Did Anyone Travel the US for a Few Months after Retiring?

[HI Bill]

So far, my only RV experience (with a camper van) was renting a Toyota HiAce campervan (Class B), modified by JUCY in New Zealand. It had a shower, two beds, cassette toilet, kitchen, fridge, stove, solar panels, and power converter. If we got tired of driving, we'd just pull over and take a nap. It was a bit on the small side for all of our gear, but it could easily be parked in any normal parking stall.

I'd highly recommend renting an RV before committing to buying one, so you can see how you like driving and staying in one.

 

[camfused]

I had always thought I was going to do the big USA loop trip. I had a 9000 mile 45-60 days trip all laid out that hits all the major national parks and sites etc.

But, lately I am thinking of just doing targeted areas. For instance, I want to see the Badlands area, so I will fly to Rapid City, rent a car, and see all the stuff around there for maybe a week. Then, fly back. Repeat this for some of the Utah national parks I haven't got to yet, for another week. And another for Wisconsin etc.

It probably costs a bit more doing it like this, but you cut out a lot of boring driving time, and it paces you so that you are not cramming the whole country into one trip.

Just another way to look at it.

 

[ncbill]

My in-laws did a lot of bus trips through their senior group at church throughout the U.S. & to Canada for the first decade of their retirement.

I'd consider it with a Class B RV...staying in hotel/motel rooms most of the time.

 

[DrRoy]

We travel extensively but DW does not like to be away from the house for more than 3 weeks, unless we can bring the dog, which we did once this year.

 

[rk911]

We travel extensively but DW does not like to be away from the house for more than 3 weeks, unless we can bring the dog, which we did once this year.

I get the dog thing. Maggie the Wonder Beagle travels with us everywhere.

 

[ckelly78z]

I can't imagine being out on the road without the doggies

 

[Teacher Terry]

Audrey, 4 years ago we paid 75/night for national Park in Yellowstone and 55 in Grand Tetons. State parks are cheap but dirt sites so my Maltese get filthy fast going outside since the dirt sticks to their hair. Plus they are usually quite a ways from the sights we want to see.

 

[audreyh1]

Audrey, 4 years ago we paid 75/night for national Park in Yellowstone and 55 in Grand Tetons. State parks are cheap but dirt sites so my Maltese get filthy fast going outside since the dirt sticks to their hair. Plus they are usually quite a ways from the sights we want to see.

TX state park sites are usually paved. Often nice big sites. But since we didn’t travel with pets it was not an issue.

We never did end up staying in the major national parks in our big RV. Probably because we had already visited most, and had stayed at their even more expensive hotels and lodges/cabins.

But we still stayed at plenty of federal as well as state parks. We also found plenty of non-resort RV parks that quite nice but weren’t very expensive, although we would rarely stay for more than a night or two. For us our RV traveling costs were quite low as long as you didn’t count the up front cost of the RV, LOL.

Regardless, buying an RV is not worth it for just a few months continual travel.

 

[NW-Bound]

Audrey, 4 years ago we paid 75/night for national Park in Yellowstone and 55 in Grand Tetons. State parks are cheap but dirt sites so my Maltese get filthy fast going outside since the dirt sticks to their hair. Plus they are usually quite a ways from the sights we want to see.

Yellowstone NP is so large I had to drive around to see all the sites anyway. Even people who get to stay at Old Faithful Lodge have to drive around if they want to see more than just the geysers around the lodge. And having to stay outside the park and to drive in every day for a multi-day visit is just terrible.

Similarly, with some NPs like Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Olympic, etc... staying at a campground inside the park is the way to go. I cannot see staying in a motel outside the park and to drive in every day of your multi-day visit.

PS. Many NPs do not allow large class A's or 5th-wheels. My 24' class C motorhome is barely permissible in many.

 

[Sunset]

While I've thought of a trailer or RV, one problem for us is we would have to pay to store it when not using it, as city does not allow us to park it on the driveway.
I'm guessing it would cost $100/mo in storage for 8 months/yr.

This thread is interesting, as I've often thought the van and hotels was expensive, but it may not be that bad after all.

 

[Alan]

For the first few years after retiring we traveled for up to 7 months at a time, 3 of those years in the USA and Canada. Our method was to book stays in rented houses for at least a week at a time but often 2 weeks and always had a month in one location. On route we would stop in hotels or motels for a night or 2.

On our last USA/Canada trip (2015) we set off driving from Houston and our main stops were a week in Santa Monica with our daughter, 2 weeks on the Oregon Coast, a week in the Columbia river gorge, an Alaska cruise and land trip to Denali NP and SP, a few days in Anchorage, 3 weeks in Vancouver, 2 weeks in Sidney (Victoria Island), 2 weeks in Whistler, 4 weeks in Canmore, a week in Glacier NP, a week in Yellowstone, then worked our way home. 8.5k miles driving and loved it all.

The year before we did similar in Australia starting in Queensland and moving south over a 5 month period. We started with a month staying in my brother’s house in McKay, then 2 weeks with friends in Brisbane then rented houses in Melbourne for 2 weeks and 4 weeks in Hobart, Tasmania and a week in Sydney. We ended that trip with a 2 week cruise of New Zealand.

These days we do lots of shorter trips from our house in England although we did have a 30 day trip in March this year, plus 3 other 2 week trips, mostly in rented houses.

 

[folivier]

We've done it both ways and much prefer our motorhome. Renting cabins for a week to a month is nice but limits you to that area. In our motorhome we typically don't make reservations but prefer to just head out and find areas along our route to stay for a while whether it's for a couple days or a month. But we prefer non crowded areas. And sleeping in our own bed every night is priceless.
We did stop in Yellowstone for a couple days on our way back from Alaska this summer. Stayed about 15 miles from the west entrance. Had no problem parking but we headed into the park around daybreak. On our way out in the early afternoon there was NO parking at any of the sites! So the earlier you can get into the park the better. And this was in September.

 

[Taxman59]

I left one job and headed out on a trip from NC to Cleveland (my sister's law school graduation) then headed east. 6 weeks living out of my Datsun hatchback (a few nights at a friends and a weekend in Boston with a friend at a hotel). Saw much of Pennsylvania (already knew Philly and Pittsburgh so I skipped those), RI, upstate NY, southern NH, and a lot of Mass. Then decided to visit a friend in Madison Wisconsin. Spent a few days in Madison (a great college town) then to Door County Wisc to visit relatives. Decided to go home and start looking for a j*b. Last leg, 1024 miles in 25 hours!

After I retired DW and I spent the month of July driving from NC through VA, WV, PA, MD, NY (stayed with a cousin for 3 days in the Adirondacks), Across Ontario to the UP of Mich, then to Wisc for a family reunion, then to IL, MO, TN and finally home in the Piedmont region of NC.

We now have a 24 ft camper, and are planning on making several shorter trips in the southeast, followed by a longer 6-8 week trip with friends along the Mississippi River and Ohio River. The costs are not high except for the initial camper cost and whatever "fun" expenses you choose to incur.

 

[tmm99]

It sounds like everyone likes to drive. I don't enjoy driving, and I may drive about 2 hours at a time, but I don't even enjoy that. (My back becomes stiff/very uncomfortable.) DH is the same way. Everyone's stories sound quite interesting, but I guess I will just have to enjoy other people's adventures...

 

[Teacher Terry]

Ours is 27 ft and we fit in the National parks. It was nice to stay in the park. We went to Yosemite before we owned it and had to stay in a motel outside the park. It was a pain to drive through the park every day. We only get 10mpg so gas costs a fortune on a long trip. Luckily we bought it used so not a big loss financially. We are selling it this spring. We can park it at our house.

 

[NW-Bound]

It sounds like everyone likes to drive. I don't enjoy driving, and I may drive about 2 hours at a time, but I don't even enjoy that. (My back becomes stiff/very uncomfortable.) DH is the same way. Everyone's stories sound quite interesting, but I guess I will just have to enjoy other people's adventures...

I don't enjoy driving, but it is the only way to see some of the remote places that you can only get to via back roads. And driving an RV is tiring (and costly) compared to driving a car, but there are benefits that come with that too. I can pull off to rest, to have a meal, or even taking a nap.

And in long treks to places like Alaska and the Canadian Maritimes, the journey there is interesting and enjoyable by itself, not just the destinations.

PS. I used to think of doing RV'ing in Europe, but the cost and logistics are just too much. So I have been doing long road treks with a rental car, and staying in Airbnbs and hotels. That has worked out well.

 

[Kelor]

I've been thinking about buying a teardrop trailer, with a plan of spending half of our nights in parks, and half in hotels.

Anyone have experience in this?

 

[travelover]

I've been thinking about buying a teardrop trailer, with a plan of spending half of our nights in parks, and half in hotels.

Anyone have experience in this?

I don’t see the appeal of tear drops other than the low profile. You cook outside and you can’t stand up inside. On the other hand, a similar length fiberglass camper like a 13 foot Scamp allows you comfort in all weather. You can even have a toilet and shower.

