Caching And Rv'ing

[+New England n00b]

I just saw an ad on TV for recreational vehicles. I kinda want one (though i can't afford one of course). I was just wondering if anyone makes vacations plans based around their RV?

 

Anyadvice on renting etc etc?

 

Thanks!

[+TresOkies]

We have a 25 foot "lite" fifth wheel that we tow with my half-ton pickup. We have a blast in it. We're towing it to the OK Geocacher's Spring Fling event next weekend. We towed it to Galveston for a week during spring break in March and I'll probably take it to the College World Series in Omaha in late June.

 

We use geocaching as a way to take a break every few hours to stop and stretch our legs or as a way to find some of the neat places we might've missed if we had just followed the tour books or stayed on the highway. We've even taken it so that we can geocache a remote place.

 

In some ways, owning an RV is a great liberator and in other ways it inhibits you. You find yourself thinking about taking a vacation and you think yourself out of taking a vacation because it's either too far to take the RV or you can't find a campground. On the other hand, if you've had a long week and you just want to "go to the lake for a couple days", you can. My wife and I used to tent camp a lot and I miss the simplicity of it. On the other hand, it's nice having some of the comforts of home, like a shower and a refrigerator.

 

Most major cities have RV Expos. Go to one and look at all the different types. I've found that RV salesmen are not very helpful.

 

I'm sure there are other RVers on GC.com, so ask away if you have questions. Or you can go to RV.net and sign up for their forums. They helped me out when I first got started a couple years ago.

 

-E

[+Alan2]

Having a dog limits my wife and me in our vacations. SHe insists the dog goes. So we don't eat out much and alwaqys have to find a place that takes pets. Pretty limiting.

 

I can see where the RV could free us up a little especially if it had a kitchen..

 

What do these things rent for a week? A decent size for two with small kitchen BR table and bed?

 

Tks

 

Alan

[+Team GPSaxophone]

As soon as Sparky wins the powerball, he'll buy me an RV so I can cache the country

[+TresOkies]

I can see where the RV could free us up a little especially if it had a kitchen..

 

What do these things rent for a week?  A decent size for two with small kitchen BR table and bed?

 

Probably more than you are willing to pay. www.cruiseamerica.com is the biggest player, but by no means the only one.

 

You might consider buying one--they are actually quite inexpensive used. The Big Thing now is power slides. All the manufacturers make them and all the RVers want them. They are trading in and selling their older non-power-slide RVs. You can pick up a recent (early- to mid-90's) non-power-slide travel trailer (bumper pull) for a couple thousand dollars.

 

-E

[+Lone Duck]

I do use my Class B RV (camper van type) for caching, it's the way to go! Since all the comforts of home are with me, I can relax, eat, clean up as I need to. Milage with the van types is about the same as the biggest SUVs. I haven't arranged any RV trips around caching, although I do search along the route or destination if time permits.

[+Riddlers]

We drag a trailer with us as we travel on business and cache on the way. We just have to be careful about which roads we take to find a cache when we have the trailer in tow. When we get there it is wonderful to just park the trailer and head out for more caches.

[+JMBella]

This is nuts. My wife and I were just having this conversation not 2 hours ago. We want to rent an RV and do a cache tour of New England this summer. Looked at:

http://www.adventuretouring.com

http://www.cruiseamerica.com &

https://www.elmonterv.com/

 

They all seem pretty comparable.

$2,500.00

$2,674.00

$2,721.41

In the same order as above for 2 weeks, July 31 - Aug. 14. Those are for compact RVs which is all we need for just the two of us and Bella. Can't freakin' wait!!

[+Boot Group]

Since we already RV, caching in the area that you RV is only normal. Our RV is a 25 foot trailer, and we travel in 3-5 hour triangulations due the dynamics of our family. Now that we are geo-cachers, we can't possibly ignore that there are caches ready to find in the area.

[4x4van]

I have a wife and 3 kids, and travel often in our 27' class C motorhome. We spend alot of weekends during the summer at the Colorado River Jetskiing, and winter weekends at Glamis with ATVs. Always take my GPS along, and I always check out the website and look for a few caches in the area before we go.

