Rent an RV? Who can help?

[2TxAgs]

That is a very cool idea! Right now we're a little dismayed at all the costs. Not sure we feel like it's worth it, as someone also made the pint of you still having to do all the "work" of cooking cleaning, emptying the tank, etc which all need to be considered. It might all be too much amid a pandemic. I'm just desperate to do something...go somewhere...get out of my yard!!!!!

Yes, we decided years ago that you didn't rent an RV for a less expensive vacation - you rented it for the experience. We'd have to stay in a lot of hotels and buy a lot of restaurant meals to match the cost of renting/storing/gassing up an RV.
Here's a recent article from NPR re: the risk of various activities. It lists staying at a hotel as low/med risk. I have seen more articles lately about less risk from surface contamination, so maybe this would ease your mind about getting away to a small hotel or bnb for a weekend.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...w-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit

 

[MKCP5]

Yes, we decided years ago that you didn't rent an RV for a less expensive vacation - you rented it for the experience. We'd have to stay in a lot of hotels and buy a lot of restaurant meals to match the cost of renting/storing/gassing up an RV.
Here's a recent article from NPR re: the risk of various activities. It lists staying at a hotel as low/med risk. I have seen more articles lately about less risk from surface contamination, so maybe this would ease your mind about getting away to a small hotel or bnb for a weekend.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...w-experts-rate-the-risks-of-14-summer-activit

That is a GREAT article and NPR is one of the sources I actually trust. Thanks so much for that! I think we have abandoned the idea of an RV trip. You're right on the money about it not being less expensive. If we did it we'd want to spend a couple of weeks on the road, travel a big distance, and the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ just keesp piling up. I'm not sure what we will do or if we will do anything. I'm so itching to travel. Except for the grocery store I have been at home since March 9 but it feels like so much longer! lol I'm thankful we have a large yard and I can garden and go for walks at the nearby reservoir, etc. But if we do go somewhere I don't want to break the bank to do it. We typically travel quite a bit because I'm a bargain hunter. It will all work out.

 

[sarah4770]

We thought about renting an rv as well, but some of the reviews of cruise America are not that good.
Last year we took a fantastic trip to Zion, Death Valley, and Yosemite. We were planning on Yellowstone and glacier this year, but I don’t want to fly this year.
I don’t know if you live in driving distance to any national parks? Even 4 or 5 nights in one of the parks might be something to look forward too.

 

[Miffy]

That is a very cool idea! Right now we're a little dismayed at all the costs. Not sure we feel like it's worth it, as someone also made the pint of you still having to do all the "work" of cooking cleaning, emptying the tank, etc which all need to be considered. It might all be too much amid a pandemic. I'm just desperate to do something...go somewhere...get out of my yard!!!!!

Appreciate that you have a yard! We live in an apartment building. There's a park right across the street, but we share it with the rest of the neighborhood. When it's relatively empty, it's great, but over the weekend it wasn't empty and I got uncomfortable pretty fast. Your backyard has a lot going for it!

 

[MKCP5]

Appreciate that you have a yard! We live in an apartment building. There's a park right across the street, but we share it with the rest of the neighborhood. When it's relatively empty, it's great, but over the weekend it wasn't empty and I got uncomfortable pretty fast. Your backyard has a lot going for it!

Agreed! I know we are in a good situation. Most times I'm riding this out okay, but some days I'm struggling to not be such a baby and count my blessings. This too shall pass.

 

[iheartjuppy]

Since our travel plans for this year have been so upended, we were thinking about renting a small motor home (just two of us) and driving to a few open outdoor destinations, staying pretty self contained, but getting the heck out of dodge for a little while. We figured that would be a safer option than hotels that may have started opening and eating out etc. Anyone have any experience with renting something like this? We don't want to tow a trailer, we would like a self contained unit. Ideas for reputable rental companies (we are in the greater Boston area) and caveats to doing something like this? Thanks so much for your thoughts and help!

