RVing...A rich mans sport?

RoadJunkie

Well-known member
The recent increase in fuel, diesel in particular, has left me thinking about the general concept of RVing and the burden it places on discretionary funding within the family. Certainly there are ways around high priced RV parks, such as using state and federal camping facilities, but the aggregate component of RVing has become a six figure proposition. We are considering a lengthy summer getaway this summer and were surprised by the budget needed for such a "vacation". While we don't intend to travel far, probably 1200-1500 miles, some RV parks are charging around $1200/month during "prime" time periods, granted most are about 1/2 that amount. Current fuel prices--not projected, but current--require a budget of $.50/mile while towing (assuming 8 mpg at $4.00/gal), some fortunate folks get a little better mileage. To make it worse, these details do not include the sunk costs of the RV and tow vehicle. All of this expense in an effort to support a lifestyle of comradely and sense of adventure. To be able to carry our lives with us and sleep in a familiar bed. Is this, as the advertisement professes, priceless?
 

ILH

Well-known member
I suppose you have to consider the alternatives. Some people prefer cabins or cottages for vacations. These are now costing six plus figures and are often hours away from the primary home. Personnally I prefer visiting different locations each time I go to my 'cottage' - but others might disagree.


I have another reason for liking RVing - my oldest son is severely disabled. Traveling with a home on wheels allows us to anticipate all of our needs. It gives us a freedom not available from hotels or resorts.
 

codycarver

Founding Wyoming Chapter Leader-retired
From a purely cost point of view "vacationing" with an RV probably doesn't make sense but speaking for myself and Amy there is no other way to go for us. We love everything about this lifestyle and the friends and memories we make are priceless......counting the days till we can start this years adventures.
 

recumbent615

Founding MA Chapter Leader-retired
RoadJunkie,

I might agree with you on the costs going up, but looking at the comparison of towing or not towing. Let's say that you tow on a vacation and it is a 4 week vacation of 1500 miles @ 8 miles/gal
my assumptions are in () below.

Towing:

fuel costs = 750.00 (8mi/gal)
Overnights = 1260 (45/night)
food (4 ppl) = 1120 ( $10/pp/day )

Cost RVing = $3130.00

Hotel:

fuel costs = 375.00 (16mi/gal)
Overnights = 2800 (100/night)
food (4 ppl) = 3360 ( $30/pp/day )

Vacation hotel'ing $6535.00


Now under stood that there is a cost to the equipment as well and we all know that it is not cheep. I am sure that we all can agree that RVing is less about the $$ than the life style!

But to the cost of either one - I think that Vacationing is a Rich Man's sport!!

Kevin
 

mrcomer

Past Ohio Chapter Leaders (Founding)
While we are certainly not "swimming in cash" we do own an RV. The first realization is that you cannot financially justify an RV. It is a way of life that you decide you want to do. As for our family I will tell you that without the RV we would not be doing so many weekend events like camping. We wouldn't be going to places that we go with the RV. We wouldn't have met the many wonderful people that we now consider friends and in some cases family. So for us it has been a wonderful experience with many awesome experiences. We do more things with our kids, when the do come with us. And best of all we get away from the house and all that sometimes dreary work around the house.

My 2-cents
Mark
 

Birchwood

Well-known member
We are full timers so I guess we are living and vacationing at the same time.We live in RV parks throughout
the year following the sun and warm weather.As far as vacationing with an rV and maintaining a home ,yes
family income would have to be well into the 6 figures.When full timing all we expect is a slightly different view
every 3 or 4 months plus the sun and warmth.And also some nice golf courses nearby!
Whether you have a $5000 or $100000 rv one can still have a wonderful camping experience.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
What everybody else said, plus there are so many wonderful places to see and camp that don't have cabins or hotel/motel accommodations available. . . and you get what you pay for because we like roughing it in the national forests and spend a lot of time in state and COE parks and often get electric and water for less than twenty bucks a night which easily off sets the fuel costs.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Yes, you need to have means to afford the rig and truck, but i think camping is available to everyone. When we first got married, we tent-camped. We got busy and didn't get to camp much after a while, but then we fell in love with skiing, which meant we needed to travel great distances, and pay high prices for transportation, food and accommodations. RVing gives us the ability to travel distances, stay for much less, and eat much more affordably. Now, we've developed a love for seeing new parts of this wonderful land, and travel in general! Meeting others that share these loves as well, has been an amazing blessing.

