Class B Toad

In March we met Burt and Bonnie camping in their B in Death Valley. They are full timers in a class A and use their B as the toad. Thet told us their A was at a park in Arizona for the winter and used as their base to explore in the B.

Everyone. has priorities. I would rather pull a small trailer with my 4X4 SUV park the trailer, and use the SUV to go places a Class B would never go. I'm not one for being in a different place everyday, I like to camp in one place for a few days, and use the TV to really get out and see the area, and meet the locals. I can put bikes, inflatable Kayaks, etc. on the roof of the SUV if needed. Carry a Yamaha 2400, and gas in the outside storage of the Trailer. The 19' trailer is 4 season, so it can be kept much cooler than a Class B, and has a large permanent bed, a dinette that makes into a double bed, a dry bath, and much larger tank capacities.
I love Class B's but at this time in my life I need a little more room, and the flexibility that having the V8 4X4 Pathfinder offers.
I would love to have both, a Class B on the Promaster, or the new Transit Van, and a trailer for extended camping. Maybe I should plan on making the new garage bigger. :E :)

Escargot makes a very important point about traveling in an RV. If you carry everything with you, you don't have to double back to your campground. In our travels, this would have been a real nuisance and time waster many times. For example the high road to Taos from Santa Fe, you stop at the various villages along the way up and camp in Taos. Also, along beautiful Hwy 138 in Oregon from Crater Lake. You stop at the trailheads at a number of places and hike thru beautiful scenery to spectacular waterfalls. In a big rig, what do you do? Drive all the way back to Crater Lake? 100 miles, then have to do it again when you continue the trip? No thanks, I have no desire to be chained to a Class A or big trailer. For a few hours extra comfort in the evening when you get back to the campground, you give up a lot by traveling in a big RV.

jjson775 wrote:
For the first time in 9 years of traveling all over the country we had a need to park our RV remotely in a campground and get around in a car. We were in the Minneapolis area where our daughter lives and it was not convenient to park our PW Pursuit in her driveway. Solution? We rented a car for a week.

IMHO, towing anything with a Class B kills the mobility that is the only advantage a B has over bigger RV's. We like to be able to pull off the road into a McDonald's or stop to see something interesting that is not practical pulling something. Also, the other big advantage of a B is to have the convenience of an RV all day long while you are running around visiting a national park or pretty town. You always have food, the refrigerator, bathroom, clothes, medicine, sporting goods, etc., right with you. You also don't burn the extra gas it takes to tow another vehicle. On the rare occasions you need a toad, a rent car is a good solution. Just my 2 cents.

I agree with everything you said. Rentals make sense too because usually you can get some kind of discount. I've looked at set ups for towing a car and those trailers cost enough that for the same price that I can rent a car with my military discount for the next year. We don't need a car for rambling very often. When we do we just get it for a couple of days in the area where we're at.

Handbasket wrote:
I've seen two Sprinter B's parked together when I was overnighting in the Tiger at a Flying J on I-81 in VA. Both were pulling smallish 4-door sedans. I remember one was a Jetta. It was early spring, and both had Canadian tags. I'm pretty sure they were snowbirds heading back north. For folks staying in the same spot for weeks or months, it makes sense. For touring, not so much.

Jim, "Mo' coffee!"

Canadian and early spring most likely would have been snowbirders if heading north.

We haven't reached the stage where we would be snowbirders as we still enjoy our winter sports and want to be home at the holidays. I do wonder if we decided to go some place and just park and live for any length of time whether towing a car would be economical. But then again, if we reached that stage a B might not be that attractive.

What I have noticed is the longer the stay the more the campsite gets set up with stuff all around. Even with a B and accumulating stuff that might be difficult to just get up and drive around at will. However, in South Padre Island we met another B couple that had been there for 3 months. They pulled a trailer down from Wisconsin with all their comfort stuff. Every day they did drive off with the B mostly to spend time all day at the Birding Center.

For a short stay renting a car might not be a bad idea in an urban area. Rural, not so much.

You always have food, the refrigerator, bathroom, clothes, medicine, sporting goods, etc., right with you. You also don't burn the extra gas it takes to tow another vehicle.

... and you aren't tethered so you don't have to return to homebase to pick up your rig if you decide to just keep going down the road.

I've seen two Sprinter B's parked together when I was overnighting in the Tiger at a Flying J on I-81 in VA. Both were pulling smallish 4-door sedans. I remember one was a Jetta. It was early spring, and both had Canadian tags. I'm pretty sure they were snowbirds heading back north. For folks staying in the same spot for weeks or months, it makes sense. For touring, not so much.

Jim, "Mo' coffee!"

I always thought a great set up would be a small motorhome towing a B van. 48 ft of RV split in half. park the MH in the campground and tour with the B. either that or tow a small TT behind a B van.
bumpy

I've read lots of people doing a similar thing - not just with class B's, but all the way up to A. Towing a car has it's problems and some folks don't like to do it at all.

Some rental companies will bring you a car - like Enterprise. So that can make it a very little hassle experience.

We are in a campground in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. It is St. Paul East RV Park in Woodbury near 94 and 494/694. There have been B's coming and going.