We're considering doing this as well, possibly driving down to Florida to stay with some relatives (quarantining with them for the summer since camps are closed). We are likely going to do a one-way RV rental to stay self-contained (no hotels, restaurants, public restrooms) but in light of the virus, we also wouldn't really be up for sightseeing/exploring so we'd probably just try to get down there as quickly as possible. Not sure if it would require 2 overnights or if it could be done safely with just one overnight, but we're looking into it now through Cruise America. We've never driven an RV and it feels a little wasteful not to do much (or any) camping, but we'd be anxious to get there as soon as we could. Haven't had much luck finding blogs or posts with tips on direct routes or practical tips/warnings, though.

 

[MKCP5]

We're considering doing this as well, possibly driving down to Florida to stay with some relatives (quarantining with them for the summer since camps are closed). We are likely going to do a one-way RV rental to stay self-contained (no hotels, restaurants, public restrooms) but in light of the virus, we also wouldn't really be up for sightseeing/exploring so we'd probably just try to get down there as quickly as possible. Not sure if it would require 2 overnights or if it could be done safely with just one overnight, but we're looking into it now through Cruise America. We've never driven an RV and it feels a little wasteful not to do much (or any) camping, but we'd be anxious to get there as soon as we could. Haven't had much luck finding blogs or posts with tips on direct routes or practical tips/warnings, though.

I haven't been able to find much about a one way trip. I would think it might be even more expensive than a round trip?

 

[firefly_ris]

I haven't been able to find much about a one way trip. I would think it might be even more expensive than a round trip?

I found this -- https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-re...ioFOuU4WcdTRbGCX4zeW4Nc0smsuVGdxoC_MAQAvD_BwE

Not sure if other companies have the same type of incentive?

 

[Lumpy1106]

We did a Cruise America one time for our travel home for Christmas. It was fun, but yes, more expensive than you would guess. The things just gulp gas for one. You can find deals - look for the locations where they warehouse the largest number of RV's. If they have a surplus, they will sometimes offer pretty good deals just to get the things out on the road and free up space. They have all sizes from simple pickup bed units to over 30' long RV's. If you plan on staying somewhere along the way for 24 hours or more you likely won't exceed the daily mileage they include. Sounds like it would be a good fit for your plans.

Be aware - I liked Cruise America, I didn't feel like they were trying to scam us, but boy were they unorganized! Both the gas tank and the propane tank were nowhere near full when we picked it up. Fist they told us we'd have to fill the propane tank, then they relented and told us to just bring it back at the level it was at. So i'm supposed to take a huge RV that I am unfamiliar with, then find a place to fill the propane? Where would I go to do that? They relented told us not to worry about it and we didn't run out, but that just hands the problem off to the next renter. It was quite the task trying to figure out how far out we should gas up in order to return it at the level we started at. I know, could just return it full, but at over $100 a tank to fill up that's a lot of gas to gift to CA just because they couldn't figure out how to give the unit to us full to begin with. Then the generator - you are charged an hourly rate for that. We only went to campgrounds with full hookups so didn't use it, but somehow their system showed we did. They relented on that too, but still - how hard is it to keep track of their own inventory?

 

[MKCP5]

I found this -- https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-rentals/rental-deals/one-way-specials?keyword=one way rv rental&matchtype=e&creative=437150572278&target=&placement=&source=g&device=c&geo=9005444&utm_source=Adwords&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=9210954669&utm_term=one way rv rental&hsa_acc=2136618520&hsa_cam=9210954669&hsa_grp=101119631986&hsa_ad=437150572278&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=aud-816719634906:kwd-305234832173&hsa_kw=one way rv rental&hsa_mt=e&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=CjwKCAjw2uf2BRBpEiwA31VZj3P56NOFtzilH8Ux_HgvKpioFOuU4WcdTRbGCX4zeW4Nc0smsuVGdxoC_MAQAvD_BwE

Not sure if other companies have the same type of incentive?