 

Even motorhomes are reasonably priced used. Pretty decent ones can be found for $10-15K, and the loans can be 8-12 years, so payments are reasonable. Because yearly mileage is low compared to a car, the 8-12 year term is fine (in other words, it's not going to be worn out before you finish paying for it).

 

The downside to a motorhome is horrible mileage (I get 6-8 mpg), but you save enough on hotel/restaurant costs to make up for it. The upside to a motorhome is that you can have someone make lunch while traveling down the road, the kids can play games, watch TV, or use the restroom without making a stop, and you can tow other toys (boat, ATVs, etc.).

[+sodajerk]

We have been long term RV'ers. When the kids were little we pulled a 20' trailer from sea to sea and have lots of great memories of camping. My son and I were talking this weekend about that as we were working on our Class B conversion van. My wife and I have been empty nesters for 6 years. About 4 years ago we got a used Class B and have had a great time just the two of us. We discoverd geocaching while researching for a gps receiver after having gotten turned around in another state. (You are never lost in a camper, because you have your kitchen sink with you...but, that is a different story)

Always now take the gps and palm loaded with caches along the way and the destination. It is great to have a pottie, bed, stove, sink, shower and such when you need it. Ours is an older 1973 but it is a chevy 350 engine. Parts available everywhere.

Great fun, works for us.

[+rusty_tlc]

We did a nice caching trip last summer in our RV. Towed it to a "virgin" geocaching area then spent a couple of days caching. We are long time RV'ers, so geocaching just adds to that. We plan another to the same area this summer since new caches have sprung up.

 

We will probably go to a class B van when we retire. One of my pastimes is researching different internet access options for RV'ers.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I have had both motor homes and trailers, and each has it's advantages. I prefer the motor home so that I can tow my boat, but if not boating the trailer makes more sense as you can set it up and drive away.

 

Being in the South I wasn't aware the campers built for northern climes had insulated double floors to keep tanks and pipes from freezing and to insulate the camper...I got my 28' Hi-Lo set up in Kansas City for the winter one time and immediately learned that it wasn't made for cold weather - had to emplace skirts and heaters around it. So, if you live or travel in cold climates keep that in mind when buying a camper.

 

Renting campers is a rich man's game! I like to spend my money in a wiser, more cost-effective way. I paid $2500. for my 28' Hi-Lo and towed it all over the country for four years with negligible maintenence - four years comfortable use for what two weeks rent would be.

 

I first pulled the Hi-Lo with a Jeep Grand Wagoneer and then with a Suburban, and would not recomend pulling something this size with anything less, so the cost of a tow vehicle may have to be factored in if you don't have one.

 

Again, I paid $3,000 for the Jeep and $3500 for the Suburban that replaced it and got a combined 10 years and counting of dependable service out of them, so tow vehicles don't have to be expensive either.

 

I paid $7,000 for my Dodge Champion motorhome, a 454 gas-burner that got about 8 mpg. I had maybe $2000. in maintenance costs over the five years I had it.

 

I am not talking junk here either - both of these campers were in excellent shape and, per trip, cost next to nothing.

 

My policy is never rent when you can buy, but if your dream is to travel in the $180,000 Land Yacht then renting might make sense!

 

Ed

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Re Rusty TLC's post;

 

I use a laptop with a Delorme Eartmate GPS. My laptop has Wi-Fi built in and I bought a Bluetooth USB dongle, so I can pull into truck stops and other hot spots and connect using Wi-Fi or I can connect via Bluetooth and my Sony Ericsson AT&T Wireless cell phone.

 

I have had quite good success with the cell-phone connection from some pretty remote campgrounds, mostly at 64k, but if you happen to be in certain sections of AT&Ts coverage area you get 1.5 Mbps speeds.

 

With this lash-up I can connect while driving to get a PQ for the area ahead of me, allowing for spur-of-the-moment itenerary changes.

 

Not bad from an old camper in the woods!

