How do you RV?

We RV because we love camping, but the tent is not fun to set up (and fortunately the only time we have to use it is for reenacting), it's getting harder to get up off the air mattress and the cots are not easy for two middle aged folks with wonky shoulders, elbows, etc. And it's way so nice to have A/C and our own bathroom with shower:)

DH and I have this "insatiable curiosity" (The Elephant's Child) to see other places in our country and beyond. The MH means having our own little home to sleep in, the option to cook our own meals (inside or out) and our own bathroom...we've done the bedbugs once and that was more than enough and what got us started thinking "RV!!!".

RVing means getting away from the city and household chores and makes us RELAX and just have fun. We get to visit new places and see and experience new things. And the MH is so easy to load up, hit the road and then set up.

We've only had her out four times this year since taking delivery late in June and she's bugging us to go somewhere, anywhere...but hunting season is starting (regular gun)...maybe DH will use her as a mobile hunt shack???

We are getting ready to jump into the deep end after having tried local camping a bit. For me, it's the dogs, control over my kitchen (gluten free) and only having my germs to deal with,

Plus, great outdoors, etc.

But my dogs, my bed, my sheets, my special needs kitchen.... I think this is going to be great for us,

charming wrote:
Great conversation - keep it coming.

I agree with Rob FL about no right or wrong way.

For now we've decided to go with rentals. In many of the areas we're planning to visit smaller rentals are pretty inexpensive.

We rented for many years for weekend camping before we bought our first TT. That worked out well for us.

We use ours from anything from weekend to two week vacations to a mobile hotel with a view. We had a family reunion a few weekends ago about 120 miles away so we parked it at a local KOA on Lake Livingston. Thanksgiving and Christmas are at the in-laws 150 miles away so we park it at the local city park. Nice park overlooking the local golf course.

We use ours as our vacation home so it may be lake front property one week, river front hill country property for a few weeks and then beach front property after that. It's mostly beach front during the winter.

Enjoy yours as you see fit. The worse camper is the one that doesn't get used.

When I retired in 1999 we bought a new pickup and a 21' TT. Our first outing was a 7000 mile round trip of the US. We saw the Pacific and the Atlantic and lots of interesting things that summer. We generally (and still do) stayed in one place for 3 or 4 days and explored the area in the truck.
Now, Pulling our little car gives us the freedom to go places we'd never go with the MH. Since we're travelers, not campers, the constant hook up and unhooking to visit places during our stay is not in our plan.

I like some others here traveled a large territory when I was employed and have a strong dislike for hotels and motels and only in an emergency would ever consider using one again.

What ever you do, take the time to see as much of every area you visit. There are many beautiful things to see in this great country. Oh yes, don't forget our neighbors to the North. Canada is absolutely beautiful!

Good luck ... Safe travels.

We started out by borrowing a friend's RV (Nice friend!) for a long weekend up the California coast to see if we liked it. We did... and so did the dogs. So we bought our first RV. It was a 21 ft class C. I sold that and now we're getting a 24 ft class C. We love doing long road trips, and short trips to the shore. We love having our own bathroom and refridgerator whenever we need them. And we love having the dogs with us wherever we go.

BTW, we don't have a toad. We try to camp where we can walk to anything we need, or we just pack up and drive over. It's not that big a deal with a small rig.

I love traveling with my "cave". I like having my stuff around me and I will be happy if I never see another hotel room or airport. I traveled a lot for my job and I did not enjoy it. I also live being able to easily have my dog with me.

I'm a single RVer and spent my working life traveling for the company, living in hotels and eating by myself in restaurants. Since I bought my RV, I haven't done any of those things, and I get to go where I want and when I want without ever seeing another hotel room, airport or airplane.

I travel to visit family.

I travel to see new places. Road tripping.

I go out to the lake. or woods for some quiet time.

I go "camping" with groups.

First two, I don't really need the RV, since family gives me a place to stay, and much of my travel is overseas and to big cities where RVs don't work. A lot of it on ships. So the RV isn't the only thing.

I was in S. Carolina for 20 months, spent all my free days exploring that state, N Carolina on day trips, into Georgia and Virginia with overnights. Same with my 20 months in Indiana, two years in Florida, three years in Chicago. Don't need to be retired to travel and explore, don't need a RV. Just need the interest.

Intermediate years in Michigan, a lot of our travel was geology field trips, by car staying in a tent, or bus and cabins or armories. Some of our Florida outings were tent camping, some hotels, some sleeping in the car, but mostly day trips.

To some extent, the RV will limit, or focus, what you do, Destinations tend to become campgrounds and RV parks, visits are to smaller towns and rural areas more than the metropolis or megapolis. RV works OK for collecting national parks, not so well for major cities, but you can often park outside the metro area and commute into it.

You'll do in the RV what you can do in the RV. But if there are other things you want to do, where the RV doesn't work, don't let the RV keep you from doing it. Inside Passage to Alaska. Hawaii. Caribbean islands. Mexican Riviera. European capitols. Greek Isles. African veldt. The great cities of Asia and South America. If there is something else you want to see, OK for the RV to sit at home for a while.

If I visit DC, NYC or Chicago, I fly in and stay in the center of things, as I would for London, Rome, Paris, Singapore, Beijing, or Sydney. Whether here or across an ocean, really big cities are not very approachable by RV, or even by car. Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, St Louis, I can visit by RV and tow a car to get around. Towns of 5000 or less, just stop and park.

Just experiment like you're planning. You'll find out what you want to do after a few trips. Good luck and remember to be careful out there.

I grew up tent-camping. My wife and I tent-camped for years, then got a pop-up, and now have a hybrid. We still backpack and do back-country tent camping (backpacking and kayaking).

I have a strong dislike for hotel rooms after living in them (for work) for a year and a half straight.