Vacation help

[daniyal]

I'm planning a vacation to the States for some time in March (if my visa comes through) and was planning on taking a RV trip with the wife across America. So my question is has any one here ever rented one of these? do I need a special permit to drive one and if so how long does it take to get one? lastly and by all means the most important question is got a good place to rent one?

Your help as always is much appreciated.

 

[bballbaby]

Tom Raper RV in Indiana.

Sounds like fun. maybe you should rent the movie RV first though. Pretty insightful about some of the dos and donts.

Make sure you set the parking brake!!!

 

[Volusianator]

Planning to hit the WI/Green Bay area?!!!!!

 

[Moro]

I was on one, but when young and cannot answer yer questions. But best of luck and have a safe trip! May yer next one be a tad souther!

 

[Mitch]

I've done the RV thing before and it's not good for general sight seeing across country in my opinion. The driving takes longer, very bad gas milage, and is more stressful, if you decide you want to see some attraction in the city, catch a dinner show down town etc. good luck at finding a parking spot. You also don't have many choices if you are going to park in camp grounds overnight. You may want to hit the historic district down town, but the closest camp grounds is on the edge of the city limits.

I've had some good times in a RV as well, but they have been when we planned to go to one specific place for camping or whatever, not the multiple destinations trip. With the great rates the hotels and motels are offering right now it may also be cheaper to rent a nice car/SUV/minivan etc. and sleep on a bed.

Oh yea, and have you looked at a Map of the US lately? it takes about ten hours to drive the length of Florida, with a car you can turn it in at an airport, fly across three states and rent another car to take up where you left off.

 

[bballbaby]

goo dinsigths mitch

 

[dpricenator]

What ever you do, you have to see/ shop in Laguna beach. Oh yeah and I live right there so I can provide some smokes and local info for the afternoon.:smokingbo

 

[daniyal]

I'm planning on starting my trip from Chicago and going out west to either San Fran or Visalia... I've seen most of the major sites in the US so this is definitely not a site seeing trip the wife and I thought it may be interesting to take an RV out though I am looking into renting a car or SUV as well or just flying there. I thought getting an RV would be a leisurely way of getting out and may be herfing with a few brothers here but I definitely see how a car would be more efficient and easier to park.

 

[daniyal]

What ever you do, you have to see/ shop in Laguna beach. Oh yeah and I live right there so I can provide some smokes and local info for the afternoon.:smokingbo

How can I pass up free smokes? and I'm sure the wife will enjoy the shopping.

 

[CWS]

If you work it right you could rent a car and other than a few motel nights hit the brothers all the way across. I know we have room oh and a few cigars.

 

[Angry Bill]

You better stop by in Los Angeles!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, I got room too!

 

[Swampfox21]

i would rent a car and stay at motels. my family and others did this when my cousin got back from his first tour in iraq.we drove from charleston SC to Camp lejune NC. we had alot of people in there so that sucked but what sucked even more was tryin to drive that thing through cities. not much room for error. but hope you have a good time! if your west coast plans fall through; the east coast, especially SC is B-E-A-Utiful.

 

[Brazilla]

Here ya go………..

Seriously though…
Mitch and some of the other brothers have some very valid points daniyal but RVing is a great way to travel if you have a plan and map out where you’re going. There are no special permits required to drive an RV and as long as you’re not planning on getting a 38’ then the driving is really easy to get accustomed to. I would recommend something in the 26’ range as it would be plenty of room for you and the wife. You say then plan is to come to Chicago in March? I would stay away from the northern states that time of year in a RV. This winter is turning out to be a harsh one and driving on ice and snow would not be the best of ideas in a RV.

I might suggest trying a southern route if your plan is to end up the California. Starting out in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale or even Atlanta might provide some of the country’s most beautiful sights and scenery while staying out of the weather as the southern states tend to have an earlier spring as oppose to the northern states.

Expense might be a concern but remember, you have a kitchen with you and the last time I checked groceries were a lot cheaper than eating out all the time. Most RVs are self contained with a generator, water, holding tanks, refrigerator/freezer, stove, microwave, AC, TV, VCR and stereo. Point is, you can usually stop where you want for as long as you want.

Another idea to get around driving the tank every where you go is a scooter or a couple of bicycles on a bumper rack. A GPS unit would be advised as I have found the best places I’ve ever ended up was when I was lost. hehe The GPS is to find your way back.

