Low Cost RV Travel

[ImaCheesehead]

We took our car this summer instead of the motor home on a month 4K/miles trip because of cost. It was just as cheap to stay in motels as it was to rent RV sites. We also took our 3 dogs.

We average $30 per night for campsites. Don’t think I would stay in a motel that charged less than that, lol.

 

[REWahoo]

We average $30 per night for campsites. Don’t think I would stay in a motel that charged less than that, lol.

True!

I just ran our numbers for 2017 and YTD 2018. We spent 73 nights in campsites at an average of $22.06 per night. The majority of those nights were in COE parks using our 50% off "Geezer Pass", but even the commercial parks we stayed in were under $45. Motel 6 must have lowered their rates.

 

[NW-Bound]

I paid less than $200 total for campsite fees in the recent 2-month trip to Alaska. Most of it was in Denali NP, where there was no easy-to-find boondocking opportunity.

 

[REWahoo]

I paid less than $200 total for campsite fees in the recent 2-month trip to Alaska. Most of it was in Denali NP, where there was no easy-to-find boondocking opportunity.

Some of us don't have boondockable spouses.

 

[NW-Bound]

And some have a wife who loves to boondock.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Our last trip 3 years ago we spent 50-75/night. The Yellowstone National Park was 55 and the grand Tetons 75. If we go camping with friends we can spend 20/night. We don’t do that while on vacation for a number of reasons. First they often are a long ways from town where we want to sightsee. Our Maltese get filthy from the dirt and get us dirty. Because they have hair instead of fur you have to bathe them to get it off. The commercial ones have grass or cement. We averaged 60/night on this last trip using a variety of motels and Airbnb. Some as low as 45 and a few nights at 125. We had much more room in a motel and we saved on gas by taking the car. Got places faster too.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, it all depends on where you want to go. RV'ing is not suitable if you want to go visit a big city. If you want to go to NYC, Boston, or SF for example, a car trip or fly-and-drive works out much better.

I still remember in our first ever RV trip driving through the LA metro area in a Friday night. The traffic on the freeway drove me insane. Would never again go through that.

But up in Montana, Wyoming, etc..., let alone the Yukon and Alaska, RV'ing is just beautiful. My wife is hooked.

 

[kgtest]

Yes, it all depends on where you want to go. RV'ing is not suitable if you want to go visit a big city. If you want to go to NYC, Boston, or SF for example, a car trip or fly-and-drive works out much better.

I still remember in our first ever RV trip driving through the LA metro area in a Friday night. The traffic on the freeway drove me insane. Would never again go through that.

But up in Montana, Wyoming, etc..., let alone the Yukon and Alaska, RV'ing is just beautiful. My wife is hooked.

I heard AK is nutso when summer comes around. But who would want to visit AK in the winter?

Also heard of Harvest Host or something like that where you can sometimes stay at vineyards and such for free.

It sounds like an awesome daydream. I've been working with my dad to try and find him a 37' fifth wheel. Some of them are super nice, but I hear even the brand new ones come with build and quality issues that will have you making repairs year one.

We spent $45,000 just on a 2500 HD to pull the RV, still haven't found the RV yet but that is looking like around $50,000 for the one that DF wants to buy.
So basically $95,000 before we hit the road and oh we need to buy a fifth wheel hitch and get that installed. I'm sure there are cheaper ways to do it.

You figure $100k / 5 years = $20k/year, then add in Fuel Costs, Upgrades like Solar and TPS, auto-level system, bigger wet tanks (for boondocking), five lithium ion batteries (to power that solar so you have hot water), generator (for when the sun don't shine) then a mail service that scans in your personal mail from the Postal Service, proper healthcare that will work in many different states... yeah this is 'aikin to the BOAT mantra = Bust Out Another Thousand.

I've also read some of the RV parks have limits on how old the RV can be, sort of like an association where there are rules...I hate rules.

I landed on a youtube channel Keep Your Daydream if you watch every season, front to back you will have a really good idea of the life of a full-time RVer.

I've heard of horror stories where people get harassed, etc. I suppose that all could happen in a suburban neighborhood as well though.

Mobile Mechanics will become your friend...and even those are hard to find...supposedly.

I remember when FEMA dropped off a travel trailer to my cousin down in Mississippi after Katrina wiped there tiny little town off the map. After a year of him living in there (by himself) that trailer was absolutely destroyed. He was happy to give it back to FEMA.

 

[NW-Bound]

I heard AK is nutso when summer comes around...

Yes and no.

Alaska state routes 1 and 3 linking Homer and Seward in the south, Anchorage and Denali in the middle, and Fairbanks at the northern end indeed see heavy RV traffic, with many being rentals from the outfit Great Alaskan Holidays. Many travelers fly to Anchorage and rent a class C from the above company for a week.