Erika
 

Westwind

Well-known member
When I retired we owned a 26FK Sunnybrook TT, no slide. We took it to Florida for 9 years the last 7 staying in it from 8 - 10 weeks, in order to do this I had to get a seasonal job because my pension did not stretch that far. This year we splurged on a new 2012 Bighorn 3070RL we have a note on it but being 66 years old I know I only have about 10more years to do this if I'm lucky. My dream is to go cross country for about 3 months, I hope to be able to do it. We enjoy the lifestyle and have made so many new friends we would have had we not done this. It is expensive but if I were to rent a place in Florida it would cost me at least2 thousand a month for a seasonal rental. I'd rather put that towards my own trailer.
 

gebills

Well-known member
What a great subject. I expect we all have different ideason the pros and cons of RV’ing versus driving/flying and staying in hotels, etc. As has been previously pointed out, there areways to reduce the costs of RV’ing, just as there are with traveling by car andstaying in hotels/motels, or worse yet, staying with relatives. We love our relatives, but staying with themmore than a day or two just about maxes out patience for using someone else’sbed and bathroom.
Referencing fuel usage, yup, it’s right up there. My wife and I are fortunate to get 10.1 to10.2 mpg as a routine unless pulling in the mountains extensively. Fuel prices are only going up, as witnessedover the last couple of weeks. Finding diesel fuel for under $4.00/gal. in theNorthwest is like finding a prize. Prices are quite volatile recently. Lastweek we left Seattle filling up at $3.99/gal and tomorrow we leave centralOregon to pull back to Seattle again, with the prices here in McMinnville OR around$4.10 to $4.20/gal where prices in Oregon are typically 10 cents to 20 centsless per gallon than Seattle.
Making a point about traveling with, and living in an RVcompared to going to the hotel once you have arrived at your destination; mymoney is in staying in the RV. After dragging luggage around, in and out of carsand hotel rooms for decades, DW and I find it so much more relaxing andpeaceful to pull to our desired location, set up the utilities, go inside andexpand the slides, set the temp, make the coffee, hit the recliner and look outthe picture window at all there is to see, be than nature, or all the peoplerushing here and there.
If you are traveling and staying in a hotel room, have youlooked closely at some of those chairs and sofas in hotel rooms? Let’s just say that they are less thanappealing. You almost want to go showerafter setting in some of them.
And two of the most important considerations for us, oftraveling by RV; being able to prepare our own meals and sleep in our own beds.Yes, admittedly, we do eat at restaurants on occasion while traveling by RV(preferably not often due to high cost of eating out), but it is really nice toprepare and enjoy fresh foods economically in the comfort of our own galley. And, the “sleeping in your own bed” part;this part is priceless. There are nobed-bugs or roaches here in our RV, and as long as we stay out of hotel rooms,there won’t be any bed-bugs in our RV either. The mattress if comfortable, the pillows arecomfortable, and the bedding,,,,,,,,,, is clean!
Is RV’ing a rich man’s sport??? I would suggest not any more expensive than(the sport of) traveling/vacationing in the more traditional sense of using a car/airplane/hotels,etc. The cost, overall, for the amount we like to travel,we could not afford if we traveled by car or plane and stayed in hotel rooms.Added to this, we find it so much more enjoyable arriving at our RV destination,,,,,,,,and relaxing in the comfort of our own RV home; something that seems less thanavailable/enjoyable to us when we travel and stay in hotels regardless of theirbeing a 3-star, 4-star or 5-star hotel. Yes, you can cut your costs by rentingcottages, houses, condos or apartments by the month, but their amenities and desirabilityare likely to decline. We have enjoyedthe RV’ing lifestyle in the short time we have been doing it, and expect manymore great experiences from it. Nuf said…….
 

porthole

Retired
On the recreational aspect - we are "RV'ing" because boating is now out of our price range.
Think fuel is expensive pulling your trailer?
 

ziggy

Retired Oregon HOC
On the recreational aspect - we are "RV'ing" because boating is now out of our price range.
Think fuel is expensive pulling your trailer?

