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DFR · 10-04-2008, 02:56 PM

This is the question. I assume you full timers take your toad whenever you move, but what about the rest of you. Do you take your toad everytime or do you leave it at home depending on destination?

DFR · 10-04-2008, 02:56 PM

This is the question. I assume you full timers take your toad whenever you move, but what about the rest of you. Do you take your toad everytime or do you leave it at home depending on destination?

RVThere · 10-04-2008, 03:04 PM

We usually bring our toad but it is definitely easier when you stop for gas if you don't have that thing hanging off your back end!

Last spring we didn't bring the toad to the Florida Keys because Enterprise Rent a car delivered a car right to the KOA. Also, if we are camping with my brother-in-law who has a fifth wheel, we leave the toad home because we can use his truck.

We also just switched from a tow dolly to flat towing which makes hooking and unhooking much easier. So I would say in the future, we would be more inclined to bring our toad.

beaverjim · 10-04-2008, 03:08 PM

dfr, we take our toad everytime the rig rolls, you just never know when you might want to go somewhere or anywhere. jim

historyljc · 10-04-2008, 03:11 PM

95% of the time the toad goes. If friends are going in their coach and we going for the same time frame, we'll take turns dragging the toad. On rare occasion if we're traveling a long way to a single destination, usually to see family, for the ease of driving and better fuel mileage, we'll rent a car there and leave the toad at home. Most of the time I prefer to have my car with me.

porscheracer · 10-04-2008, 03:29 PM

When we're in the Vectra, we have supplemental transportation. Due to our travels, our circumstances differ from most of the RV'ing world. The Vectra is predominantly our "working" RV. We travel ~ 20 weekends a year to sports car races and work as volunteers.

We also have a 24' enclosed trailer that we take to about 50% of the events. It has a half-bath, A/C - heat, onboard water and holding tanks, and a tiny 12v fridge. It was built to be able to haul a full-size car with ease, while doubling as a bunkhouse for up to 6 volunteer workers. When the trailer goes, we either take my wife's car, the Dakota, or my track toy, depending on what our plans are for the weekend and beyond.

Otherwise, when we take the Vectra, the Dakota is the toad - and we never leave home without it. We're too unpredictable to depend on a rental agency even being in the area. It also is an escape pod - which, luckily, we've never had to employ.

When we're in the View, we don't take a toad. It is small enough that it presents no inconvenience to just park it wherever we are going. If, by chance, we wind up somewhere that we want a 4x4 to play in the dirt - we find a rental agency. But that's rare. Often, we bookmark spots for a week-long (or longer) return trip to an area- and we will bring the Vectra back with the Dakota. The most recent of those is the Black Canyon area. We spent 3 days there in the View - and will be back next year for a couple of weeks in the Vectra / toad!!

Latitude · 10-04-2008, 03:49 PM

Hi DFR

We tow our Jeep four down. It is with us 95% of the time!!!

If we are going to my sisters for a long weekend we won't take it. Pretty much any other trip!!!

As Norm said "You never Know"

Rick

Meandering Retiree · 10-04-2008, 05:29 PM

We tow our Mini Cooper S. We have seen more people rent cars when they are staying at a campground for a week or more, but we feel that the cost of the towing the Mini is less than the cost of renting a car.

kalynzoo · 10-04-2008, 08:46 PM

With very little exception we take the toad whenever we travel. It does not seem to affect the gas consumption of our MH. It really is no trouble to hook up and tow a Saturn. It is convenient when you only travel 250 miles or so a day, but you want to stop for a few hours to see the sights along the way. Unhook the toad, leave the rig in a safe location, and take an hour tour of the country. When we took the Track tour in Mexico we were advised not to take the toad, as it complicated the train portion. We traveled tandem with another couple, and rented a car at our stops along the way. Each rental took over an hour, even with the rentals pre-arranged. Call when you get into the campground, wait for rental pickup, ride to the rental store, fill out the papers, with only one clerk in small towns, then drive back to the campground. Returning the car was slightly quicker, but after the prompt check in, we still had to wait for available staff to drive us back to the park. It's not like renting at the airport. I'll take the toad, even if I don't use it.

GaryKD · 10-05-2008, 03:57 AM

We tow about as close to 100% of the time as you can get. The toad is our sightseeing vehicle. And that is why we RV, to see the surrounding area. The coach is there for a place to live and get us from one CG to the next CG.

AL · 10-05-2008, 04:44 AM

Hi All,

Tow a Jeep Wrangler 4 down, and it's with me 99.9% of the time. Like others have said, it realy is no big deal to bring it! I also would rather have it and not use it, then NEED IT and not have it!

SeeTheUSA · 10-05-2008, 05:15 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by GaryKD:
We tow about as close to 100% of the time as you can get. The toad is our sightseeing vehicle. And that is why we RV, to see the surrounding area. The coach is there for a place to live and get us from one CG to the next CG. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Makes perfect sense! We function in nearly the same manner in spite of the fact our motor home is small. Besides, the motor home by itself gets about half the MPG as our toad --- the Scion regularly gets 32 to 34 MPG. On many extended trips, we'll log as many or more independent miles on the Scion as we do on the View.

Someone else might have a different traveling lifestyle, but our combination works great for us.

Bob N Deb · 10-05-2008, 06:48 AM

we take the usual toad about half the time . it only holds 2 people so if we have anyone with us it wont work. we can also tow our Toyota pickup but not very often. if we are just going for a quiet get away wekend we dont take a tow .
Bob

Happymi · 10-05-2008, 07:03 AM

Before we bought our DS, we rented a 30ft. and drove to Nova Scotia. We didn't tow anything. If we had, we would have gone sightseeing. If we could do it over again we would have towed something.

Now we tow our Jeep Sahara Wrangler four wheels down and we haven't had any problems. We take it 100% of the time and use it almost everyday.

Happymi