Anyone rented an RV to drive across country? Or done it in their minivan?

[Michelle My Bell]

Have you ever considered purchasing a pop up camper? I have seen them for sale for very little money and you can pull them with a van. They sleep 6 usually.

[Mrs_JWM]

Can't comment on anything else, but here's your Flintstones' village!

 

http://flintstonesbedrockcity.com/

 

http://www.offbeatearth.com/real-life-flintstones-bedrock-town/

 

 

[Ottakee]

If you do hotel it, we have found that Homewood Suites to be nice. They offer a FREE supper---often only M-Th--as well as a free hot breakfast. When you figure out the cost of 2 meals out to eat with 5 of us that REALLY helps the budget. They tend to have larger rooms/suites, a pool, etc. The suppers are things like soup and salad with a few side items, pasta or taco bar with salad, etc. Not super fancy but plenty for our family. We can also eat out for lunch.

[Spryte]

I have a full size conversion van, and just sold our RV. (a newer model diesel, 39 ft long) I bought the Rv for reasons you stated.. bathroom stops being a huge factor lol. I prefer to take the van on longer trips... yep.. the van.. The rv for one is SLOWER, especially on windy days. It's horrid in the wind. It's exxhausting to drive, my arms get sore from fighting the wheel for hours. The convenience isnt worth the hassle IMO. The gas is a huge factor as well... 5 mpg RV vs 18 mpg full size van. Also, most rv's are basically a plywood box on a commercial truck chassis.. not safe at all in a wreck. Once I found the couches seat belts were just bolted to a piece of plywood I freaked out. I didnt feel safe having my kids in it anymore after that. I did enjoy the times we had in the rv.. but I dont miss it for the road trips. I adore my van!

 

 

Definitely research the safety. We planned a trip, did a ton or research, and found a company that promised that they would give us an RV that had the seatbelts bolted to the chassis (spelling?), not just to plywood. I'm talking about the seatbelts for passengers in the body of the RV, not the front cabin with driver and passenger... Our family friend who is a police officer *still* cautioned us, as he has cleaned up too many RV accidents... And he said they are plywood boxes, too, and the seatbelts just rip out on impact. When we picked up our RV, we inspected carefully, and sure enough, the seatbelts were just connected to plywood, despite the promises of the rental company. We declined. It took some doing to get back our very expensive deposit, and we had to deal with disappointed kids... But we are a seatbelt kind of family, so this was important to us.

 

We ended up taking the minivan, staying in cabins... And we had a blast!!!

 

I am still wistful about the RV trip, though.

[NotSoObvious]

 

 

Santa Barbara is gorgeous! Last time I went though was pre-kids LOL! We really want to hit DC area for the museums, plus we have some friends in the area we could visit. Although DH and I agree that we will stay in hotels, as dropping us plus 4 kids on them would be too much (both are young, small apt, with 1 small kid).

I totally have not decided what route to take..Maybe northern going and southern coming back.

I want to stop here though (I found it from my childhood!): http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2807470-flintstone_s_bedrock_city_grand_canyon-i

It's near the Grand Canyon.

 

That looks like a cute stop!

 

I grew up in SB and my whole family is still there, so we are pretty lucky. ;)