pop-ups. We had a Nissan hardbody that I rode in a beach chair in the bed of the truck all over the country towing the camper. We eventually started using an Aerostar to make the cross country trips towing. If I could have convinced DW to go with one I would probably have preferred to start off that way (easy to store in a garage). I would really suggest going to a few dealers and checking them out before you completely discount them.