Cool. I'll have to check these out from time to time and see what pops up. Thank you!

 

[MrsPete]

A couple years ago we did a "western driving trip" that was probably our best vacation ever. It was almost a month, and we visited most of the western national parks -- wonderful!

As we were planning the trip (which took several years), we started with the assumption we'd rent an RV; however, as it became time to start firm plans, we opted to go with driving and staying in hotels. Our reasons:

- As others have pointed out, the cost of renting an RV was significantly more than we expected: the rental was high, they charged a fee for every mile over a certain point, and the gas was outrageous.
- Most of our trip was state and national park based, but we also visited a couple cities, and we didn't look forward to driving a big RV through downtown Denver and Salt Lake City.
- My husband was still working then, and he traveled fairly often, so he saved up his rewards points for some free stays. Our kids were teens when we took this trip, and we liked the idea of occasionally having a suite (or two hotel rooms) to allow for a bit of separation. We did this every 3-4 nights /tried to plan it on evenings when we had some "down time".
- We welcomed hotel amenities: we always opt for hotels with free breakfast, which was a money-saver, and hotels offered washer/dryers and ice machines. We spent lots of time outdoors /hiking, etc., so we welcomed a comfortable bathroom with plenty of clean towels each evening -- rather than walking to the bathhouse.
- We did spend more on food than we would have in an RV. We had a cooler /we to the grocery store every couple days, but typically we had a free breakfast in a hotel, sandwiches for lunch, then ate out for dinner. Though we spent more, we also didn't spend time cooking.

Two last comments:
- On our trip, we made a game of counting the Cruise America RV rentals. We saw well over a hundred.
- If you do end up renting an RV, find out just how it's been cleaned /sanitized. If you're trying to stay out of a hotel where a sick person may have stayed, you don't want to get into the same situation in an RV.

An alternative to consider: if you're not looking for a road trip, you might rent a camping cabin. The prices are reasonable, and you could do a super-clean on the first day.

 

[MKCP5]

A couple years ago we did a "western driving trip" that was probably our best vacation ever. It was almost a month, and we visited most of the western national parks -- wonderful!

As we were planning the trip (which took several years), we started with the assumption we'd rent an RV; however, as it became time to start firm plans, we opted to go with driving and staying in hotels. Our reasons:

- As others have pointed out, the cost of renting an RV was significantly more than we expected: the rental was high, they charged a fee for every mile over a certain point, and the gas was outrageous.
- Most of our trip was state and national park based, but we also visited a couple cities, and we didn't look forward to driving a big RV through downtown Denver and Salt Lake City.
- My husband was still working then, and he traveled fairly often, so he saved up his rewards points for some free stays. Our kids were teens when we took this trip, and we liked the idea of occasionally having a suite (or two hotel rooms) to allow for a bit of separation. We did this every 3-4 nights /tried to plan it on evenings when we had some "down time".
- We welcomed hotel amenities: we always opt for hotels with free breakfast, which was a money-saver, and hotels offered washer/dryers and ice machines. We spent lots of time outdoors /hiking, etc., so we welcomed a comfortable bathroom with plenty of clean towels each evening -- rather than walking to the bathhouse.
- We did spend more on food than we would have in an RV. We had a cooler /we to the grocery store every couple days, but typically we had a free breakfast in a hotel, sandwiches for lunch, then ate out for dinner. Though we spent more, we also didn't spend time cooking.

Two last comments:
- On our trip, we made a game of counting the Cruise America RV rentals. We saw well over a hundred.
- If you do end up renting an RV, find out just how it's been cleaned /sanitized. If you're trying to stay out of a hotel where a sick person may have stayed, you don't want to get into the same situation in an RV.

An alternative to consider: if you're not looking for a road trip, you might rent a camping cabin. The prices are reasonable, and you could do a super-clean on the first day.

All good points. Thank you!