r2i forum

I am planning to take my folks (parents included) to a week long vacation along the east coast. Iterenary is not planned yet.
I am thinking of renting an RV for the following reasons.
1) Privacy.
2) A new experience to us.. especially the parents.
3) We are 5 adults. We all can travel together. Otherwise we need 2 cars.
4) May be avoid hotels and sleep in the RVs ( If possible. Not sure. I am counting on your advice).

Cons:
1) Little expensive compared to a car trip. But, I am planning to save by avoiding hotel stays.
2) Need to take an insurance??

Guys, can you please share your experiences. ( If there is a discussion already, please provide the link.)

From my experience, it is not the best way to travel with parents unless you have done it before. I went on a trip with friends to Yellowstone in a RV and the following incidents happened:
1. We left some items on the RV kitchen counter and they were all right by the driver the first time he applied the brake.
2. We did not plan locations of the RV parks and thought we could just park and sleep by the road / a parking lot. Not so.
3. Did not know how to empty the RV trash module (not sure what it is called). A friend had to be hosed down (literally) when he did not do it the right way and was covered with crap.
4. Heater busted on us and the nights in yellow stone get cold even in September.
5. A 6 sleeper RV is not the most comfortable way to sleep 6.

Our RV trip was a great experience because we were a group of single students without much to worry about and could adjust any which way. I did not subject my parents to it though simply because I was too inexperienced to handle it.

OP

Just for starts take a DVD of Robin Williams Film RV. It would give you an insight of renting it and how all the 'modules' work

Good Luck!

MACTALKS;323143...Guys, can you please share your experiences. ( If there is a discussion already, please provide the link.)

Not a discussion about RVs, but LoveIndia had posted about renting one for a Grand Canyon trip.

With parents, and five adults, I would skip the RV idea and rent a mini-van or equivalent, and pick a hotel that is not fancy but good enough to crash for the night.

mkngtrbl;323154From my experience, it is not the best way to travel with parents unless you have done it before. I went on a trip with friends to Yellowstone in a RV and the following incidents happened:
1. We left some items on the RV kitchen counter and they were all right by the driver the first time he applied the brake.
2. We did not plan locations of the RV parks and thought we could just park and sleep by the road / a parking lot. Not so.
3. Did not know how to empty the RV trash module (not sure what it is called). A friend had to be hosed down (literally) when he did not do it the right way and was covered with crap.
4. Heater busted on us and the nights in yellow stone get cold even in September.
5. A 6 sleeper RV is not the most comfortable way to sleep 6.

Our RV trip was a great experience because we were a group of single students without much to worry about and could adjust any which way. I did not subject my parents to it though simply because I was too inexperienced to handle it.

mkngtrbl, Thank you for the reply. But, the first point in your reply is not clear. Can you please be more clear?
If I plan well, you still think the RV travel with the parents is going to be difficult?

Sorry to hear about the trash module incident.. Any tips for the new RVers how to avoid this?

MACTALKS;323160mkngtrbl, Thank you for the reply. But, the first point in your reply is not clear. Can you please be more clear?

Same reason why you jerk forward when brake is suddenly applied in a car. Do not leave things lying around in an RV, everything must be stowed.

I really don't know about the planning for it....as students we didn't really think or plan for trips. But we enjoyed every bit that happened. But I know the same situation with parents and kids would not have been fun.

In a place like YellowStone, you find a lot of RVers. Most are very helpful especially when they see newbies trying things. We made good friends at the camps. I don't know the nature of RVers on the east coast. My only tip can be if you do embark, embrace everything that comes your way and be ready to accept and ask for help from those with more experience on the road.

Traveling in a RV may be fun for a 2 day trip to a camp site few hundred miles away from home.

As you go down south along east coast, safety will be huge concern in today's world. You can't just imitate the lifestyle of the white dude. You need to worry about getting robbed.

And what places do you plan to visit along east coast during this trip? You can't take a RV into NYC/Philly/Boston. You live in DC. Florida may be the only place worth it. But you can get a room in Orlando now for 50 bucks a night. (off season). Add to it the 14 hour drive to FL, there's nothing really in between DC and Florida. (Forget the beaches of SC. Go visit Virginia beach or Ocean city, MD)

Rent a minivan which can seat 8 (2+3+3). You can even consider renting the Chrysler van where the second and third row can face each other which allows people to have fun. Living in DC, you can cover philly in a day trip and NYC in a 1 or 2 day trip. And I-95 is busy all the way , up and down the east coast.

I had documented my RV experiences before. Here is some additional insights that you may get:

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Our stay in the RV was memorable. We didn't miss our home at all. The motor home had all the facilities including bedroom, dining area, couch, kitchen, restroom, bathroom etc., The vehicle also had lots of cabinets to store things. It had appliances like Air Conditioner, Heater, Generator, TV, DVD Player, Microwave, Oven, Dish Washer etc., However, we couldn't find a proper place to store the 2 big suitcases that we had. We had to lay them on the dining table. The motor home that we rented had sleeping area for 8 people (6 adults + 2 kids).

Staying in the RV is fun - but driving it, is NOT. It took me a while to adjust to driving within the speed limits. On top of that, there was not enough pick-up in the vehicle (It had just a V10 engine). The vehicle vibrates a lot when the road is not very smooth (which is typically the case). Maneuvering the vehicle wasn't very hard. You definitely need a person to help, especially when you are taking reverse.

My kid enjoyed the stay in RV, very much. She was climbing up & down, all over inside the RV. My wife & I enjoyed it too. We had the luxury of stopping over anywhere to prepare/warm & have our food. Also, we don't have to look out for a restroom when we are visiting places :) We can also take a nap anytime we want. There were plenty of RV friendly parking lots in Page.

I was surprised to see that there was not much information on the web to fix child seat in RVs. We had to fix the child seat on the couch facing side ways. I was not very sure if that would really help during collisions. My kid was puzzled "why she is sitting in a car seat inside the home". She wanted to get down and walk when the vehicle was in motion :)

During our first night in Page, we had left the water tube connected to the water outlet in the camp ground. Due to very cold weather, the water inside the tube & tap got frozen. We had to then use the water from the storage tank on the first day. The next day, we disconnected the tube and closed the tap in the campground. Inspite of that, the water inside the tap got frozen. We had to then rely on the water in storage tank for the second day as well.

I got 200 free miles per day. I ran over 600 miles in 3 days. So, they charged me an extra $13 for the additional miles (47 miles). If I had to rent an RV again, I would not plan to drive 100s of miles on a single day. The whole fun of renting an RV lies in camping and not in driving.

We had 4 hours of free generator usage every day. It was more than enough for us because of our stay in campground. Campgrounds provide unlimited water & electricity. When you are off the campground, you are in a world of limited resources.

We spent about 1.5 hours cleaning the RV. If we don't leave the RV in the 'original' condition, we had to pay $75 as cleaning charges & $500 for damages. Fortunately, we didn't run into any accidents. I broke one of the knobs in the sewage disposal tube. However, the RV rental agency didn't charge anything for that.
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