RV or Car

[Bneesmith]

I have no experience with an RV. Yet, I have decided ( my Travels with Charley dream) to rent a class C 19ft from CruiseAmerica and travel from Las Vegas south around Sierra Nevadas over to Monterey down the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles and return to LV. The trip will be 11 days in July.
I am not so much worried about driving the RV as I am getting to places FROM the RV. Another concern is that the cheaper parks don't have full hook ups. I don't mind boondocking as long as I'm not HOT at night. It worries me that I can't use the A/C while in a park because of generator noise.

For those of you who travel often by RV, what are your thoughts on this? Should I stick with the RV or rent a car and stay in hotels/motels?

[NRR]

See your other post...

[scrapperjohn]

Depends on what you want to see...
Don't know what they charge for RV rental, I guess $120.00 a day. Plus fuel at BEST, 9 M,PG.
I see a LOT of rentals on the road !! Good idea to get your feet wet.

[Bneesmith]

No, this post is different. Not asking the same question.

[Big Bear Local]

Try the RV rental. Lot more fun than motels.

[Isaac-1]

It is hard to say much without knowing your larger vehicle driving experience, personally I hate driving my 30 ft motorhome around cities, and areas of moderately dense population. The big problem is the other drivers, who tend to be far less courteous to motorhomes than they are to other cars and trucks. They will pass you just to slow down, not let you into the other lane, cut in front of you with no warning, etc.

[Teddyman]

Rental RV's are pretty pricey but may work to see if RVing is for you. Apparently a lot of Europeans are renting them for their summer American sightseeing vacations.


With a short coach less than 25 ft you can drive to a lot of places. We drive to and park at local city parks during the day and day camp there until we go back the rv park/camp after dinner. We don't have a toad but use bicycles for short trips and Uber or rent a car to do distant site seeing. I don't want the extra hassle of a toad.

[Myrons31]

You mentioned that cheaper facilities that do not have "full hookups," which obviously we all know to be electric at various amps, water, and sewer. And maybe cable if your lucky. And that running the A/C seems to be important and that use of the generator may be out of the question.

You don't need "full hook ups" to run your A/C.... I have stayed at many a cheap campground that just has even the minimum electric and maybe water. And run my A/C as needed obviously. Have you checked to see if these facilities you looked at have some electric hook ups or are they strictly no amenities at all?

Sorry. I just had to ask.....

As for getting around from the RV. Bicycle. I ride to many of the attractions near my campground. Doesn't matter the mileage. Well 20 miles out is iffy....

[Kraken]

Even partial hookup's will get you AC for the air conditioner. If you need heat or AC I find it worth it to stay in the parks. If you boondock, and need to run the generator, it uses half a gallon fuel per hour over 8 hours. If fuel is 3 bucks a gallon, there's 12 bucks gone right there plus wear and tear on the genny. Plus you got security and shower in the park. If you need the furnace boondocking, then you have the cost of gasoline for the genny plus the cost of propane heat, and propane's not cheap. I use space heaters to get around that.Where you really save on boondocking is when the temperature is nice enough you don't need genny or propane furnace.

[JONWisconsin]

I don't use my MH to save money. In 11 days renting, I don't think you will save money by using an RV. RVing is not a saving money thing in my experience. However, there are many other good reasons to do it. As someone said, since your travel is through many cities, for 11 days I would travel in a car.

[Arch Hoagland]

A couple things come to mind.

Traveling in July in California requires reservations made well in advance, especially in the areas you want to visit. The 4th of July everything will be packed.

I'm currently in the planning stages of a two month trip during July and August throughout California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Seattle. Within the next month or so I will start making reservations.

Lots of people travel in Class C without a car and seem to do fine. Uber is an asset too if available.

I've kept track of our expenses on long trips and it costs us about $100 a day for everything...gas, RV park, food, tours, etc. Your expenses will be more because of the rental cost.

I've been to all the places you mentioned. It will be a very nice trip in my opinion.

Keep in mind you might get hooked on using an RV and then you are going to have to buy one. This trip could cost you more than you ever imagined..........

[knit]

Not much air conditioning is needed on the Pacific Coast highway portion of the trip. Maybe plan your trip to stay at places with electricity from/to the coast. But on the coast you will be fine. Maybe even need a sweater.

For instance, the average high in July in Monterey is only 66F. https://www.usclimatedata.com/climat...tates/usca0724. Pismo Beach is only 71F. The average high in Vegas is 104 in July for reference.

Being on the Pacific Coast in the summer is nothing like the Atlantic or Gulf coasts.

[Old New Mex]

Get a fantastic fan.

[FatDog]

I guess I'm sort of biased on this because I dont think there is any real choice between that route in a nice small Class-C as versus a car ....

... I would leap at a chance to do it in the RV.


I have taken that route dozens of times.

Vegas ..Sierras ..Monterrey.. Carmel ... Big Sur ...Santa Barbara ... maybe San Diego......
.... desert to the mountains to the coast to a couple good restaurants ...
....

... have some fun in the Class-C. You'll have a bit of a learning curve and it will be fun.