I plan on going to New Mexico in January. Me, my wife, both in mid 20s and two daughters, 3yrs and 9 months. I have absolutely ZERO experience in rving but think it would be interesting. We plan on staying atleast one week, several days in Carlsbad and several days in Ruidoso. The cost wouldn't be much difference either way (hotels or rent rv). I would have to buy a brake controller for my Expedition which is $130, (hitch and 7 pin harness already installed). I'd like to try it out to see if rving is something we might be interested in, in the future. We live in SETX and have taken a few trips to SA and Dallas but just stayed in hotels. We want to do some sight seeing but would have to disconnect trailer. Is this a time consuming thing to do? What about hooking up all connections at the RV park? Hard? Time consuming? What about cleaning tanks when done? We would always be at a RV park with connections if we went the RV route. I just dont want to have a ruined trip due to my lack of knowledge on how to do this stuff. If I can get some of your views on the benefit of taking travel trailer over hotel, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I am pretty confident that you will find that pretty much everyone here likes RVs better than hotels. If you were to visit a hotel forum, the view would be different. Using an RV is not difficult but there is a learning curve. Most RV rental agencies do spend some time familiarizing you with it's use. But sadly, there are many who do a very poor job of this teaching so you need to be careful in choosing a rental agency. Be sure that you ask them how much time they spend with you. Emptying the waste tanks is quite easy, but proper connection of the hoses is important. The RV also has systems that are quite different than those at home. The lights, water pump, furnace, water heater and even the refrigerator all operate with 12V power from either a battery or from the converter, which changes 120V household power into the 12V-dc power that is needed. It is that way to allow for use when you do not have connections to an RV park. Long showers are also not available in an RV due to the size of the water heater and there are other differences. None are all that difficult but they do take instruction to know how. Only you can make the choice of what will be best for you.
Something else to think about is if you go to Ruidoso in January there is a very good chance you will experience freezing weather which means you will need to take some extra precautions to be sure your water lines and tanks in the RV do not freeze. I'm not trying to discourage you from trying RVing, but it is something you need to be prepared for.
Why not try renting an RV and spending a week-end or even just one night in a campground near you. That way you will get an idea of how things work and whether or not you feel it is something you would want to do.
QUOTE(dalsgal @ Nov 8 2009, 08:15 PM) [snapback]19959[/snapback] Why not try renting an RV and spending a week-end or even just one night in a campground near you. That way you will get an idea of how things work and whether or not you feel it is something you would want to do. I think that this would be the best solution, first to have an idea regarding what's mean going around with an RV, second, as far as I understand the guy is planning to travel with children and let's hope that it doesn't rain but if it does, the space is very limited and the children need to move around, third, he will have an idea to see what size of RV he should get in order to enjoy the vacation. Good luck
Our first camping experience ever was a month long Michigan to California and back again one-month trip in a rented motorhome, with three young kids and two dogs, making lots lots and lots of overnight stops along the way. No practice run. We had the time of our lives. One key was that the rental place gave us a very thorough hands-on tutorial when we picked up the unit. The rental place offered a credit of 100% of our rental fee if we bought an RV from them within a year. We did in fact since purchase a travel trailer and have been on dozens of camping trips since. It is so wonderful to have the kids personal belongings and bedding on board, and not have to eat out for every meal. A much more cozy, family-friendly way to travel. You will get used to all the hook-up/utility stuff quicker than you'd think, and if you are like us, you will start to think a hotel is the bigger hassle!
