How many don't pull a TOAD behind their coach?

[Mondooker]

I'm curious, if you don't pull a TOAD and I see many who don't. What do you do about food shopping, doctor visits and performing general trips associated with travel?

Of course when I see motorhomes not pulling a TOAD I have no way of knowing if that's their normal configuration? But if you don't pull a TOAD I'd love knowing how you make it work?

Thank you

[JimInMich]

Stormy Eyes wrote:
We have been full time for 11 months and so far just use a chase car. I think towing would be nicer, but we have not taken the plunge for a few reasons...Spouse prefers driving cause car to towing...Current car drives great but would not tow well...We bought a "starter" motorhome to try out fulltiming and may trade up...Most of our driving days are fairly short and well spaced.
So if I am among those toad-less coaches you see on the road, there will be a car following me.

This will be us as well. Being our 1st year with a Class A, wife will chase in our little Mirage. It gets 50+ mpg in the summer months, so it won't cost us much to do so. Once we decide to tow, we'll just add a tow dolly. We do need the car, we like to sight see where ever we go, and I don't think I want to try and find a place to park in a 34' MH.

[Matt_Colie]

First, you have to realize that I am an engineer type that lives his life on the basis of the bottom right corner of a spreadsheet. We had a towed, a Tracker. It rusted more than it moved. So I sold it. I still have the complete tow kit that I need to sell off.

We now have an A that is smaller than most, so there are just not many places that a passcar can go that we cannot. When we are doing someplace that a car would be good, we rent. That is much less worry than what is happening with the towed. No worry, no TPS, no tail light load. When we are going to a major rally, we load two folding bicycles that store under the dinette so that they stay clean and safe (except at the event) and we have a tarp to cover them at night. This has been a very good solution.

If there is herring bone parking, sorry, we need a space and an half. I always pull forward to line up the front with the others. I did get a space close to the store once and came back to find a Mini sharing the left over space.

Matt

[rgatijnet1]

I've seen several RV's that were headed to NASCAR races, or other venues where it is not necessary to have a toad, and in some cases, not allowed. I am sure that there are also people headed to destination RV parks where they will sit for the season and utilize a rental vehicle.
Personally in all of the years we have been RVing we have never been to what we would consider a destination RV park. In other words, wherever we have parked, it was to see other things in the area, not spend time using the amenities at some RV park. Even when we parked in Trailer Village, in the Grand Canyon, we used the toad to visit several areas within and outside of the park during our 7 day stay. Even with the free shuttle, there were several places we wanted to go to that required a separate vehicle. Keep in mind that we travel with a 100+ pound dog and many times we like to take our dog with us as we explore other sights so this requires that we provide our own transportation.
In a typical 3-4 month trip out West from Florida, we will usually put twice as many miles on our toad than on the motor home.
We travel a lot of the back roads and we consider the toad as sort of our back-up emergency transportation if something happens to the RV. Once, in Texas, a transmission cooling line split and we actually used the toad to push the motor home to a safe area away from traffic. We only had to push it maybe 50 yards, but the toad and the tow bar handled the task. We then used the toad to get more transmission fluid and what I needed to repair the leak and continue on our trip.
We have traveled to and explored many sights that others have never experienced, only because we had our toad and we decided to venture out that day from the RV park. For us it makes the RV adventure much more complete and since we already own the toad, and are paying insurance on it, we might as well take it with us instead of letting it gather dust at home.

[Jim_Norman]

Way back in teh 60's we did not tow a car, we towed a boat, the Camper was 20 feet long and we didn't hook up to anything. We could park on Main street.

With our re-entry into RVing we have towed since day three. First three trips no Toad, two were one stop destinations and back home, one we rented a car. Since then we almost always take the Jeep with us. On occasion when I am going out to a match and I know I'll be parked on the range with friends that can drive out to dinner I will leave the jeep home, but that is rare. We also camped a couple times a year with my brother, he had a trailer so we would just hop in his Suburban, he now has a Class B so we'll be towing on those trips now as heading out and around to Flea Markets and the like will be easier than having him unhook.

Had a few friends that only rented but they were in a unique size, a little too big to tour downtown and a little too small to comfortably tow.

I lived on a sailboat for 10 years, when ever we went out we always had a dingy. Trying to get launch service is hit or miss. I feel about the same with towing vs renting. I have the vehicle with me, also it is sort of like a life boat. I can go from the RV to help if needed.

[DrewE]

I don't tow a toad. Thus far, I have very rarely if indeed ever regretted that decision. I'm also definitely more in the "travel" than "stay in one place" crowd, and in the "vacation" rather than "lifestyle" crowd.

From time to time when driving I keep a mental count of the motorhomes I see along the road with toads vs. those without. It's far from a scientific poll, and pretty much limited to the northeast, but it seems to me to be roughly a 50-50 split. That's not the sort of split you'd likely get from a poll on this forum; I suspect that there's a greater representation of full-timers or snowbirds here than among the broader RV user population.

