Tips on X-Country travel desired. Know anyone who has a jetstream or RV they rent?

(^AIRSTREAM not jetstream!  How d I edit my title??) 

Am I crazy?  Perhaps, but I want to travel X-country, or at least far south this summer, but also  think the kids might not like the car option.  

(I'd love to buy an Airstream!)

Am considering renting an RV, trailer, pop-up camper or whatever other options there might be out there. Are there other options that others have used, like driving to Air BnB campers?  Would do this with a clean dog, because the flea situation at dog hotels can be very bad.

Thoughts? Suggestions? 

We spent many a week in RVs when I was a kid.  Always an adventure, but I'd bet that they are a lot better now.  I would avoid a trailer because you can't ride in a towed vehicle.  Half the fun was chatting or chowing down while moving, and being able to move around inside the RV to avoid siblings.

We rented a 31 foot motor home (class c? It had a van front vs a bus style)to travel the worlds longest yard sale about 10 years ago. Rented from a place with Adventure in the name down near Middletown nj  ...adventure on wheels maybe? There were just three adults, but we had a blast . 

Thanks guys! that's encouraging. 

My brother rented an RV when my parents went with them and their two young boys to Yellowstone (from Texas).  It was not cheap and my parents didn't like the constant exposure to rambunctious kids. I, on the other hand, was jealous.  I had a friend whose parents left their Airstream parked in a campsite in the Poconos and never moved it again.  Mobile means you can move it!  

To change your title you must close the thread and go to the Food, Dining and Travel category listings.  You can change it from there.   The word "edit" appears under the title and listing info if it is your thread.  Everyone else's thread just has a title and listing.

There are many RV rental places. This is a local one in Sussex Co.

http://www.84rv.com/rv-rental

I actually prefer a trailer of some sort.  You can park it and set up camp and then have the tow vehicle available to do day trips etc.  If you have a full sized trailer vs. a pop up, you can still pull into a rest stop and make a sandwich, take a nap etc.  

For two adults an RV with a small car towed along behind is also a good option.  I'm a bit of a safety nut, so I'm concerned about how safe RVS are to travel in for multiple passengers.

I traveled for 6 weeks in 1980 with college roommate and a tent -campground to campground and overnight at anyone's grandma.  Best trip ever.  For extensive trip planning we sat with a counselor at Triple A.  Left with guidebooks, maps and campground passes etc.Then they made something called a trip tik which was pages of maps sticthed together in a little book the size of a folded map to show 10 miles on either side of planned route as we selected.  Keep amount of mapping doable for any given day.  Best trip planning for a trip to the unknown.  

The AAA Trip Tik is now online.    

the idea sounds great.  In reality driving a massive RV around, getting 6mpg, trying to park the thing, and at night hook-up...  Not so much.

I'd love to do it again out west, where the roads are much easier to drive and RV locations are plentiful.  That said, I think a lot of the places I'd like to check out wouldn't be accessible with a large RV.

We've done a couple of long trips (with kids) by alternating nights at campgrounds (cheap, and sometimes you meet pleasant people) with nights at motels (real in-room bathrooms! sometimes a pool, and/or they make breakfast!  no tent!).  

I see what you mean, though, about the possible flea situation at places that take dogs.  That said, I have traveled a couple of times with a cat (no camping there!) and never had a flea problem.

A lot of KOAs have cabins with beds and kitchenettes, or even Airstreams or cabooses or yurts that you can rent for the night -- give you a little more elbow room and privacy.

For the dog, you might take along a supply of CapStar. This is a miracle drug that I just learned about after rescuing an infested foster dog. It kills every flea and tick on a dog within half an hour. Not toxic to the dog. Amazing stuff.

kthnry said:

A lot of KOAs have cabins with beds and kitchenettes, or even Airstreams or cabooses or yurts that you can rent for the night -- give you a little more elbow room and privacy.


For the dog, you might take along a supply of CapStar. This is a miracle drug that I just learned about after rescuing an infested foster dog. It kills every flea and tick on a dog within half an hour. Not toxic to the dog. Amazing stuff.

CapStar?  Interesting... 

Good advice all around... especially the cons of RV travel I'd not much considered. 

My grandparents had a class C when I was little.  One summer we went cross country to CA.  Another time we went to Florida.  One year it was Texas.  Basically my grandmother's brothers had scattered to the wind so we went on road trips to visit them. It was great.  As noted above it is your transportation, so simple trips like going to a supermarket or an amusement park mean bringing the camper, but for going cross country it was actually ideal.  My sister and I were younger, less than 10 years old, so being in the camper meant not having to stop for bathrooms or looking for places to eat since we had a working toilet, refrigerator, stove, and kitchen table on hand at all times.  For older kids the convenience of towing and having a real car might be worth losing the constant access to food and a toilet while on the road.

musicmz said:

I had a friend whose parents left their Airstream parked in a campsite in the Poconos and never moved it again.  Mobile means you can move it! "> 

This.  Every time we stopped at a campground my sister and I would clamor for a pool.  My grandparents mistakenly thought we loved the pool more than the traveling, so one summer they rented a spot at a campground down in south Jersey that had a pool and we just went down there every weekend all summer long.  It wasn't the worst summer, but it certainly wasn't as fun as traveling like we had done the previous years.

shanabana said:

Good advice all around... especially the cons of RV travel I'd not much considered. 

Cons of RV travel, well, I do remember having to stop for repairs though my sister and I made the best of it.  One stop was in Texas at a guy who did repairs out of his home.  My sister and I helped his little girl collect eggs from the chickens and then watched as their dog jumped in the air trying to catch grasshoppers.  We loved it, but I'm sure all the breakdowns sucked for my grandparents which likely was part of the reason they finally decided to get rid of it.