It’s really not for everyone but if you enjoy seeing the real country and taking your time to really enjoy it then your original idea would give you a trip you’ll never forget.

 

[Jetexas]

Hey Daniyal,
I don't know about the RV rental but Palm Desert is beautiful in March. If you make it this way (So Cal) we will have a serious smoke out!:smokingbo

 

[njstone]

yea man, let us know when you decide to come and what the dates are, maybe we can arrange a few herfs along your trip

Just remember--the US is immensely huge. So don't think you're going to go sight seeing coast-to-coast unless you plan to take a whole month to do it.

 

[Cigary43]

Here is my 2 cents,,,,,forget about Visalia unless you have relatives there. I lived there for 2 years and trust me, nothing to see unless you visit the parks going up into 3 Rivers and Eoshim Valley or maybe even Yosemite. San Francisco is much much better choice as you can spend days looking at everything there. Don't know if I would trust an RV in SF. as there is no place to park in the city unless you dump it off outside of SF and use BART to come and go into SF ( very advisable to do this )

There is pros and cons to renting an RV,,,right now gas is cheap so you are fortunate. You can park the RV usually for free at Walmart. You have a few months to google places to stop and places to see. From Chicago you can visit alot of things including Yellowstone,,,amazing there and then down into Zion Nat'L Park,,,,Grand Canyon and then over to San Diego and up to San Francisco. Good luck and have a great time!

I'm planning on starting my trip from Chicago and going out west to either San Fran or Visalia... I've seen most of the major sites in the US so this is definitely not a site seeing trip the wife and I thought it may be interesting to take an RV out though I am looking into renting a car or SUV as well or just flying there. I thought getting an RV would be a leisurely way of getting out and may be herfing with a few brothers here but I definitely see how a car would be more efficient and easier to park.

 

[daniyal]

Here ya go………..

I gotta get me one of those! thanks for the great advice Bear:thumbsup:

Here is my 2 cents,,,,,forget about Visalia unless you have relatives there. I lived there for 2 years and trust me, nothing to see unless you visit the parks going up into 3 Rivers and Eoshim Valley or maybe even Yosemite. San Francisco is much much better choice as you can spend days looking at everything there. Don't know if I would trust an RV in SF. as there is no place to park in the city unless you dump it off outside of SF and use BART to come and go into SF ( very advisable to do this )

There is pros and cons to renting an RV,,,right now gas is cheap so you are fortunate. You can park the RV usually for free at Walmart. You have a few months to google places to stop and places to see. From Chicago you can visit alot of things including Yellowstone,,,amazing there and then down into Zion Nat'L Park,,,,Grand Canyon and then over to San Diego and up to San Francisco. Good luck and have a great time!

I'm leaning more and more towards going to SF rather than Visalia part of the idea behind renting the RV was that we have a niece and nephew in Visalia we want to visit and thought an RV would be a cool way to take them around for a bit of site seeing in Cal.. but then again it might just be cheaper to rent an RV from Cal and do a bit of local site seeing.

Still planning this out and figuring out the best way to go about it so thought some local knowledge may come in handy and the brothers here seem to have some very useful information. I'd like to visit as many of the BOTL's here as I can during my trip as I really miss being part of the herf that go around.

 

[cvm4]

For what it's worth, my parents drove from MS to CA and back. It took them 2 weeks and they looked at some sights and took in the country. They said it was beautiful and amazing how the landscape changes.

I'd rent an SUV and map out ahead of time where you plan to go. A GPS wouldn't hurt to bring either.

 

[Mitch]

You might want to check out room rates in hotels right now. I'm finding rooms are less than half the normal rates right now in just about every city. They are desperate for bussiness, Disney in Orlando, is doing stay four nights and get three free. It's a buyers market!

 

[dpmrpa]

I'm planning a vacation to the States for some time in March (if my visa comes through) and was planning on taking a RV trip with the wife across America. So my question is has any one here ever rented one of these? do I need a special permit to drive one and if so how long does it take to get one? lastly and by all means the most important question is got a good place to rent one?

Your help as always is much appreciated.

If you get to Pennsylvania,(Poconos) stop in. I've got a stick waiting for u.:grinFU:
I know nothing about RVing sorry:dunno: