Cruise America

Discussion in 'Roadkill and other Musings' started by Minidave, Jan 13, 2011.

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  1. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    I noticed they are a sponsor, and while I haven't rented from them I did rent a motorhome a couple of summers ago, similar to what they rent.

    A few pointers for those who might be considering this....

    1) Rent it there, instead of driving it across the country. Our trip was a week in Colorado and since they charge you for miles it didn't make sense to us to spend a bunch of money driving it across Kansas at night. We rented it in Denver... the downside to this idea is that you either have to rent it with everything (dishes, bed linens etc) or you have to haul all that with you. We have an Audi wagon, we hauled our own stuff.

    2) The dogs will love it! Ours did, within a few minutes they were right at home, looking out the windows and just hanging out on the couch. Each night we stayed at a different campground and they always knew which "home" was theirs. Kids will love it even more!

    3) It will suck the gas, just plan on it. Ours averaged right at 10 mpg, it was a 31' with the Ford Triton V-10 gas engine. That's the biggest you can get in the "van style" , but it had a big slide out, ducted A/C and all the trappings of a big motorhome. At one point we had about 10 people in it, just hanging out, watching the tube, talking etc, and no one felt cramped...

    4) It's a challenge to drive - especially in town traffic. It's not just that it takes up the whole lane, it's bog slow getting up to speed, and no, it does not handle like a MINI! That said, you have to adopt a different attitude - first - you're just not in a hurry - you're on vacation! Next, when a car is coming up the onramp, just hold your speed and lane, they will go around you. Don't try to adjust for cars, let them adjust to you. Trucks are another matter - you all have to share the road, but they generally will be more co-operative. Once you've got a few miles under your belt, you'll start to relax. 60-65 mph is plenty, and of course it's easier out on the big 4 lanes where traffic is lighter. Mine had cruise control and it worked fine. I was suprised how well it went up the mountain passes, I had visions of crawling along at 15 mph with a line of horn honking, pissed off motorists behind me; the reality was I could hold the speed limit on every mountain pass I tried, so no worries there!

    5) To my wife, one of the biggest drawbacks was that you couldn't tow a car with it - the rental company would not allow it. On the one hand, a good thing cause it's one less thing to worry about under a potentially stressful situation. On the other hand, once you get to your campsite - you're stuck. No running into town to rent a movie or pick up a quart of milk - you're parked. This bothered my wife, and if we ever do this again, or buy one, we will have the MINI tucked along for the trip. Very few rental companys allow you to tow anything with their motorhome, just be forewarned.

    6) You can stay in a really nice hotel for less than it costs for the daily MH rental. True that, but you're also schlepping your stuff in and out if you're hitting a new place each day. I liked the whole idea of the MH, she.....well not so much.

    7) The bed may be awful - ours was just a thin foam pad over a plywood base. It surprised me how uncomfortable it was. the second day we stopped at a Wal-Mart and bought a 4" memory foam to put on top - that was much better.

    8) We spent the night in a campground outside Gunnison, the sky was crystal clear, we saw stars we hadn't seen in decades of city living, and it was cold as hell outside! However, it was toasty warm inside, and very cozy - the central heat/A/C worked just like at home, set the thermostat and forget it. We had a movie in the DVD player and popped some popcorn. Nice! I especially liked the sounds the rain made on the roof. A lot of campgrounds (most, actually) have cable TV and Wifi too....

    9) Hookups. No biggie.....all you really need to do is plug in the electrical and hook up the water and Cable TV feed. You don't even need to hook up the water, as you'll have plenty on board. You also don't need to hook up the waste drain every night, in fact we went the whole week without draining the waste tank, but we didn't shower in the MH, we used the (free) campground facilities instead. Some MH's have self leveling, but usually not at this size - ours didn't. Most campsites are not level. Ours came with a bunch of 2X10's of various lengths all nailed together. To get more height I just drove further up the stack. It wasn't a very elegant solution, but it worked. However, since the MH is sitting on it's supension, there's a certain amount of movement as you walk about. After a couple of days we didn't really notice it anymore, and it didn't bother us. High end MH's with self leveling jacks don't do this, you just push a button and they set themselves!

