We are about to take our first RV trip.

[catlinrock]

Hello everybody,

I'm excited to join this community of women!

We are about to take a 2 month trip across the country from Boston to Los Angeles, through the southern states, beginning in early January. We have never done this before. We are thinking of renting a van or some such vehicle, and a towable trailer.

If anyone has any advice about the above, we would be most grateful!

Also, any advice about staying safe as two women traveling through the south would be really wonderful.

Many thanks,

Catlin

[Bethers]

Welcome, Catlin! Glad to have you with us.

I'm sure there are tt's to rent, but most often what I see rented are Class C's and truck campers. So I can't help there.

As to being safe ... I find it safer on the road in my rig than I did in my supposedly secure neighborhood. Just always be aware of your surroundings, and if something doesn't feel right, go by your gut feeling and get out of there.

Hope you have a wonderful trip and take us all along with you!

[linann]

Rentals often have per mile charges if you exceed a predetermined total mileage. Have you considered buying an RV for your trip and selling it when you get home? Maybe you could find a used unit for a reasonable price and only make monthly payments until you sell it or trade it for another vehicle.

[avalen]

welcome Catlin,

[cpatinjones]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

[WickedLady]

Welcome from the state of WA. Enjoy your adventure.

[daibraik]

Welcome, I'm new here myself, and haven't traveled on my own just yet. I'm setting out in a month. I wish I had something to offer you about safety, but it would all be a repeat of what you've probably already read.

Dawn

[carolb]

Welcome Catlin I too feel safer in my rig when traveling--more so than staying in motels! Hope you figure out how to make the trip. The idea of buying, then selling if you find you don't like it , well that has it's merits! Happy travels!

[IrishIroamed]

HI from Illinois - welcome

[MelissaD]

Hoosier Welcome

I have traveled the country for years. A little common sense and some situational awareness goes a long way to keeping you safe. I've meet a bunch of great people on the road and only a couple of dirt bags but they were easy to spot. If it does not feel right, leave, don't stop.

As for renting, the insurance probably has a lot to do with more class C's being rented than travel trailers (TT's). The only TT's I've seen rented are small light pop ups. I have seen larger TT's for rent on the internet. Also if you rent a van there may be a no towing clause. Since there are so many different TT's and they require a specific weight distribution hitch many van rental companies will just say no. Towing opens liabilities that most rental places won't want to deal with. For what you'd renting a class C for the month you could buy a used TT. Last I remember it was $750-850 a week plus mileage (some are like $0.32 per mile over 200 miles per day). In realty for what 2 month would cost you it would be cheaper to buy a used trailer for cash. Lots of good deals probably find a sweat one for under $4,000. Heck you can get a nice TT new for less than $200 a month in payments if you wanted. Don't know that much about the price of used class C's but for what the rental is you could buy or put a nice down payment on a nice used rig.

PS: If you look at new, don't worry too much about MSRP. Haggle and you can do ok. I go mine for 70% of MSRP so don't let that scare you. If our local dealer won't haggle you can buy on line and have it shipped to you. Point is, there are options.

[catlinrock]

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and insight! Tomorrow we are going to a trailer rental place and will begin the process of figuring out what to do.

Has anyone traveled the state byways instead of the highways? I found a cool site listing them and it looks like a beautiful way to go....I cant wait to see the beauty of this country!!!

Here's the site:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/byways/

Warm regards,

Catlin

[BarbaraRose]

Has anyone traveled the state byways instead of the highways?

Catlin

Here is a new word I just learned..."shunpiker". You might be one of these...check out this link...

http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/shunpiker.html

[Cudedog]

Rentals often have per mile charges if you exceed a predetermined total mileage. Have you considered buying an RV for your trip and selling it when you get home? Maybe you could find a used unit for a reasonable price and only make monthly payments until you sell it or trade it for another vehicle.

I looked into renting a large van (just a van - not a van conversion) for two weeks just to see how I liked doing the travel thing. Figured I could throw my sleeping bags and ice chest in the back and take off. What with the daily rental, mileage and whatnot the total for two weeks came to about $1800, so I passed on that idea.

I realized that if I bought a van and just took a ten or fifteen trips it would quickly pay for itself as compared to renting.

So I purchased a van.

Anne