Quilt-Till-U-Wilt

My daughter has one but, with the price of gas, the cost of the campground, and the number of times they use it she said they could stay in nice hotels just as cheap. When we used to camp, the campground prices were cheap. We still got tired of it with all the traffic and then the crowds once we got where we were going. Depends on what you like. I'd be worried about re-sale value with the gas prices being what they are. Of course you may love it and never sell it. We only had a pop up and my husband hated pulling it.

IBQUILTIN

And someone else can cook and clean. Especially if its a vacation. Who's vacation is it, if you have to take all the housework with you. No more RV for me. I'm done

debbiemarie

I resisted my DH requests to buy a trailer/motor home for years, to me it just meant more meal planning and cleaning, laundry etc. Now that our kids are grown up with their own children, my son got a 23' trailer with kitchen and bath etc. Now it's a wonderful way to spend time with them!! I agreed to buying a trailer 26' with super slide, it's great. A year later, we have a group of friends and family who all book campsites together once a month or so. We have potluck meals, so cooking and clean up is a cinch. I get to see my grandkids, my son, daughter and their spouses regularly. We like camping closer to home so it doesn't become such a chore and exhausting, we have so many wonderful campsites in the beach areas, it feels like vacation there. (I get carsick, so long trips are not enjoyable for me) When we are all out camping together it feels like my family and friends all live on the same block and we come out of our trailers to hang out. I highly recommend renting a nicer trailer/motor home to see if you will really like it. We bought a trailer because we already had a truck, the trailer costs less, insurance on the trailer was an extra $20 a year, registration is also much cheaper, if I had unlimited funds I would get a motor home though.

richardswife

It is a great way to travel. And you always know who has slept in your bed the night before (we had a bad experience in a motel once). You also know who cooked your food. Before we bought our 1st one, I got a bad case of ptomaine poisoning from a restaurant as we were coming home from California. Well it isn't fun driving as fast as you can from one rest stop to the next rest stop, across the dessert, (95miles apart), and feeling like you are about to die. We enjoyed our first one and also the 2nd RV after that. I helps a lot to have a husband who is very mechanical, as my husband was, because sometimes things do crop up, but as you said, your husband is very handy and can keep it up. I loved the RV as you also take your bathroom with you..........which really comes in handy ( we learned from the ptomaine trip) . We have traveled from one border of the USA to the northern border and also into Canada. and from the Pacific ocean to the Atlantic and had a blast. Then age caught up with us and my husband passed away in 2010, so I sold the RV and house and moved into a apt. for seniors. Another phase of life, that eventually comes to all of us. So enjoy every minute you can.

bhanes

We are on a motorhome trip now. We have owned rv's most of our life - travel trailers, fifth wheel, class c and class a motor homes. We now have a 30 ft class a which is perfect for us at this time. We won't have a longer motorhome because it would limit places you can take it. We don't tow a vehicle - don,t feel the need to. If we're only staying in one place fo one or two nights we don't hook up to anything. Having a handy husband is important. We love the lifestyle. Go for it!

baskets4moo

DH and I are on our 5th summer RV'ing. We're out at least 5 months. We have traveled from South Florida to Seattle, down the California coast, Las Vegas (twice!), Upper Michigan, Montana and many, many more places than I could list. We're big, 42 ft Class A, Harley on the back, and towing a truck! Finding a place to stay isn't that hard, between the campground/rv park book from Camping World and a great website rvparkreviews.com we never make reservations and travel wherever "the wind blows us". This week we're staying in a RV & B with gourmet organic breakfasts prepared by the owner. What a treat! We have seen so much of our great country and have met so many nice people.
Regarding Wally World, they actually encourage campers unless there is a city or county ordinance. Usually anywhere near a tourist area will be no camping but most elsewhere is fine. There's a app for finding Wallys and a camp/no camp rating. For a safe place to park after a long day you can't beat it. Just be sure to obey any signs posted, if it says no camping the cops will show up at 3 am, just ask me how I know
I take my Featherweight and kit as many projects as I can in 2 project boxes. I like to do miniature paper piecing so I can pack quite a few. I sew at our table or outside on a picnic table. I keep my rulers and mats under the mattress and keep a cupboard just for stashing my "finds" from all the quilt shops I visit on our travels. When I start packing my clothes in those suction bags I know it's time to get home

Bneighbor

My hubby is a pro racer. We use our motor home as a home during the racing season. We have a 43 foot Monaco with a 13 foot slide (living room/kitchen). Behind us, we pull a 28foot stacker trailer. We have 2 race cars (one stacked on top of the the other), a 4 wheeler that I use to pull the cars and get around the track, and all the equipment to maintain the cars and motor home. We are not able to have a car to use to get around, since 2 race cars fill the trailer, but this year we may leave one car home for a few races and take my little jaguar to run around in. We are completely dry docked at the track. When we are going to the races, we usually go to truck stops, some rest areas, and sometimes sam's club or Walmart to park. We are the length or longer then most semi/tractor trailers. We have yet to get stuck anywhere, nor have any problems backing up 75 feet of motor home and trailer. If we want to "sight see" there are areas to park the trailer, but since the fear of theft of the trailer and the contents, we rarely drop the trailer unless it is at another racer's shop. Hundreds of thousands of dollars is too easy a target.
I have everything in the motor home that I have in the regular home. I just updated my sewing machine to a brother innovis 1250 so I can have a larger embroidery frame. We went from Ohio to California in 2009 to do a commercial for an automotive manufacturer. We spent over a month traveling there and back. The commercial took 5 days to set up, shoot, then take down. We then went to Las Vegas and put the race at on display at the track there. We had a blast. I would do that trip again, less the car, and more the sight seeing.
We have been using a motor home since 1998, when my husband won the world championship and Winnebago was the sponsor and gave us a new 28 footer to use for the season. I refuse to race without one now. When we added up the cost do a pickup truck heavy enough to pull a trailer, the cost of hotels, food on the road, fuel, etc. we found the motor home was so much more cost effective. PLUS you can write off the interest of you payments as a second, or vacation home. Most race tracks are not close to towns, making hotels hard to find. If you have to be at the track at 8am, you have to get up early enough to get yourself dressed, find someplace to get a decent meal for breakfast, then still have to drive to the track, and then you either have to have packed coolers with food to last 4 or 5 days or eat track food. Now we wake up at 7. Get dressed, walk out to our kitchen, have a healthy breakfast, prepare for a long work day. Lunch? Sandwiches, grilled chicken, stew from the crockpot? Dinner? Steaks, salmon, anything we choose, and healthy, fresh foods. My own clean shower and my own comfy bed. The Holiday Inn does not approve of me going to the lobby in the morning for coffee wearing my jammies and fuzzy slippers!

carrieg

Camping is a lifestyle, you don't do it to save $$. We're on our 2nd travel trailer. No more putting up with kids running down the hotel hallways, ice machines not working, loud drunks coming back to the hotel at 2AM, lugging suitcases up a flight of stairs. You'll find the campgrounds usually strictly enfore their quiet hours. Check out the different forum at Woodalls. Lots of info there.

Have fun!

Rose_P

I would divide the cost of it plus the cost of upkeep, insurance and gas (4 mpg vs. 20+ in our car) and the parking cost, both when you're using it and when it's just being stored (many neighborhoods don't allow them on driveways), and I would figure out how many nights of average price motels I could get for that instead. Someone else cleans the room and breakfast is often included. We used to camp when the kids were young, and I reached a point where I had enough of cooking, cleaning and child tending under conditions that were more difficult than at home. I wouldn't consider it a vacation at all. But that's just me. Hope you enjoy your RV and get many happy miles out of it!

Something about this thread reminds me of an old Lucille Ball movie that we went to see at the drive-in when I was a kid. Gosh - I hate to admit I can remember that! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long,_Long_Trailer

ShabbyTabby

My husband and I RV'd fulll time for about 3 years. We loved it. Saw so many places, met some very wonderful people and felt so free of the stress of maintaining a home and yard. Guess we must have had some gypsy in us as we couldn't wait to see the next place we wandered into. We had a 5th wheel and IMHO that's the best. That way you can unhook and still have a vehicle available for sightseeing locally or shopping. If you are a novice to RV'ing there are a few things to remember. 1. Always remember to lock the fridge before traveling (if you don't want to find a big mess on the floor..ask me how I know) 2. Remember to turn the gas off on the fridge if you are not parked level, after you are settled in a spot and level, you can use the gas full time. 3. Get that rubberized shelf liner for your cabinets as it will keep your dishes from shifting all over the place. We used melmac service for plates, etc. 4. Turn off gas tank (propane) while traveling on the road....

Good advice from others regarding size...most campgrounds in the national parks and rural areas won't have room for anything over 30 ft and some are only for about 25 ft., so be sure your rig will fit before you get somewhere late in the afternoon and can't fit the rig in the spots. We belonged to 1,000 Trails and the Escapees Club, but most of the time we camped in off the beaten path places. We enjoyed all the backroads and forests. If DH were still alive we probably would still have an RV although maybe now not full time as I'm 79 and he would be 89. Too darned old now but we sure had some great times and made some wonderful friends. Go Enjoy!!