I hear you on that! Boating is much more expensive and you still have to tow it!
Kristy
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
On the recreational aspect - we are "RV'ing" because boating is now out of our price range.
Think fuel is expensive pulling your trailer?

I hear that. My little Evinrude V6 150 HP gets about 3 mpg. I would hate to think what the bigger ones cost to run. We spend much more time camping than we do using the boat (and we even live on the lake).
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Nice thing about my little 20ft. pontoon with a 50hp Johnson is that it don't use a lot of gas. Top end is only 15 mph. I'll get it out on the lake and let the breeze push me across and drift troll. If it's too breezy, I drop a sea anchor over the side to slow it down. Most times, we cruise to a shallow, undeveloped area and just park it and enjoy the scenery. We use a marina slip for the summer and leave it with them for winter storage/maintenance.

This is Mullett Lake (about the southern third, of it). Burt Lake, connected by the Indian River where the marina is, is almost as big.

View attachment 17919
 

eddylives

Well-known member
It may not be a rich mans sport but as stated it still requires disposable funds. The up front equipment cost is quite substantial depending on choices lol.
We have been camping for only 3 seasons now and just picked up a new trailer for the up coming season here in NWO.
As I read through this thread it made me think of our own situation.
We camp for aprox. 6 months of the year give or take depending on spring break-up and fall freeze-up timing.
Since we dry camp on crown land (no money paid) on weekends only within an hours drive of home for that time I rough calculate our cost per season at about $5000.00 give or take a bit. You could add $1500 to $4000 per year to that figure if we went to a seasonal paid site depending on location.
So we get aprox. 70 days of enjoyment outdoors in that time and that is a pretty good deal.
Considering we would never be able to take the whole family (2 adults and 4 kids) on holidays for even a week with that amount it is an activity we will keep enjoying as long as possible.
 

Dave49

Well-known member
JonDar

Beautiful area. Both lakes produce some great fishing and sightseeing both. I'm to the east of you in the summer on Fletchers Pond near Alpena.

Dave
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
JonDar

Beautiful area. Both lakes produce some great fishing and sightseeing both. I'm to the east of you in the summer on Fletchers Pond near Alpena.

Dave

Dave, I've only been to Fletcher's Pond once, but back in my USAFR days we would occasionally pull a week or two training duty at Phelps-Collins. If we couldn't get a decent annual tour, that's where we'd go from Selfridge. Really liked that area.
 

hoefler

Well-known member
We do 6-10 long weekends a year. 3 hours or less from home. Always in a state park, average cost of $20-$30 a night. Fuel cost of $125 or less, right now anyways. We usually will do 3-4 nights depending on how much work I have, I am self employed. Our weekends usually cost between $200 to $250 an outing. We don't count food, we have to eat at home, and that cost is always there anyways. Then we have the annual 10-14 day trip, that trip will be a shorter drive than usual this year. We are going to limit the distance to a one day drive and sit for a week or so, then back home.
 

navyAZ1

Well-known member
Certainly there are ways around high priced RV parks, such as using state and federal camping facilities,

Using state and federal facilities here in GA is not the way to go, they have increased their prices to the point where they charge as much as a private CG does and you don't get full hook ups. Of course for the federal (Corps of Engineers) sites I do get a 50% discount when I use my "old fart" discount card. But still the GA state parks have gone nuts with their pricing, I understand that it is budget problems causing this, but since Miss Ann and I have spent a good bit of time in the past few years working as CG Host for the state of GA we have seen where they could sure use some better managing of their money rather than just raise the fees just to continue on their irresponsible spending. Hope y'all have safe travels!

Ron
 
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