Ed

[+rusty_tlc]

RE Cold weather trailers, I have an Arctic Fox by Nash. Good well below freezing when in use. We like early and late season camping/caching since it is less crowded. Spring and Fall rv camping require heated holding tanks, interior plumbing and fullyy insulated undercarriage. These are not options much less standard on most Travel Trailers.

[+Quoddy]

I got my first RV just after I got my last pup. I WOULDN'T leave the little guy for one night. We began to make our vacation plans around the RV, mainly to our favorite areas of Maine and Canada. This theme has continued for about 15 years now, but we now aim for the middle of cache concentrations in relatively remote areas. We are off again, with the new little guy, Quoddy, to the north coast of Maine in a couple of weeks, my GPSr is loaded with coordinates and the cache pages are carefully indexed.

[+Cache Viking]

We have a Coleman Pop-up that gets lots of use. We are now looking at Komfort trailers and discussing an upgrade from the pop-up. Problem is present gas prices. I usually grab a couple dozen cache sites for the areas where we go and now that the kids are a bit older I should be able to hit more of them when vacationing.

[+Riddlers]

With the price of gas, trailers are nice cause you can just unhook and have a central location to work from. And I too use my cell phone/laptop to log in finds and look for new ones. I agree that for the price of renting you can just about own and when figuring in our meals and motels we figured four trips of a week each just about paid for our trailer. I love being able to have lunch where ever we deside to stop for caching and a good place to change and warm up before moving on again.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

the good news about gas prices is that you will see a drop in RV prices when sales slow down! A gas crunch is the time to buy a gas hog!

Ed

[+Team GPSaxophone]

We have a Coleman Pop-up that gets lots of use. We are now looking at Komfort trailers and discussing an upgrade from the pop-up. Problem is present gas prices. I usually grab a couple dozen cache sites for the areas where we go and now that the kids are a bit older I should be able to hit more of them when vacationing.

Can I borrow it for my campout?

[+cache_us_if_you_can]

I just saw an ad on TV for recreational vehicles. I kinda want one (though i can't afford one of course). I was just wondering if anyone makes vacations plans based around their RV?

 

Anyadvice on renting etc etc?

 

Thanks!

Sorry, I have no advice; I don't do RV'ing. Just give me a bed roll and I'm happy

[+captnemo]

Got our first RV, 25' Motor Home in 1990.

 

Got my first GPS in mid 90's. Used it for years before I found out about Geocaching.

 

The RV and Geocaching go well together. We cache on the way to where we are going, while we are there and on the way home. Helps break up the trip and also gives us a reason to stop and smell the roses and see the sights.

 

Got a new 32 foot Motor Home in Dec. 03 and have taken three long trips so far and found caches on all of them.

 

Next trip is over memorial weekend and then a 3 week trip in July and yes I have plans to geocache.

 

If you are travel with a big dog an RV is the way to go. No worry about a big dog in a car and no worry about a hotel/motel that will take a dog Midnight the GeoLab loves to travel in the Motor Home and loves to cache

 

We perfer a Motor Home over a Trailer as it allows us to tow our 4x4, which is great for caching.

 

I haven't found any real saving money wise, but I like having my own bathroom, bed room and kitchen.

 

Now if I can just talk the better half into a laptop..............

Edited May 17, 2004 by captnemo

[vagabond]

With our 32ft class A getting only 6 1/2 miles per gal. and gas at $2.33.9 we do not plan on using it to often for cache hunting. But it is nice for putting up company when they visit. And like someone said if you have big dogs the RV is the only way to go.

 

PS the guy to the left weighs about 180 lbs. and our female weighs in at a dainty 142lbs

Edited May 17, 2004 by vagabond

[+Mudfrog]

We've been RVing for quite some time now and have enjioyed the heck out of it. Now that we found Geocaching, this makes some of our trips even more pleasant. Its a small motorhome but has all the comforts of home. We tow the Jeep behind it and after we set up camp, we take off in that to find our caches. Only drawback now is that we cant afford to take it anywhere with gas prices so high .

[+Lone Duck]

If you are interested in following a Usenet newsgroup on RVing, then check out rec.outdoors.rv-travel for all kinds of stuff related to RVing.