 

[rk911]

While I've thought of a trailer or RV, one problem for us is we would have to pay to store it when not using it, as city does not allow us to park it on the driveway.
I'm guessing it would cost $100/mo in storage for 8 months/yr.

This thread is interesting, as I've often thought the van and hotels was expensive, but it may not be that bad after all.

it's not the cost for us. best case we're on the road ~6-mos of the year. the other 6-mos it’s in storage @$100 p/m. but we pay for yr round storage since we can't count on a spot being available when we return home. out avg p/n campground fee is just shy of $30. our usual stay in a park or campground is 3-7 days. we take advantage of the park's weekly rate and in some cases we'll stay a month with a monthly rate. we like not having to live out of a suitcase, traveling at our own speed, eating our own food and sleeping on our own bedding. our usual driving day is 4-hrs/200-225 miles. on the road by 10, stop for lunch at noon for an hour and then 2-hrs of driving checking into our park ~3'ish. 30-min to setup and then time to unwind. it's a way of traveling that for us is a lot less stressful and way more relaxing. we headed out to phoenix 2-yrs ago...took 35-days to get there. a week here, a week there. sweet!

 

[ckelly78z]

If I were single, and wanting to travel the USA;

 

[Teacher Terry]

Years ago we thought of getting a teardrop until we laid in one. It’s like being in a coffin.

 

[marion10]

We plan to travel the USA this year by air and car rental and/or UBER/taxi/public transport/rent bicycles if in a big city.

We have a companion pass on Southwest which is only effective through 2020, so we are going to use it and our points from my husband's road warrior travel in 2019 to the greatest extent we can - without wearing ourselves completely out!

In terms of lodging, we plan to use a combo of the following:

• staying with friends/family (or their cabins/boats - we have several great options for this, thankfully)
• considering over 55+ travel clubs like this for short stays...but a little leery - still investigating: https://www.evergreenclub.com/

I’ve done one stay with evergreen and it went very well. We’ve gotten two calls for stays with us- but could not host for various reasons.

 

[AaronGoodman]

Traveling the US

I have traveled the US pretty extensively, but my spouse hasn't. So we'd like to travel around the country for, say, 6 months after we're both retired.

What do people who've done this think is the best mode of travel if you want to make your own itinerary, just sort of gambol around, and stop whenever/wherever/for however long you want?

I've gleaned from this forum that going by RV may not be the best way, and that just driving and staying in different hotels along the way turns out to be just about the same cost. (We don't own an RV and would have to rent one if we went that route.)

Any thoughts/advice from anyone who did something similar? Thanks.

P.S. I MAY NOT REPLY IMMEDIATELY TO RESPONSES TO THIS POST, BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN I'M NOT LISTENING. THANK YOU.

I would buy a class B motorhome. It's a fully equipped van. New if you can afford it but there are lots of used class B motorhomes out there too. With a class B you can go anywhere a car can go and you can stop whenever and wherever you want. Need a break from the small space, get a hotel room for a night or two.
If you take this suggestion, do one more thing, take your time and look at a lot of class B motorhomes before you buy. Write down what you like and what you don't. Refer back to this list frequently because we humans do forget.
You can sell it when you get back or not. It might cost you a little more or it might cost a little less than going some other way but you will never regret the versatility.
Aaron

 

[SDHiker]

We bought a smallish, but fully self-contained travel trailer after retirement. The following year we spent two months on a cross-country trip from Oregon to Boston and back. Three years later we plan on spending three months across country and back in the fall. We like our trailer. We have our food, and our own bed each night. We park the trailer and use our truck to sightsee. Despite fuel, we feel we save money by not eating out all the time and staying in campgrounds that are at least half the cost of a motel, often less. Happy Trails!!

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

We were mostly car based during the year after retirement. Beater SUV and some luggage. We had in mind some big stops, and we had a few events where we wanted to be in certain places at certain times. So we atrung together routes. Mostly hotels. Sometimes airbnbs. We cruised some. We flew to LA and cruised thru Panama Canal and then debarked in New Orleans. Rented a car. Screwed around. Drove back to wherever we left our car. I forget now. Spent some time on the border at big bend in a cabin. Went up to Roswell. Swung thru san Antonio. Went and hung at the beach. Met family in Mississippi at an airbnb. Back to fl for a cruise. Saw manatees. Went down into the keys. We looked for goid weather, not too crowded, affordable. If it didnt fit the bill, we left. Ate goid local food. Checked out weird museums. Rented a A frame cabin on a lake. We just sort of sketched in on a Google calendar what made sense