    10) Parking. Always a challenge. If we went to a large center like WalMart, it's no problem, there's plenty of room out on the edges of the lot. In town, like if we wanted to stop at a restaurant, it became a little more challenging. You had to pick your place. We had to park as much as a couple of blocks away, and since it was dead hot out, we would run the genset so we could have the whole house A/C on for the dogs. BTW, you're only allowed so many hours on the genset, go above that and they charge you. If you're at a campgound each night that won't be a problem as you'll hook up to their electricity.

    Parking at the campgrounds is usually fairly easy, since this is their business, they're set up for it. All but one campgound had an escort that took us to our spot, and helped me back in. I'm pretty comfortable backing up with mirrors, so it wasn't an issue, and I didn't hit anything the whole trip.

    11) Insurance. They will offer it as part of your rental agreement, just like U-Haul or the rental car agency. It was cheap, and it basically covered everything - we bought it. Check with your agent before you rent to see if you're covered. We were, but we bought it anyway. $75 for the week meant no hassles had we damaged something.....

    12) Using a Motorhome for our vacation meant freedom to me, we could go anywhere, stop when we wanted. If I wanted a coke or a sandwich, she could get up and get it for me from the fridge. If I had to pee, I took an offramp, parked on the side and took care of business, and off we went again. The dogs could run around and play and weren't cramped up in a crate the whole time, they spent a lot of time looking out the windows as I drove too. She OTOH, felt like she really wasn't on vacation if she was expected to cook, clean and keep house the whole time. Since I did all the driving and set up, she did wind up doing most of the domestic chores, that's just the way it worked out although I always offered to help. Talk this over with your travelling companion(s) before you rent, so that expectations are met. some people love this type of travel, I doubt we'll do it again, but I did notice that as soon as we got home from our trip she was online looking at MH floorplans.......so who knows?
     
  2. Ofioliti

    Ofioliti New Member

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    Thanks for the detailed review! We've been considering this since the wife doesn't like to camp and we feel bad when we leave the dog at the vet's 'motel.'.
     
  3. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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    Just a quick note on Cruise America.....they are a sponsor of not only MA but of the RSR MINI's.

    I believe Randy Smalley's family owns Cruise America
     
  4. Nathan

    Nathan Founder

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    The deal is Randy put M/A stickers on the RSR Cars...I put up the Cruise America Banners.

    We all win...
     
  5. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    Our dogs loved traveling in the coach, too bad my wife didn't so much....however if they bark at every single person they see or that walks by you'll need an understanding campsite owner, either that or they'll have to park you away from everyone else, which isn't always possible. We just took ours with us whenever we left for more than a couple minutes - that way we didn't have to worry if they were barking and driving people nuts in our absence. Long walks work wonders, you get to see stuff, you both get exercize and they sleep for hours afterwards!

    Before you buy, renting one for a week or more is a great way to find out if the life is for you. It's a whole lot cheaper too, if it doesn't work out. Renting also lets you know whether you can handle the stress of driving one, and lets you learn all the little ins and outs of the newer designs, since that's all a big outfit like CA rents - the latest and greatest.

    The main reason we didn't choose CA for our rental had more to do with location, not price. That said, in the more "touristy" parts of the country you'll have a lot more sources to choose from. Rates vary, but not hugely from one company in the same area to the next. Here Google is your friend - you can find pretty much all the players in one area pretty quickly. Also you can map your destinations and find campsites ahead of time.

    I'd say give it a shot - you might find it's a lot of fun!

    As to the car situation, we seriously considered having her follow along behind me in the car so she wouldn't feel "trapped", but again, it's not much of a vacation if we both have to drive the whole way - so we left the car with friends in Colorado Springs.

    Anything further you'd like to know feel free to contact me - we've learned a lot since our maiden voyage, we'd be happy to share.
     
  6. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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    :Thumbsup:

    Now if we could only catch the MA stikers on TV !

    They were on the mirrors last season weren't they?

    Thanks for the great post and followup Dave.
     
  7. TGS91

    TGS91 New Member

    May 8, 2009
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    FYI there are petsitters that are bonded/insured that come out to your house as many times per day as you like (and pay for). It's more than the pet motels certainly but the critters get to stay at home and are a lot less stressed. The Petsitters are pet people.

    After having my Samoyed in a pet motel and 'hearing' about it for about 2 hrs I swore I would never do it again.

    If you want contact info for the lady I use here is St. Louie drop me a PM. She's good
     
  8. maacodale

    maacodale Club Coordinator

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    Being a long time RVer, I can tell you, it's about as easy as driving a big pick up. A really BIG pick up. I have a 35' Southwind. Next to MINI owners, people in most campgrounds are the friendliest you'll find. The biggest thing to remember is not to drive in anywhere you can't back out of. You;ll get the hang of it eventually, but chances are you won't rent it for that long!

    If you think you can't drive a motorhome, you're probably wrong. The wife has taken ours from VA to Myrtle Beach and Disney several times without me. Give it a shot, chances are you'll have a good time. It really isn't like Robin Williams' movie!
     
  9. daffodildeb

    daffodildeb New Member

    Jan 22, 2011
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    Saw one today, on I-10 in Louisiana. I was glad I was driving my MINI, instead of a picture of a MINI!
     
  10. JCWRocket

    JCWRocket Member

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    Here's a pic of the M/A sticker on RSR Motorsports car 195 at Daytona today!
    [​IMG]
     
  11. CHKMINI

    CHKMINI Club Coordinator
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    Sweet!

    Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
     
  12. Metalman

    Metalman Well-Known Member
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    Ha.... Lot of stickers on the hatch.

    I guess you don't need to see out back as long as you're out front. :D
     
  13. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    #13 Minidave, Jan 29, 2011
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2011
    "What's behind me is not important!"

    The late Raul Julia....

    Back to motorhomes for a minute....

    My wife and I have been discussing the ins and outs of ownership vs. renting.

    Points:

    If you own it and aren't living in it year round - you have to store it someplace - that costs money. It also means you have to winterize it if you live in a cold winter climate, or find warm underground storage like we have here in KC. If you rent it, all you have to do is pick it up and take it back.

    I don't see the point of buying one if you're only going to use it 2 -3 weeks out of the year. Bear in mind I'm talking about a large, fully equipped coach, not a little van conversion...

    We were at the local RV show last night, we sat in a 45 ft coach that had a bath and a half, stacked washer and dryer, side by side fridge/freezer, 45" TV and a fireplace! Now that's what I'm talking about! :D

    But, even the biggest coachs are only about 450 sq ft of living space, remember that if you're thinking of living in one year round, and make sure the two of you (or more?) can be around each other in such a small area day in/day out.

    A lot depends on your age/family situation. It's different if you're younger and traveling with kids than if you're retired and just cruising America. For younger folks it's an adventure in outdoor living, for us old farts, it's more like living a travelogue......my ideal would be to tow my race car and a MINI in a trailer and hit every road course I could find in the US and Canada - that could take a while, but think of the great places you would see, and the fun tracks you could run on! I'd have my shop in the trailer for a getaway and something to do, she could go antiquing or shopping or whatever she liked as she'd have a car. Win/win.....to me anyway.

    A couple more points on renting vs owning. If you own one and sell your home, then after a few years if you want to stop and stay somewhere, do you buy a home again? Or do you keep your house while you travel - paying for two homes in essence?

    Motorhomes depreciate hugely - they're worth about 1/2 what you paid after 2 years, and continue going down steeply from there - the more you spend, the faster and further the value drops. For example, we're looking at a 45' 600 hp diesel pusher by Newmar that listed in 2006 for close to $1 million, right now with 18K on it and in perfect shape, they're asking $300K, chances are it could be bought for $250K - 1/4th it's original cost after only 4 years. Also, the state of the art changes fairly quickly, especially in the last 10 years, with features and amenities that weren't even thought of 10 years ago now becoming standard.....

    Renting vs Staying in hotels. For what it costs to buy, own, insure, store and manitain, you could stay in 5 star hotels every night of your travel. Mostly true if you don't live in the coach, but only use it a couple weeks or months a year.

    This is a huge country, I would love to spend a lot of time just seeing and visiting all of it.....
     

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