[Stormy_Eyes]

We have been full time for 11 months and so far just use a chase car. I think towing would be nicer, but we have not taken the plunge for a few reasons...Spouse prefers driving cause car to towing...Current car drives great but would not tow well...We bought a "starter" motorhome to try out fulltiming and may trade up...Most of our driving days are fairly short and well spaced.
So if I am among those toad-less coaches you see on the road, there will be a car following me.

[jplante4]

For our first big adventure (on the road for six months) we wanted to keep things simple so we didn't tow anything. We ended up spending $3000 to rent cars (second highest expense after CG fees). Stopping at Walmarts along the way helped, but we would havw missed a lot of local attractions ( and a lot of good food ) if we had no car at all.

Lessons learned from the first big adventure - tow a car and get 4 - 6 volt batteries and 300W of solar.

[Ivylog]

Lets see: 7 mpg or 40+ mpg to go sightseeing assuming we are not over length for the side roads in Yellowstone (most RVs are). Rarely do we go shopping in the toad as we have stopped while in-route to resupply but no big deal if we decide we need something. We usually put as many miles on the toad on three month trips out West and more on it when snowbirding. In 13 years we have not left home without it... even for short trips close by.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

Have never towed since started RVing in the late 90's. Go on many several long week trips each year and have only hired a car twice in all that time = LA and surrounds for ease once for 3 days, and LV several years ago when we stayed at Oasis and wanted to explore outlying areas for 3 days again.

We've never missed not having a toad with us thus far, and intend to continue initially when we start FTing. FWIW we drive a 37ft Gas A class, and rarely stay in CG's unless there is little other option for where we wish to explore.

We are travellers (sometimes only moving a few miles down the road), not sitters for any length of time, so will be interesting to see how things unfold once we start FTing and if we have a change of heart over time.

We've also got very very used to the convenience of having the RV close at hand no matter where we may be visiting or travelling - fishing, water activities, visiting parks/attractions etc. Food, drinks, bathroom convenience to name but a few things we like having it close at hand for.

[mike_brez]

I don't leave home without it.

[Y-Guy]

In our 10 years with our Class A I've not yet setup a Toad. I've pulled our ATV trailer, boat and a few other trailers for events, but never our Jeep. For a couple of major trips we rented a car while we were in one place.

Not having a car has forced us to plan better or do without. If we really need something I can be unteathered and pulling out in a few minutes.

However, we're not full timers and our use of the RV was for family vacations, now that the kids are in college and beyond the plan is to set the Jeep up for flat towing.

[olfarmer]

We didn't used to pull and still don't if we are going where we have transportation, but there are places you can't visit with a Motorhome. We tow when going where we need a car to get to those places.

[2gypsies1]

I think it just depends on how you travel and what you do when you get there.

We would travel, park the motorhome for a week or two and do a lot of siteseeing in the surrounding area, many times in a 100-mile radius. A lot of it is done on unpaved roads because that's where the good scenery is located. There are some mountain drives that a RV couldn't do. We might also decide to go out for a meal on a whim. It's much easier to just hop in the car. Going to a national park is a lot easier to tour in a car than finding a parking space for a RV. Parking at a trailhead to do a hike would not have enough space for a RV, in most cases. We love geocaching and you definitely wouldn't do much of that in a RV. It takes you to places you'd never know were there - most often on unpaved gravel roads.

The places we go wouldn't have car rentals available. We like the boonies.

If you're a weekend traveler you could easily do it with a car. If you're traveling the country for an extended time, a car would be necessary for us. I guess it just depends if you do things outside of the campground. We spend very little time in a campground. We're out there to explore.

[BigRabbitMan]

I generally do not tow. But I have 29 ft , very maneuverable coach. It is nice to not have to be careful of the extra length and lose of the ability to back up whenever you want to. I can move into the left lane and speed up to get past a clump of trucks or slow cars. With my size, I treat my coach as a large van. But I also generally don't stay in one place very long. If and when I want to do that I have Honda set to tow. I am more of a traveler than a camper. Did 18,000 miles in the last 14 months without a toad and didn't miss it.

In two weeks will do another 1,500 mile trip with no toad to my Aunt's 90th birthday party. No need for a toad. Four weeks later will go on a 2,500 mile trip to an FMC coach rally in So CA with a number of other stops along the way. No toad needed on that trip either.

But I have one and can bring it if I feel that I will need it enough to put up with the restrictions it generates.

[rk911]

wildtoad wrote:
Stop at stores between destinations to replenish food, booze, paper products as needed. We would rent cars at some destinations to see the sights. It worked for a while but we now tow and it is much better.

that was us. our first MH was just 26' making it easier to use for side trips. we did that for 14-yrs. the next 3-yrs were in a 35' MH and that was more problematic. we were getting ready to buy a new car in 2003 and since it was my turn i opted for a Jeep. fun to drive and EZ to tow.