I know I've seen this discussed a while back, but can't find it, so here goes. We plan to go full-time next year. We have a 34' Class A and plan to start out with no tow vehicle. I'm interesting to hear from others who have done this and how it worked out for you.To further clarify, we plan to be fairly "nomadic" for several years. Traveling to national (and state) parks, bluegrass festivals, amusement parks, etc. We do not plan to drive to one place and be parked for months at a time. When we reach a point where we plan to be in one place for an extended time, we know we'll want one.We are in our mid/late 50s and in decent shape. We can walk and ride bicycles for "close errands". Shopping/haircuts/laundry/banking can be done on "travel days." For several of the national parks, we know we'll want to rent a car to further explore. We've done several 3 month long trips and one 7 month trip with no toad (in a 24' RV). So, we have an idea how it works. Sure, there were times a car would have been handy. But, with bikes, buses, cabs and rental cars, we still think it's a much cheaper option and really not that inconvenient. We'd love to hear from people who are DOING it. Or HAVE done it.

Good Luck In over 18 years of Full Time in a 33' now 34' DP.I have always traveled with a Motorcycle(9 years in enclosed trailer) or a toad.Slow down and take advantage of campground weekly rates and explorer the area in your own toad.Tow 4 down toads can be gotten cheap under 5K and around 2K to set up for towing.Saves a lot of time spent trying to rent, if even available in the area you want to explore.

"We've done several 3 month long trips and one 7 month trip with no toad (in a 24' RV). So, we have an idea how it works. Sure, there were times a car would have been handy. But, with bikes, buses, cabs and rental cars, we still think it's a much cheaper option and really not that inconvenient."Sounds to me like, you've already got it figured out and you've learned to to make it fit and work for your life style ! Keep doing what you've been doing and don't change a thing!

Sourdough Biscuits wrote:We've done several 3 month long trips and one 7 month trip with no toad (in a 24' RV). So, we have an idea how it works. Sure, there were times a car would have been handy. But, with bikes, buses, cabs and rental cars, we still think it's a much cheaper option and really not that inconvenient. We'd love to hear from people who are DOING it. Or HAVE done it.Sounds like you have already figured out what works for you.

with a 34' it won't work the same as it did with the 24'. Parking won't be quite as easy as it was on your "travel days"

Thanks Dutchmen, re: Keep doing what you're doing... But, it's still good to learn from the success (or failures) of others! :)We actually never HAVE rented a car, even on our 7 month trip. But, we're sure we will. Even cabs have been very minimal. But, we know that our pace will be "slower" once we're FULL time. Even at 7 months, we had a "route" and a "deadline".

Full-Time with no toad | Good Sam Community

BarbaraOK
Explorer
Dec 13, 2017
JimX, we don’t spend time in a park, rather we are out and about exploring an area, geocaching, visiting small boutique wineries, all sorts of things where are small car just fit in. Even 24’ Class C would be too big.
jimx200
Explorer
Dec 13, 2017
We were in our 24' Class C for 2 months in N California and they into S Oregon and never needed or wanted a toad. Absolute pain in the rear to park, especially at parks. Our cheap and efficient solution: Lyft or Uber. We use them often and it averages out around $12-$15. a ride. We also have folding bikes in bags.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Dec 09, 2017
It depends how you travel. We liked to stay in the boonies and travel secondary roads. We were never within walking/biking distance to a town. We also had a Jeep which gave us great fun exploring the two-tracks. We boondocked on forest/BLM lands a lot. We didn't do commercial activities. We enjoyed nature. We would never have lasted 16 years of full-timing if we didn't have a vehicle for exploring.
Sourdough_Biscu
Explorer
Dec 08, 2017
darsben1 wrote:
We did it for 2 years and rented from Enterprise when we needed a car for a few days.

Enterprise delivers :)

We'll end up being part of their ad.
mockturtle
Explorer II
Dec 08, 2017
Did it easily with my Tiger but anything bigger would be difficult. Even with my 24' Born Free I towed. Parking is often an issue as well as road clearance. Actually, though I now have a park model, my Tiger is my only vehicle.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Dec 08, 2017
Come back when you have figured out that it really isn't working well and let us know what toad you are thinking about getting.

Barb
Trackrig
Explorer II
Dec 08, 2017
Get a toad.

What are you going to do when:

1. You need to work on the awning, have it out and you need a few additional parts.
2. You go to make salad with dinner, and oh yes, the store that we went to with the MH on shopping day was out of the dressing we wanted so we were going to go to another store, but then didn't want to go to another store with the MH.
3. Well, guess we can't go downtown to the museum because there's no room for the MH.
4. OH OH, we're out of beer, soda pop, or garlic powder for the steaks we were going to grill, guess we'll have another day of doing without something.
5. Honey, I don't feel like cooking tonight, let's go out and have Mexican - be quiet and eat your can of beans.
6. The MH needs to stay in the shop for two days, guess we'll be using taxies or rental cars.
7. Let's go off and see the Presidential Library, oh that's right, they don't have parking lot large enough for the MH. Let's rent a car, nah, too much hassle, let's just pass it up.
8. Let's leave the MH here in the RV park and go down to Bisbee and stay in one of the neat little B&Bs there and go the Queen Ann Mine - oh yeah, no toad and we'd have to rent a car for a couple of days.
9. The rubber gaskets in the water hose are leaking water all over and the RV park person suggested you replace them. You don't have any extras because you didn't want to the hassle of parking the motor home at Home Depot just to buy hose seals. Now, you have to put away everything in the MH so you can make the trip.
10. That neat place was up a ten mile narrow, twisty road we wanted to see but had no way to go.
11. Let's go over to Joe's salad bar on the bikes, it's only two miles away which is no problem on the bicycles. And as you come back outside after eating, it's pouring rain.

Can you do it without a toad, sure you can. It will just be a PITA and that's not what RVing is about.

Bill
Jayco-noslide
Explorer
Dec 08, 2017
Just wouldn't work for us even though not full-time. We always want to run around the area, go for groceries, etc. It could work if you are just going one place and know what's available within walking or biking distance and a rental car would be available. You can't even explore a lot of parks driving something that big.
Ivylog
Explorer III
Dec 08, 2017
As Full Timers, sooner or later you will be towing a car 4 down...might as well be sooner. We put as many miles on our toad as the MH when we do three months out West moving every week. The toad gets 4X the MPG of the MH.
Downunda
Explorer
Dec 08, 2017
Friends of ours do just that, no bikes or anything. A little bit of planning around shopping goes a long way and in some locations where they might stay a week or more and want to sight see they sometimes hire a car.
It works for them.

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