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Yep. Even the most remote places in the US hold special interest to us while we are still young (mid-60s). No motels to be found at the places we like to explore. We pull our small truck/trailer rig into the back country, then disconnect the 4x4 to go to our destinations. We have a truck tent if it is an over-nighter from our base camp.
Here is a picture of my DW chisling a large amber crystal out of a wall at the bottom of a gypsum mine for our mineral collection. The ceiling here is only 4' high, so we had to crawl to the places where the crystals were best.
We Love adventure!!
Wow, that is adventurous for sure! I like rock-hounding, but I don't think I'd have the nerve to crawl into a cave like that. Your wife rocks!
DH and I also travel often where there are not many motels. Even when they are available, he can't sleep well in motels. They kind of give me the creeps these days too. creepy-crawlies, that is.
We are not retired - late 50s and still very much working. We enjoy hiking, nature and often visit national parks and similar areas - and being in Utah, we have some not too distant options.
We use tent camping but that does get a bit tiresome. Those suggesting hotels, etc. - the one’s near the places we visit aren’t that great and often located far from where we ideally want to be. To give an example, Arches national park has a wonderful campground called Devil’s Garden is heavenly, whereas the town of Moab, perhaps cute at one point, is overrun with tourists, traffic and noise. And, the food options, outside of cooking ourselves, aren’t great as I am vegetarian and a enthusiastic and good cook. We sometimes rent VRBO properties but they easily go 250-300/night, and often a challenge to keep to that range.
So, we are seriously looking into the camper van / trailer option. Inclined towards small (class B) camping trailer (not interested in towing a humongous rv ) pulled by a towing vehicle - as that’d give us the chance to head to the trails in the towing vehicle while the camper stays in a campground. The expense is not insubstantial as we’d need to buy both the towing vehicle and trailer and are not bottom-end buyers. Furthermore, it would need to include a monthly storage rental as we can’t park it in our condo. The main thing that’s holding us back, however, is not the expense but the question as to how much we would actually use it. Since we aren’t retired and still very much (happily) in our careers, the time we’d use it is the biggest question mark. We do have some flexibility in our work (i.e., not 8-5 employees controlled by some employer / boss) but so far the demand for our time, particularly mine, oustrips the supply but is hard to pass up due to the high opportunity cos
I argue that if we have a more convenient camping as an option, we’d be less hesitant to go every few weekends, as compared to now (every few months) when to go somewhere with tent on Friday night with plan to return on Sunday is too much to contemplate. My wife is interested but also rightly skeptical. It’s hard to know the extent of usage ahead of time.
I suppose we could delay it until later when we have more free time, but then we’d perhaps be asking a different question - how long do we really have to make use of it.
My son is currently traveling the country in a 21' Class B Winnebago Travato and he's having a blast. It has heat, A/C, stove, frig, microwave, TV, DVD player, double bed, toilet, shower and solar panels. It gets 18 MPG and can park in a regular parking space. He's visiting all of the national parks as well as other sights along the way including doing Spartan races. He meets a lot of people who are interested in what he's doing and uses Tinder to find "friends" in various cities, so he's not lonely. So far he's petted Bison in South Dakota, played with prairie dogs in Wyoming and petted baby alligators in the Everglades. He's seeing so many cool things and having such great experiences, I envy him. When I talked to him earlier today he was chilling out in a campground watching HBO Go on his laptop. What a life.
Wow, oh wow. I have focusing problems so had to give up driving. If I had the money I'd love that kind of freedom. I've progressively discovered how to actively live (as in rooms you use vrs those you hardly ever look in) and have come to appreciate the ease of using the things you want and need but keep yourself to those. Its space saving. Aside from things you will need, even if not right away, I could adjust.
We took a few camping out vacations using a borrowed van, and it was wonderful. We stayed in a state park and it had lots of things to look at, and with the van (an OLD trailer shaped shiny metal VW van) clean up was so simple. I'd consider a roommate in my house so someone would be there if it meant I could, but am not good at people. I'm not sure I could actually *enjoy*things without fully trusting, not easy to approach. Old and yet benificial memory.
Not interested in another 'relationship' but a friend who drove and wanted to 'explore' would be great to find as I feel like I'm happy to have home but would like it to be able to appreciate it by not being there all the time.
That is what I paid in NZ, but it is much cheaper to buy and resell, especially if you can work out continued use between 3-4 subsequent owners.
