Traveling without a TOAD

For the first 4 years in an RV we traveled without a Toad. Our first RV was a 29 ft Class C. We were generally able to find parking places where we wanted to go by parking in the back of parking lots. We used google to check out whether there was sufficient space to park. A few times we rented a car using either enterprise or a local company recommended at the rv park. This last year we traveled with an 35 ft Class A gas coach and a Toad. I really liked the convenience of staying in one place and touring multiple, close in sites in the Toad. The major drawback are finding gas stations with enough room (especially since you can't back up with a Toad), parking at a restaurant near your gas station when you take up 50-60 ft and reduced RV gas mileage. All in all, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

We tried the enterprise route, did not like it and in some areas it would have not worked for us. Plus I hated working about their car getting damaged and going through all that nonsense, cost, insurance...


We now travel to some places with our bikes only, but only if it's close to the town we want to visit, places like Hilton Head Island.

We usually travel more in our car when vacationing then the Coach. Last 7,000 mile trip, 2k on coach, 5k on the toad.

In Flagstaff, AZ right now. In the RV Park there are 3 Class A's and 2 B's that use motorbikes with racks on the back of mohome. So I went and talked to them all before posting this. 2 of them cover the bikes with pull tight canvas covers, the others are now going to. They all love the bikes to get around, except when raining. One of the big reason's they all went that way was, no tow vehicle. Other reason was, they already owned bike and rack was less than trailer.

EVERYONE travels differently. I can easily say that from 21-45 years old, we never had a towed and traveled easily over 100K miles. We did this when the kids were young and we were either towing a boat or our destination was a National Park....no need for a car.

Now that we're older, we're not going to ride a bike 50 miles to see the sights. For those who say just rent a car....please show me a rental service that delivers to....lets say...Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone or Monument Valley. As you get older, you want the comfort and convenience a car provides. Many times on a long trip we arrive at a campground and would like to try the food the town/city/area has to offer. Are you going to wait for Enterprise to deliver a vehicle for dinner? Yeah, you could rent a cab, but most likely you won't because it's an expense and inconvenience. We like checking out all of the side roads, antique shops and other attractions around the places we stop.

This is one of those things that's a personal choice and depends on how you RV and your physical abilities. So neither the people towing or those who don't need a second vehicle should try to impose their style of camping on another.

msmith1199 wrote:

RayChez wrote:
Not a good idea to travel without a toad. What if you break down in the middle of no where?

I made one trip with my other coach without a toad when brand new. We were in Cottonwood Arizona and my wife got sick on me. I had to drive that thing to the doctors office and it was hard finding parking spot for a 36' motorhome. So I do not recommend traveling without a toad to anybody.

Although that is a benefit of a toad, millions of people drive through the middle of no where every year and 99.9% do it without two vehicles.

msmith1199: Are you saying 99.9% of motorhome owners drive without a toad? If you look along the highways, I would say just the opposite.

Yes, you can definitely drive in the middle of nowhere with only a motorhome - on a paved highway. However, if you want to really see things you need to get off those big highways onto small narrow roads which sometimes aren't paved. :) Study a good detailed map of a particular area and see all the neat places you could go.

Everyone has an opinion on this I guess. I can only speak from experience of a western trip a few years ago with the plan of renting a car if we needed/wanted to see the area. Big mistake. We traveled from Atlanta to I-10 and across the southern route Arizona and Nevada. Rented in Las Vegas. As we crossed Texas and New Mexico there were numerous places we would liked to have stopped and explored. In Arizona the Apache stronghold of Cochise really had me wishing we could see the area, but did not happen.
Grand Canyon area was the same story.
Now I am old and health is going south and we are considering this trip again - longer time limit and certainly more sightseeing than looking out the window of a MH as we pass it by.
Do what you feel you have to do but in hindsight you will regret things you failed to see much more than you will regret any time you may have 'wasted' in stopping and taking a look around

RayChez wrote:
Not a good idea to travel without a toad. What if you break down in the middle of no where?

I made one trip with my other coach without a toad when brand new. We were in Cottonwood Arizona and my wife got sick on me. I had to drive that thing to the doctors office and it was hard finding parking spot for a 36' motorhome. So I do not recommend traveling without a toad to anybody.

Although that is a benefit of a toad, millions of people drive through the middle of no where every year and 99.9% do it without two vehicles.

Had a fifth wheel and F350 dually from 99 to 2003 and really didn't enjoy riding in the truck for running around, so tended to use our bikes and still walk a lot once parked up. Have a Gas 36ft MH since 2003 and still do with no toad, and do a lot of extended trips. Never been a problem except you have to think and research more for a CG on transportation route when getting close to a large city ie; Seattle, LA, San Fran, etc. In all those years have only rented a car for a couple days in Anaheim, and once in Las Vegas at $9 a day to drive out to Pahrump, Hoover Dam etc (book on line and pick up enroute to CG). Drop off on our way out of area again = simple.

With that said and done, we tend to drive a route to visit, see, do something - we don't sit in an area for the sake of just sitting, it's just not who we are. So we stop start in the RV on our travels so being toadless for the most part hasn't caused us any hardship, just like I said extra thought on locating ourselves just outside major cities and on a transportation route.

Try it and you can always change after the fact.

We went for years without a TOAD. Like others have mentioned, just call Enterprise.

We now travel 50/50 with and without. It all depends on our plans when we land. We didn't take one last weekend, we'll be taking one next weekend.

Tried it once and never again. Despite making reservations months ahead of time, when we got to Orlando, Enterprise left us without a vehicle for the first couple of days. Will never rely on it again. Towing my HHR doesn't have much impact on my MPG at all.