audreyh1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Full time RVer here - just to give you my perspective.I am sure this has already been discussed, but I am trying to make a decision. I am looking at purchasing a used RV, maybe a class B, around $20K. My DW and I would like to do some traveling around the U.S. One thing we have talked about is driving RT 50 across the country. I am trying to figure out which makes more financial cents. If we get an RV, how much do they charge per night to stay in a camp ground, an average? Would it be just as good to stay at a Days Inn or Motel 6 for one night stays and at a B&B for the longer stays? I am sure someone has done both and has an opinion. Give me some feed back to help with my decision. Thanks
It all comes down to how $$ that initial investment is. If you can find a cheap motorhome or trailer than doesn't require much expensive maintenance, then yes, the REST of the costs associated with RV travel tend to be MUCH cheaper than motel/eating-out-most meals. IMO it is also much more comfortable, relaxing, and flexible than dealing with using hotels etc, and MUCH more private which I see as a major plus. Having the time to do it is also important - long extended trips is where RVs really shine.
In general, campground fees are often $25 or less per night. You really only pay more per night if you are in a major tourist area or large city. People in RVs also tend to eat out less since they have their own kitchen, and save significant $$$ that way as well. With an RV you can also stay in some awesome quiet natural areas because many states have great state and national parks which do a great job of accommodating RVs. That's why we RV, we do extensive nature photography and RVing makes it super easy.
We became fulltime RVers because we had such a blast with 1.5 years of traveling in our Casita (a small trailer) that we decided to ditch the house and buy a motorhome for fulltime living and travel. It's been over 4 years now and we are still going strong. We never really know where we are going to go next, and we often don't make that decision until 1 or 2 days before leaving an area. It also makes it really easy to visit family, because we have our own place!
Our initial investment in the Casita - around $13K which is pretty expensive for a trailer but one of the best there is - we got back all but the sales tax when we sold it. What a deal! With all the state park camping which can be quite inexpensive, our travel costs were quite low. Made out like bandits!
Our current motorhome - a whole 'nother story. We paid a lot of money for something that would let us RV in comfort and style, since it was a new "dream home" for us. It really is a "rolling condo". And I doubt we will ever come out ahead of our investment in this rig, but that was never our goal, although not having a house to maintain/pay taxes on has dropped our annual expenses significantly. We had fallen in love with the RVing lifestyle and could afford to buy the rig, and that was all there was to it.
Personally, I think you can come out ahead fairly quickly if you are able to find a very inexpensive RV. But for us, saving money was never the point. It was all about the travel lifestyle which we still enjoy tremendously and wouldn't trade for any other mode of travel.
Audrey
P.S. Although there are definitely social orgs based around RVing, we have never really been into the social aspect - just not that important to us. Nevertheless it's real easy to chat with your RVer neighbors and have fun conversations about where people have been and funning stories about RVs. Sure beats the heck out of most conversations between strangers.