What We Learned On Our First RV Trip

A few months after our first RV trip, it is fun to look back and think about what we learned.  Since our trip, we have talked to a number of people inspired to plan their first trip and ask for our thoughts.  If you are planning a trip - do it!  We’ve captured some of our advice below, and hope it helps you with your trip planning.

We found RVing to be way easier and less intimidating than we expected.  We are still planning and excited to do our next trip in mid-August out of Rapid City, South Dakota.  We are definitely better prepared for that one.

I’ll summarize some thoughts from our #RVLife blog post:

• Four people in 250 square feet or less can be tight.  
• Our kids found sleeping in the RV in the loft and convertible beds to be magical.
• Rental RVs can be lacking in creature comforts.  Ours didn’t have a backup camera, bluetooth, or USB ports.  The AC outlets usually don’t work while driving, so plan accordingly for charging while driving through an adapter.
• Driving more than five hours a day is exhausting for everyone.  If it's windy, bad weather, curvy roads or traffic, four hours is a lot. 
• Plan your cooking.  RV’s usually don’t have ovens (a few have convection ovens in the microwave) and lots of campsites don’t have grills.  
• Dumping the sewer is easier and less gross than expected, but still bring disposable latex gloves.  
• Gas mileage is not great.  Expect ~10mpg.  That can add up.  

Driving

Driving the RV was easier than we expected. The 25’ model we rented was easy to navigate, even in parking lots and gas stations.  You have to pay attention, but it's achievable.  On the positive, when driving you sit up nice and high and have a great view of the road which makes driving easier.  More challenging, the 25’ RV weighed about 6 tons, which means it doesn’t start or stop very quickly.  It also doesn’t climb hills well.  There were a number of times that we were doing 45 mph uphill in a 70 mph zone.  If you are renting a larger RV, get one with a V10 or Diesel.  The V8 felt underpowered at 25’.  The most unpleasant surprise however is wind.  A 25’ long by 12’ high vehicle catches any winds from the side, blowing the vehicle around.  Driving it in gusty winds can make it difficult to keep it in its lane.  Driving in the wind is a two hands on the wheel, 100% attention process.

For a cross country trip, think about time zones.  We didn’t and it can mess up check-in times or when things are open.

The RV

It is great for the kids to be able to sit at the table with seat belts, giving them space to play.  However, the table is pretty slick, so every bend in the road sent things flying.  We ended up buying drawer liner to put down to grip stuff to the table.  On our next trip we’ll also pack a collapsible bin or two to store small things in.  There were also only cupholders on the console of our RV, so the kids’ water was always rolling away.

We were pleasantly surprised that propane goes a long way.  We used ½ tank the entire journey, and we had the heat on each night.  The fridge runs on propane when you are driving, but that didn’t use much at all.

If you are renting an RV from Cruise America or a local dealer, they likely rent linen or kitchen kits.  They are very convenient, but often not a good deal.  You can likely go to Walmart and buy the equivalent for much less than what it would cost to rent it.  We rented the kitchen kit for simplicity, but bought our own linens between Walmart and Goodwill.  For our next trip, we’ll pick up the RV and head right to Walmart to pick up supplies, and will donate them at Goodwill when the trip is done.  Also consider paper plates and utensils, it’s a small sink to clean in.

Campgrounds

I'd recommend getting a Good Sam membership.  It gets your 10% off at a number of campgrounds, and they have a good trip planning tool and campground database.  We also use the (free) rvparky.com and app for campground searches and reviews.  If you are going to stay in a lot of KOA's its worth paying their annual membership fee to get 10% off there too.  KOAs are pretty much always good campgrounds, but they do command a bit of a cost premium.
When we planned our campgrounds, we were focused on having “full hookups” every night.  We learned that isn’t needed.  For one night, it was easy to plug in and run on the water tank, and to hit the dump station on the way out of the campground or entering the next one.  We did have power every time, but we are now more comfortable at being able to “boondock” (camp without connections) for a night, which we will need to do in Yellowstone in August.  That will require “generator living”, which we didn’t get to experience on the trip.  Generators are loud, so most campgrounds have restricted hours for running them.

We found that wifi at parks is not very reliable.  We had a few nights at parks with wifi that we ended up connecting on Mifis or tethered phones.  We will bring a mifi on our next trip too. Because I’m a geek, we also travel with a travel router.  The nice feature of doing that is that you can connect your devices to it once, and then just connect it to the campsite wireless each night.  Convenient, but not necessary.

As mentioned, RVs don’t have ovens, and not every campground has a fire pit or grill.  If you need that at the campsite, make sure you plan accordingly.  We were glad to have purchased food that we could easily do stovetop or microwave.

Packing 

Campgrounds usually have great space, particularly if you aren’t in a massive Class A 40’ RV.  If you have soccer balls, outdoor games, etc., you usually have space to play them.

We found that there was a big difference in daytime and nighttime temperatures on our spring drive and I was glad we had fleece and warm pajamas.  Even with the heater on, the RV was drafty at night.

Little things can go wrong, so be prepared.  Duct tape and basic tools can be helpful to have around.  We had some issues with our table converting properly, and didn’t discover it until after the campground host had closed for the night.  We thankfully found some tools sitting around in a maintenance golf cart that we were able to borrow, but would have been nice to have them.

Bring a flashlight. You will undoubtedly have to go check something at night, and its way better than using your phone flashlight.

If you plan to use a cell phone for your GPS, having a window suction cell phone mount is really helpful.

Laundry requires quarters.  Bring a roll!  And a small amount of detergent.  Also pack a small bag to carry toiletries to the showers if you plan to use them.

There are a lot of small overhead cubbies, so food was easy to put away.  The kids games and such were more difficult.  Again, we’d pack small cubbies for next trip.  Backpacks and totes were also a good way to keep organized.  The storage underneath was massive and easy to fit our suitcases in.

Pandemic Planning

If you are thinking about doing a trip during the Coronavirus pandemic, a few more thoughts!

It is really nice traveling with your own toilet and shower.

Be aware that weather has a big impact on trips, especially when social distancing.  It’s a small space, especially when everyone is in it.  The RV we rented was 25x8’, including the driver’s cab!  Evenings where we couldn’t get out and do things were tough on the nerves.  For our trip, that included some really cold nights, but rain or excessive heat could have the same effect.

Our RV trip during “social distancing” definitely changed how we planned.  It reminds you how much of our tourism revolves around museums, stores and restaurants.  We drove past so many interesting local establishments ranging from Native American crafts to local woodworking to local markets.  Eating local is one of our favorite ways to learn and experience a culture.  For our trip in March, there were many more unknowns about how the virus spread, so we stocked the RV up and didn’t eat out much.  For our next trip, we’ll likely do takeout from local establishments a bit more to support them and experience the culture.  Like at home, it’s an interesting balance of wanting to support a local business and keeping distant.

It also impacted our food choices.  We couldn’t stop for lunch anywhere - no indoor dining and our RV didn’t fit through most drive thrus.  We had to pull over in a parking lot and cook lunch in the vehicle.  We hadn’t shopped for that initially, so we had to get creative.  Next trip, we’ll plan our some lunches that can be assembled in the morning and eaten on the road or just reheated at a stop.