1greatEscape
Member
I'm planning a very extended RV trip and I could definitely use some advice from those in the know.
First off, I freely admit, I have had very little rv experience in the past (only two short term trips in a winnebago and later a 35' rv that my family owned) but both experiences were positive, so I'm in the beginning planning stages of a long trek.
Most of my trip details are completely subject to change, but here's some basic trip parameters:
Leg 1 - LA to WA up the coast.
Leg 2 - Zig Zag Pattern from WA to KS, something like this WA > MT > WY > UT > CO > KS
Leg 3 - Diagonally meandering from KS to FL. End in FL.
Duration: 3 to 6 months. My original thought is to only drive a few hours a day, then stay a day or two or a week in a place (if I'm really diggin it) then move on. Plan on staying on a lot of BLM owned land, boondocking whenever possible or even stealth camping when other options aren't available. I'll mix it up with a few nice hotel nights as well, just for a change up.
Equipment: Currently own an SUV with a pretty decent tow capacity (7700lbs).
Here's where I need some advice. Obviously on a trip like this, costs could spiral exponentially without some serious planning. I have just started doing initial homework on boondocking, BLM owned land and I would love to do as much of that on this trip as possible, but I really need some vehicle advice. I also have close to a year from now before I'll embark on this, so hopefully a good amount of time to continue to map this out.
This could very easily be a 10k mile trip depending on how much wandering I do. So some of my initial vehicle considerations:
- Rent an RV. Even a smallish one, for this duration of time, crazy expensive.
- Buy an old RV. Even if only survives the trip once, I'm ok with that. However RV's in the <3000 range look pretty bad. Might be a maintenance nightmare.
- Buy / Rent something I could tow behind my suv that would give me a place to sleep. Still expensive, and usually doesn't have much in the way of creature comforts (like a toilet), plus maybe doesn't "blend" in all that well for the occasional stealth camping..
I suppose my order of priorities for mode of transportation include:
- Price of vehicle
- Fuel considerations
- Creature comforts (sure I could rent a u-haul van, but those things are not fun to drive long distances. ha ha)
So if you fine folks were going to set off on a trip of this length / duration, and you didn't want to break the bank, what creative solutions might you employ?
When I get to FL, I plan on ditching the RV as phase two of my self-reinvention will focus on life at sea, not on land, hence whatever mode of transpo I used to perform this trip will at that point be no longer needed. I mention this, to aid with out-of-the-box thinking, as it's ok if it's unconventional / not the nicest thing on the road / etc etc.
Thanks everyone, curious to hear your suggestions.
~GE
First off, I freely admit, I have had very little rv experience in the past (only two short term trips in a winnebago and later a 35' rv that my family owned) but both experiences were positive, so I'm in the beginning planning stages of a long trek.
Most of my trip details are completely subject to change, but here's some basic trip parameters:
Leg 1 - LA to WA up the coast.
Leg 2 - Zig Zag Pattern from WA to KS, something like this WA > MT > WY > UT > CO > KS
Leg 3 - Diagonally meandering from KS to FL. End in FL.
Duration: 3 to 6 months. My original thought is to only drive a few hours a day, then stay a day or two or a week in a place (if I'm really diggin it) then move on. Plan on staying on a lot of BLM owned land, boondocking whenever possible or even stealth camping when other options aren't available. I'll mix it up with a few nice hotel nights as well, just for a change up.
Equipment: Currently own an SUV with a pretty decent tow capacity (7700lbs).
Here's where I need some advice. Obviously on a trip like this, costs could spiral exponentially without some serious planning. I have just started doing initial homework on boondocking, BLM owned land and I would love to do as much of that on this trip as possible, but I really need some vehicle advice. I also have close to a year from now before I'll embark on this, so hopefully a good amount of time to continue to map this out.
This could very easily be a 10k mile trip depending on how much wandering I do. So some of my initial vehicle considerations:
- Rent an RV. Even a smallish one, for this duration of time, crazy expensive.
- Buy an old RV. Even if only survives the trip once, I'm ok with that. However RV's in the <3000 range look pretty bad. Might be a maintenance nightmare.
- Buy / Rent something I could tow behind my suv that would give me a place to sleep. Still expensive, and usually doesn't have much in the way of creature comforts (like a toilet), plus maybe doesn't "blend" in all that well for the occasional stealth camping..
I suppose my order of priorities for mode of transportation include:
- Price of vehicle
- Fuel considerations
- Creature comforts (sure I could rent a u-haul van, but those things are not fun to drive long distances. ha ha)
So if you fine folks were going to set off on a trip of this length / duration, and you didn't want to break the bank, what creative solutions might you employ?
When I get to FL, I plan on ditching the RV as phase two of my self-reinvention will focus on life at sea, not on land, hence whatever mode of transpo I used to perform this trip will at that point be no longer needed. I mention this, to aid with out-of-the-box thinking, as it's ok if it's unconventional / not the nicest thing on the road / etc etc.
Thanks everyone, curious to hear your suggestions.
~GE