If planning their trip right, people who rent a motorhome get to see more than cruise ship passengers who extend their trip with a land tour.

The town of Seward has a large city RV park, which along with other private RV parks can accommodate perhaps close to 1,000 RVs. It is popular because of the cruise terminal, the railroad station, and the day cruises to see the fjords. Many of the privately owned RVs have Alaska plates, and used by their owners who live in Anchorage or Fairbanks to go to the seaports to camp or to fish. Not many of them are driven there from the lower 48 states.

But Alaska is a lot more than the above locations. Outside of the corridor of routes 1 and 3 above, I rarely saw the rental RVs, and in fact fewer RV total.

The highways to Valdez, Haines, Skagway had very light traffic. The Tok cut-off road I drove on to go from Valdez to Tok was deserted, and I encountered traffic in the opposite direction at a rate of perhaps one every 10 minutes, if even that, and they were mostly local pickups with Alaskan plates.

The Alcan segment between Tok (Alaska) and Whitehorse (Yukon) had much less traffic than the Klondike highway bypassing it, which goes to Dawson City. I found that odd, but it made sense when realizing that much of the traffic on the Klondike was Canadian RV'ers who stopped at Dawson City, and did not continue on to cross into Alaska. And it was the segment from Dawson City to Tok, the so-called Top-of-the-World Highway and then the Taylor Highway, that was so bad it scared off a lot of RV'ers.

Denali NP has a lot of visitors because it is between Anchorage and Fairbanks and accessible, but the far larger Wrangell-St Elias NP is not as accessible and sees few visitors. I regret not having the time to go deeper there.

 

[NW-Bound]

Check maximum size limit at National Parks...

Even when boondocking and not staying in NP's, when you venture out to more remote corners, a large RV can quickly become a liability, particularly on bad roads.

I had not seen as many class B motorhomes as I did on this Alaskan trip. Even my class C towing a car was cumbersome on occasions.

Next time going there, I probably will get a class B, but one larger than the common Roadtreks. Too tough to downsize from a class C.

 

[audreyh1]

We average $30 per night for campsites. Don’t think I would stay in a motel that charged less than that, lol.

Same here - it was way less actually. We stayed in a lot of state parks, county parks, core of engineers, etc. That was our first choice. No way I’d stay in motels offering those prices.

 

[audreyh1]

Our last trip 3 years ago we spent 50-75/night. The Yellowstone National Park was 55 and the grand Tetons 75. If we go camping with friends we can spend 20/night. We don’t do that while on vacation for a number of reasons. First they often are a long ways from town where we want to sightsee. Our Maltese get filthy from the dirt and get us dirty. Because they have hair instead of fur you have to bathe them to get it off. The commercial ones have grass or cement. We averaged 60/night on this last trip using a variety of motels and Airbnb. Some as low as 45 and a few nights at 125. We had much more room in a motel and we saved on gas by taking the car. Got places faster too.

Wow - I never stayed anywhere charging those kind of prices for RV sites,

 

[ImaCheesehead]

Same here - it was way less actually. We stayed in a lot of state parks, county parks, core of engineers, etc. That was our first choice. No way I’d stay in motels offering those prices.

Those are absolutely our first choices as well, along with Elks Lodges. We became Elks when we got our RV and we like that the nightly donation goes to a good cause. The most we ever paid per night almost choked me - $90 per night at the West Glacier KOA. It was lovely and convenient though. I find most KOAs seriously lacking and only stayed one other transit night in one in the middle of nowhere Texas.

We have boondocked just a handful of nights, some at the Albuquerque Ballon Fiesta, some at Quartzite, a couple dry camping nights at Elks. If we had solar (someday, I hope) we would do it more but I dislike using the genny due to noise and smell.

Spent the afternoon at the beach on the WA coast. It’s a very good life for us.

 

[REWahoo]

I find most KOAs seriously lacking...

Seriously lacking in everything but fees. KOA = Keep On Adding

 

[Hyper]

We've (more I've) seriously thought about this the last yr but with horses which is a tad bit more $ than just RV. If we did I'd build a custom camper that would work for us. An earthroamer if we didn't have horses. The biggest problem I have with full timing it is the closeness of your neighbor! After living on acreage all you life it's hard to be that close to ppl all the time. The cost I've been seeing this past yr has really gone up. The snowbirds have basically "locked" in all the best riding places in the winter. The camps they stay in make you commit to 4 full months and are booked yrs in advance.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We were not old enough to qualify for the national park pass when we went to Yellowstone and the Tetons. They were the most expensive parks and you get a small strip of space with no picnic table. The gas is also a huge killer. We stayed in decent motels and Airbnb. It was a lot of work to find reasonable good places that are dog friendly. We bought the RV to vacation with the dogs and not mainly for camping. Gas was much cheaper when we bought it. Good thing we got it used so didn’t spend a ton of money.

