Drive the towed vehicle?

[Heath Close]

So we are looking at an RV that's under 30' so we have more options for boondocking. If we decide to keep my car, we would have to get a dolly for it. This increases our length and limits the reason we are trying to stay under 30'.

My question is, if we keep my car, and just drive it along with the rv to every destination, that still keeps us under regulations right? So if I roll up to a state park, I'm under 30', and when the car rolls up, it is under 30 feet, and the person in the car can just "visit" my campsite?

Is that too shady? Would that work? Is there some kind of law that ties us together when we show up?

[EdInArk]

We're also 30', and we often just drive the car instead of towing it if we're going less than 50 or 75 miles. My wife will stop and grocery shop while I go set the rig up.

Your worry has never even come up. I can't imagine anyone being concerned about you having a car too.

[Alpine36]

Some, if not most parks do not charge an extra vehicle fee if it's towed.
If it's not towed you could be charged an extra vehicle fee, according to their rules of course. Just something minor to consider...

[rream]

Campsite lengths are for the RV only most campgrounds have ample room to keep a car on the site also - no need to worry - tow that car behind the MH and save the gas or not if you want a peaceful drive without a spouse


Never been charged extra anywhere for the car

[Ljwt330]

As others have said, the campsite limits are for the RV only and towed vehicles typically have room to park or are otherwise allowed to park in the CG. The extra vehicle charge is for a non-towed car, such as for a guest.

Since you cannot simply flat tow and would require a dolly, I understand your desire to drive the other vehicle (cannot really call it "towed".) It really becomes a technical issue at each campground. The car is not technically a toad, but the CG allows an RV with a toad at no additional fee. I would simply ask as you check in, if they ask, that the other vehicle is you non-towed, toad. Offer to pay extra if they suggest.

[Alpine36]

Originally Posted by Ljwt330

As others have said, the campsite limits are for the RV only and towed vehicles typically have room to park or are otherwise allowed to park in the CG. The extra vehicle charge is for a non-towed car, such as for a guest.

Since you cannot simply flat tow and would require a dolly, I understand your desire to drive the other vehicle (cannot really call it "towed".) It really becomes a technical issue at each campground. The car is not technically a toad, but the CG allows an RV with a toad at no additional fee. I would simply ask as you check in, if they ask, that the other vehicle is you non-towed, toad. Offer to pay extra if they suggest.

We've never been charged extra. If they ask if the vehicle is towed by the motor home I always say yes, just not at this moment. Technically true.
"OK fine, just park it by your coach", or something like that is usually their response. Really a non issue in most cases, just food for thought.

[twinboat]

If you had a 30 ft trailer, would it need a 50 ft site ? No, its the RV length.
Self powered will have no effect.

An extra vehicle is a second car.

[twogypsies]

First, you can find gorgeous boondocking spots with a big rig. We did with our 40' motorhome - up to 20+ miles from pavement on BLM and national forest land.

Having a car on a dolly and traveling gravel, bumpy roads to a boondocking spot may be difficult. Your car will get filthy from dust and it'll be bumping over the low/high spots in the road. On gravel roads we always disconnect the Jeep and the Jeep led the route in so that it stayed clean.

Traveling by yourselves is an option but it's not something we'd do. We love talking about the drive and what we're seeing as we drive.

We once disconnected the Jeep to scout campsites. Then we entered a park campground at Glacier Nat'l Park. At the entry booth we were going to be charged twice - for the RV and for the Jeep even though we explained why they're both being driven separately. So we made a U-Turn around the booth; found a place to park and connected the Jeep. Pulled in again and only one charge. Absolutely ridiculous but that's the way it was.

Some state parks will charge separately for your car. Can't your car be flat-towed?

Good luck!

[Old Scout]

Except for short trips--driving separately is not a great solution...For MOST of us, sharing the ride with our DW is part of the RV experience....Never heard of an extra vehicle charge, except for guests, but then again, we always tow. Length of RV determines site selection/access and cost--dollies and trailers can be an issue to park at the site... Endless discussion on this forum about 4-down vs dolly vs trailer. Opinions will vary on towing--but mine doesn't--4-down is the easiest--IMHO.
PS--try to figure out the logic on a toll road--4 axles [rig plus toad] usually costs more than two separate vehicles?????

[Heath Close]

Thanks so much everyone for the info... maybe I don't understand the rules...

I was under the impression that the total length of your motorhome and towed vehicle are what they look at when you roll up to a state or national park.

I'm seeing some of you say this isn't the case... just wanted to confirm that.

It's length of RV only? Anything behind the RV doesn't count against a 30' rule and would keep us from entering?

[ByeTheWay]

Originally Posted by Alpine36

Some, if not most parks do not charge an extra vehicle fee if it's towed.
If it's not towed you could be charged an extra vehicle fee, according to their rules of course. Just something minor to consider...

I've never had this problem and I've unhooked prior to check in many times.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Heath Close

It's length of RV only? Anything behind the RV doesn't count against a 30' rule and would keep us from entering?

There are no 'rules' based on the written size of the site. You either fit or you don't. They're not going to kick you out if you fit into a smaller site. Sizes given for sites are approximate. They are guesstimates recorded, most likely, not even by a RVer. They are eyeball site sizes. Also, some are better at parking than others. That said, if you make reservations and you pull up to your site on arrival and you don't fit, you probably are out of luck unless they have empty sites that are available that you would fit into. That's why we rarely made reservations. We'd pull in and if there was no available site for us we always had a backup. It only happed one time though. We learned to scour all information by reading or online and looking at satellite photos before deciding if the campground was for us.

You'll find there is absolutely no consistency when you read the site length online or in print. Our 40' motorhome and Jeep have fit on a 36' site. We've also found some 40' sites that were too short for the motorhome.

While volunteering in Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park we had the duty of assigning sites to incoming for the day. We soon noticed that all the 'big' sites on the chart were soon gone to big rigs we were assigning but in walking through the campground we noticed a lot more sites that would fit a big rig. (Big, meaning 36'-40') So we asked if we could make a new chart to go by from looking over each site. The rangers were amazed at how many more big rig sites we found. It helped that we had a 40' as we knew what size rig could fit into the sites based on tree and boulder placements.

Basically, get the RV that you would be happy in and you'll find places to stay.

With our 40' we fit multiples times in Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Teton, Bryce, Zion and many more national parks and countless state parks and national forest campgrounds.

[Heath Close]

So I was trying to find something a little more official but I find a couple different sources that talk about "combined length" as the restrictions.

Here it says all lengths are combined...
https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-adv...-rv-size-limit

and here it differentiates between which parks are combined or not...
https://rvshare.com/blog/national-pa...length-limits/

[Fiesta48]

NB state parks charge for any extra motorized vehicles, ie: toads. Not cheap either. 1st vehicle $30+, 2nd $20+ yearly, or daily $5?