For USA, you would want to use your MT LLC to buy and license (no sales tax, low fees / lifetime plates for some RVs)
My mom got a very nice RT 13k miles for $13k. She used and loved it a lot for 12 yrs and sold for $12,500. Then she got a 30k mile Rialta for $15k, (resold for $17k after 5 yrs)
You can set up a nationwide Craigslist Rss feed to be notified for one owner / rust free ... AZ, CA, NV, TX, GA have a lot of rust free bargains (Fall and winter).
There are even more economical rentals. JUICY rents converted minivans at about $75/night. They sleep up to 4 adults with 2 in the van and 2 in the roof top "penthouse". There is a stove, sink, cooking gear, a few gallons of water, etc. They are nothing like the luxury converted full sized vans but enough to get by for a short term, low cost vacation. https://www.jucyusa.com/
That might be a good way to scratch that itch without spending $100K+
At $249 a night I can find a pretty good motel and much better meals than you can cook yourself in that camper. 18 MPG is simply amazing for an RV but a Camry gets twice that.
Inclined towards small (class B) camping trailer (not interested in towing a humongous rv ) pulled by a towing vehicle - as that’d give us the chance to head to the trails in the towing vehicle while the camper stays in a campground.
The problem with trailers, particularly the small light ones that people are buying these days, is that they are easily stolen while you're off hiking. Or sometimes people leave them on the street overnight and the next morning they're gone.
We are not retired - late 50s and still very much working. We enjoy hiking, nature and often visit national parks and similar areas - and being in Utah, we have some not too distant options.
We use tent camping but that does get a bit tiresome. Those suggesting hotels, etc. - the one’s near the places we visit aren’t that great and often located far from where we ideally want to be. To give an example, Arches national park has a wonderful campground called Devil’s Garden is heavenly, whereas the town of Moab, perhaps cute at one point, is overrun with tourists, traffic and noise. And, the food options, outside of cooking ourselves, aren’t great as I am vegetarian and a enthusiastic and good cook. We sometimes rent VRBO properties but they easily go 250-300/night, and often a challenge to keep to that range.
So, we are seriously looking into the camper van / trailer option. Inclined towards small (class B) camping trailer (not interested in towing a humongous rv ) pulled by a towing vehicle - as that’d give us the chance to head to the trails in the towing vehicle while the camper stays in a campground. The expense is not insubstantial as we’d need to buy both the towing vehicle and trailer and are not bottom-end buyers. Furthermore, it would need to include a monthly storage rental as we can’t park it in our condo. The main thing that’s holding us back, however, is not the expense but the question as to how much we would actually use it. Since we aren’t retired and still very much (happily) in our careers, the time we’d use it is the biggest question mark. We do have some flexibility in our work (i.e., not 8-5 employees controlled by some employer / boss) but so far the demand for our time, particularly mine, oustrips the supply but is hard to pass up due to the high opportunity cos
I argue that if we have a more convenient camping as an option, we’d be less hesitant to go every few weekends, as compared to now (every few months) when to go somewhere with tent on Friday night with plan to return on Sunday is too much to contemplate. My wife is interested but also rightly skeptical. It’s hard to know the extent of usage ahead of time.
I suppose we could delay it until later when we have more free time, but then we’d perhaps be asking a different question - how long do we really have to make use of it.
When we lived in western CO we had neighbors in their early 60s, both retired, who bought a deluxe R-Pod for their outdoor excursions. Even though they owned condos in Cabo and Steamboat Springs, their rationale was similar to what you said above, freedom to explore places away from hotels, do their own cooking, make unscheduled trips. They had a Honda CRV but after a year it was replaced with a F150 because the Honda lacked power for towing on inclines. Parking was an issue (initially wanted to park the trailer on our property which adjoined theirs, insurance company said no way) and they eventually settled for a paid storage lot about five miles away. After their son married and grand kids entered the picture they sold the trailer and truck. Roy asked me if I was interested in buying either one and since we were getting ready to move to AZ, I declined. He told me that they couldn't justify keeping them anymore because the use was so infrequent.
After watching their experience with a travel trailer over a period of five years, I don't think I'd consider owning that type of vehicle. My wife likes the idea of a Sprinter-class RV, but it won't fit in our garage and the hassles of storage enter the picture. I'm inclined to agree with the other posts above -- renting might be the best way to enjoy RV travel.
At $249 a night I can find a pretty good motel and much better meals than you can cook yourself in that camper. 18 MPG is simply amazing for an RV but a Camry gets twice that.
People who make comments like this typically live in the eastern US and the choice of RV is irrelevant since they don't get out much.
My last trip I took a picture of a sign that warned it was 119 miles to the next gas. When I got there the station was closed.
There are plenty of places in the western US where finding any motel or lodging is impossible. The costs are going to be high if around National Parks and typically the places are reserved for months in advance.
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