She thinks it will be unmanageable for me to drive a 35ft Mh and a toad.
My husband and I share the driving of our 40-foot motorhome pulling a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I don't understand why she thinks it will be unmanageable for YOU to drive a smaller combination. Maybe SHE would find it unmanageable which is too bad. Goodness, a lot of us here on the RV Forum drive large motorhomes and pull cars so I really don't understand her issue with it. Personally I love driving ours and would do all the driving except my husband wants to drive too.
;D
It is indeed the parking that bothers her the most.
Parking is more of a problem without a toad because you have to drive the motorhome everywhere. For example, say you're at a place like Bryce Canyon which, in addition to wonderful hiking trails, also has an 18-mile (one way) scenic rim drive which is beautiful. But pulling a car into the scenic view parking areas is a whole lot easier than trying to park with a motorhome, especially on a crowded day! Many of our national parks are old and there isn't much space in scenic parking areas for our new wider and longer RVs. There also are inconsiderate people driving cars who park in RV spaces which means the RVers might miss stopping at that scenic view.
Also she wants to walk or cycle when we get to a camp ground
This sounds good but it's not always reasonable to achieve. For example, that 36-mile round-trip scenic drive at Bryce is a two-lane road and not really a bicycling road. Not to mention it's elevation varies between about 7,000 feet up to 9,100 feet. How are you both at riding bicycles at high altitude? Even the Bryce campgrounds are around 7,000 feet and people with breathing problems can't visit there comfortably. When you're within most of the campgrounds, walking and bicycling is a good thing to do, but you're not always in the campground. In addition to sightseeing, you might want to go out to dinner, go grocery shopping, go to a beauty shop, go to a Laundromat, or - worse case scenario (been there, done that) - have an accident that requires emergency care, surgery, physical therapy and many doctor appointments. You'll definitely see more and do more things WITH a car than you would do WITHOUT a car!
We've been RVing for many years. We started out with smaller Class Cs and were fortunate to be able to travel for extended periods of time. At first we always drove the motorhome when we wanted to go sightseeing, etc. Eventually it got to be a drag to constantly hook and unhook just to go out to dinner or go grocery shopping. Yes, we tried to plan to do things efficientl,y but it didn't always work out. We got our first toad (a cute Geo Tracker) when we had our 30-foot Class C and that's when we revisited places we had been to previously and saw how much we had missed. There are places you simply cannot take an RV so why limit yourself if it isn't necessary? We also had fun going places even a regular sedan can't go, like some of the dirt roads in and around our national parks. You don't have to be a serious offroader to have fun with four-wheel drive cars!
Now, all that said, the easiest thing to do might be to get your motorhome and try roaming around without a car for a while. I suspect you'll both find it okay at the beginning but then will want to get a toad after being without one. Whatever you decide, it will be fun and a wonderful new experience for you!
ArdraF
