Our trip took us from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and back with various stops along the way. It was nice to be able to plan to stop at so many great spots, and stay in campgrounds each night. The campgrounds ranged in price from $20-50/night. Every campground we stayed at offered electric, water, and sewer hookup. If you want other amenities such as a pool, bath houses, or laundry facilities on the premises, the cost will be higher.
We ate every breakfast except one in the RV. It was so easy to pack everything we needed for breakfasts - cereal, bagels, pop-tarts, fruit, etc. One morning I even cooked eggs and toast. Our RV was equipped with a refrigerator and freezer, range, and microwave/convection oven combo. We took along a toaster and a little portable grill, both of which came in very handy. We ate at least half of our lunches and dinners in the RV as well. I was able to cook anything I wanted to from spaghetti to steak. Again, that was a HUGE savings.
&width=104&height=139)
Now, if you are the type of person who prefers to order room service and have your covers turned down for you, I would suggest not going the RV route. We had to make our own beds, which in an RV means changing the dining room table to a bed each night and back to a table each morning. I had to take time during our vacation to do a couple of loads of laundry - wash, dry, fold, put away. We had a system that since I was cooking, my kids and husband were in charge of washing dishes. So, no, it's not a "sit back and relax for a whole week" type of vacation. But, we had fun. We cooked s'mores around a campfire several nights, and after the kids went to bed, my husband and I were able to relax around the fire with a glass of wine and enjoy the quietness. Instead of hearing other people's slamming hotel room doors, we heard crickets chirping and the fire crackling.
Some tips we learned along the way:
- Pack your heavy items in the bottom cabinets to avoid having big things fall out while you are driving.
- Try to ask for pull-through campsites so you don't have to back up in your RV.
- Use the bath houses! The ones we were at were clean, and the water pressure in the showers was SO MUCH better than in the RV.
- Use bathrooms wherever you go, instead of the one on your RV, so you don't have to empty your tank as often.
- The air conditioning in the RV works when hooked up to the electric at your campsite, but if it's nice outside, open up all the windows instead.
- Take a map! In some areas, you may lose cell phone signal and not be able to use your GPS.
- Tow a vehicle! For daytrips from your campsite, it is so much easier than driving your RV. We learned the hard way that our first stop had a parking garage, which an RV can't fit in. We lucked out with a parking lot a few blocks away, but it could have been a bad start to our vacation.
I'm sure we still have a lot to learn, but I think we did pretty well for our first RV excursion. Would we do it again? Absolutely!
