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RV or vacation van rental experiences

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Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
4,452
4,876
113
Has anyone rented an RV or similar travel van on the west coast in the last few years? My wife floated the idea of a road trip and I want to see what I can put together. We have a 5.5 year old and a 2 year old, so unpacking and packing a campsite every time is not necessarily ideal, but we're not camping averse. We figured the cost of a rental might come in just short of hoteling and would provide some opportunities that are somewhere between camping and hotelling, and don't require staying at Grandma's house for an extended period of time, but don't rule out a visit either.

We used a groupon for Escape Vans in '18-19 and it worked out alright.

Anyone rented one recently?
Also, if anyone has tips on how to crack the campground reservation system, that would be great too. Hopefully, driving a mostly self contained rig allows for a more secure feeling rolling toward "no reservation" sites. We're open to going any direction from the Bay Area.
 
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RayG

Nep status
Dec 3, 2002
594
100
43
Astoria, NY USA
It would depend on how much they charge PER MILE after the initial 'free' miles along with what type of RV. Several years ago, We planned a road trip around the Inter-Mountain West. I calculated about 2500-3000 miles of driving over about 10 days. At the time, it was around 40/50 cents a mile on top of the daily fee, plus the cost of space at a nice campground AND the price of gas at the time.

It was way cheaper to rent a convertible out of PHX, Just drive where we wanted, find a nice hotel for a night or two and fly back. No hassles with dumping sh1t out of a box if there were no hookups, OR hooking up plumbing if there WERE hookups and way less gas cost just to justify it.
 
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Pico

Pico

Duke status
Aug 20, 2010
21,823
6,652
113
SUP Nation
Van? Like a Sprinter? Not big enough or real enough. It you dont have a potty whats the point. Just rent a Winnebago. You can also deal with rental company's that will deliver an RV to your campsite and pick it up.
 
Kaido

Kaido

Billy Hamilton status
Feb 22, 2002
1,752
126
63
Hawaii
Just finished a 3 week RV trip snowboarding New Mex and Colorado. It's a f'n great way to adventure around and not have to pack your camp every move.

For deals check imoova and roadbearrv one way deals. West coast ussually has LA to SF or Seattle to SF so you can fly and return to bay area. Ours was $1 a day, total we spent $1200 in gas. It was a brand new RV we deliverered to Denver. Amazing deal when you consider most the are spending $500-1k a night to ski Aspen.

Use ioverlander app to scope out safe places to park overnight, refill, dump, chill out, laundry etc. Every ski town we stayed in had a rec center with hot showers, hot tub, workout facilities, etc. Every couple days, a $15 day pass and you're clean and the wife is happy.

Second year we've done it so have plenty of info if you have more questions.
 
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