 

[GravitySucks]

Low Cost RV Travel?
Ain't no such animal. Between depreciation, insurance, maintenance and fuel it's never low cost.
I'll be looking for another one soon anyway.

 

[samclem]

Low Cost RV Travel?
Ain't no such animal. Between depreciation, insurance, maintenance and fuel it's never low cost.

Low cost RVing can be done, but not in luxury.
We bought our used 17' Casita trailer about 2 years ago for $9500. It is small, but does sleep three and has shower, toilet, fridge, stove, etc. I could sell it now for what I paid, and depreciation going forward will be very slow (maybe $300/yr?). Zero insurance costs. Annual registration of about $50. Maintenance costs have been minimal, but it's probably prudent to budget $300-400/yr for eventual replacement of the A/C, fridge, water pump, etc. The chassis mechanical maintenance with a trailer is very minimal--maybe $50/yr for good tires and an hour a year to lube the bearings--done. If we drive 300 miles per day, the added gas cost for towing it amounts to $26 per day (obviously, that cost goes to zero if we stay put). Propane, maybe $3 per day. A campground will be about $25. So, to travel with this RV costs us about $55 per day (half that if we stay in one place), with additional fixed annual costs of about $800.

That's probably about as cheaply as it can be done unless boondocking or resorting to a tent/tent trailer. Compared to driving our car and staying in motels, the car/hotel is probably cheaper than the trailer if traveling more than about 500 miles per day. But, it is very nice to be able to take the pooch with us, too, which is hard to do when staying in hotels.

It's certainly not as cushy as a $250K 40' diesel pusher with 4 slideouts and a toad, but it works okay for us for the limited trips we've taken. We'd probably want more room if we were on the road for more than a few weeks at a time.

 

[NW-Bound]

Hey, if you talked of the Casita purchase earlier, I missed it. I knew you were interested in RV'ing when I talked of my class C purchase.

I use an RV to travel, not to camp. I need comfort, but mobility is important too. I am "camping out" right now at 7,000' altitude, at my high-country home. From the 1000-sq.ft. deck, I can look down at the evergreen trees in the surrounding area, including the nearby national forest.

I would not pay big money for a fancy class A or a 5th wheel+diesel truck. If given one, I would accept, then sell it immediately. I do understand people who do full-time RV'ing needing more room. If we were to do it, we would want one with slide-outs front and back, left and right. But we would still miss our 2 homes.

 

[NW-Bound]

On the recent Alaska RV trek, we made friend with another couple with the same itinerary. We were both contemplating departing from the Alcan highway for the segment between Whitehorse and Tok, and taking the Klondike highway bypass which went through much more interesting historical spots for that segment. And we agreed to travel together to help each other out in case of mechanical trouble.

They drove a Roadtrek (a class B). On the "Top-of-the-World" highway, his bathroom door fell apart from all the vibration and shaking of the washboard road.

Eventually we all made it back home safely, we to Arizona and they to California. My class C now needs front-end work, with the rear tires already replaced on the leg back. They suffered rear tire blow-outs in Vancouver on the way back. The generator and their fridge also failed at about the same time.

 

[Lukeee]

I was hoping to see some pics of the RVs and sites.

 

[NW-Bound]

Pictures of "Low Cost RV Travel"?

Here's one, but the "travel" part seems to be missing.

 

[Teacher Terry]

A few years ago we spent 1300 on new tires and 1k on repairs. One of the repairs was the refrigerator and by the next summer it was broke again. Now I use a cooler. Every fall we go to Placerville,Ca and the price keeps going up. 5 nights this year is costing us 335. More and more motels are taking dogs especially if they are small. I have been trying to convince DH to sell it. He agreed and then said not until the big dog dies and he is 13. Although, I am in no rush for that to happen.

 

[NW-Bound]

Seriously, I love RV travel for trips that cannot be done with the same comfort by a car road trip. Trip planning and logistics become harder when towns with motels and restaurants are a few hundred miles apart, and nowhere near places that you want to see.

And I would not want to experience Alaska through the windows of a tour bus, and with a limited and constrained itinerary. It is no longer about costs.

At a library in a small town in Alaska, my wife took a book off the shelf to read while I was using the Internet access to do some research. She later told me that the book said many motels in Alaska closed up because of RV traveling killing off the demand for lodging in these scattered locations. So, it is the chicken and the egg.

 

[aja8888]

Not mine, but I use it from time to time: 1994 Ford V8 powered. Talk about cheap!