My family has taken dozens of road trips over the years, but nothing like our recent Nevada RV trip.
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- RV travel is a good compromise for families with introverted and extroverted children.
- Renting an RV provides a mobile basecamp with amenities such as a kitchen and bathroom.
- RVing can save you money on food, but the total cost can be similar to other road trips.
If you ask my introverted 12-year-old daughter where she wants to go one day, 9 times out of 10 she’ll say she’ll stay home.
When traveling, comfort and quiet are important, so hotels work as well.
Her extroverted older sister, on the other hand, loves going outside and exploring new places without the noise and crowds.
Normally we try to have both, but for our family’s first RV road trip, we found an even better compromise with RVshare, an RV rental vacation home like Airbnb and VRBO.
Here’s what an RV looks like and what you need to know (including costs) before trying one out for yourself.
home away from home
We rented an East to West Entrada from a lovely Las Vegas couple to travel through Nevada. It was a medium-sized Class C camper, shaped like a U-Haul with a sleeping area above the cab.
My husband and I had previously stayed in a large Jayco Whitehawk trailer near Yellowstone National Park, but we didn’t feel comfortable towing something that big, so we treated it like a base camp and kept parking it. Not yet.
Entrada’s size was just right. There was a bunk bed above the cab, a queen size bed in the back, and a dinette in the middle that could be a third bed. The kitchen was equipped with a 3-burner gas stove, convection microwave, and solar-powered refrigerator, so we never had to worry about our groceries going bad. There was also a full bathroom with a separate shower, unlike some RVs where the shower and toilet share the same footprint.
My 12 year old son loved it because it was like having a house on wheels and meant there was always somewhere to hang out within a few steps of whatever activity we chose.
Advantages and disadvantages of RVs
The best part about the RV was that it took us to basecamp instead of just going back and forth with a stop or two at a hotel like we usually do.
It was also more comfortable than traditional road trips, where kids are usually cramped in the back seat. There was plenty of space for our luggage and we never felt like we were piled on top of each other.
I love being able to get close to nature from the comfort of my own home. I also appreciated that there were toilets available along the road and for bathroom breaks in the middle of the night.
I liked being able to cook instead of eating out the entire trip. After picking up the RV in Las Vegas, we stopped for groceries and cooked meals in the RV, including breakfast tacos and fettuccine alfredo. The groceries and snacks we bought along the way totaled $333 for 4 people in just over 5 days. This does not include your final meal in Las Vegas after returning the RV. It was the only restaurant we ate at during the trip, and dinner alone surprisingly cost more than our entire week’s worth of food.
One of the potential drawbacks of traveling in an RV is that, like any vehicle, mechanical problems can pop up unexpectedly. RVshare reservations include 24/7 emergency roadside assistance with Quest. Love’s Travel Stops has expanded its service offerings for RVs, including light maintenance, battery replacements, and tire rotations.
Our generator stopped working after the first day of our trip, but we didn’t consider it an emergency because we had booked a campsite with full hookups for the entire trip, so we had power when we needed it. The RV owner was very responsive and helped us troubleshoot over a video call, and by the end of the trip we had the generator working again.
Parking was sometimes difficult. I think over time we’ll get used to the size of the RV, but we were always looking for a large space away from other people to be safe. And when we needed to back up, one of us would jump out and direct whoever was driving, even though the RV had a rear view camera and side cameras.
The worst part of this experience wasn’t actually the RV’s fault. It was windy, but the less aerodynamic vehicle design didn’t help. Most of our trip took us through vast deserts, where wind gusts up to 55 miles per hour made driving difficult and sometimes caused the RV to shake as we slept at night. It was windy and I was nervous, so my husband kindly drove most of the way.
RV rental prices
Another potential drawback is cost. RVs aren’t cheap, but rental prices can rival the cost of a road trip that includes hotel stays and eating out.
Based on an analysis of more than 1 million reservations, RVshare says the average rental cost set by owners is just over $210 per night, with travel trailers generally being the cheapest, and motorized Class A, B and C RVs costing more.
This nightly rate does not include required insurance and protection packages and starts at $14 per night for some towable units. It also does not include upfront fees or usage fees such as campsite deliveries, pets, cleaning, excess mileage, or excess generator use. RVshare recommends setting aside 20-30% of your nightly rate as a cushion for these costs. It also does not include fuel or campsite reservations. It also doesn’t include a security waiver and refundable deposit of about $90.
All of this adds up to a lot more than tent camping, but it costs less than other types of vacations you take as a family, like theme parks or cruises. And unlike other trips whose memories become hazy over the years, I think this is one I’ll never forget. My mother-in-law still talks about the time when she and her family drove across the country in an RV when they were kids. I hope my daughters will talk about this trip like that someday.
USA TODAY reporter Eve Chen was provided access by RVshare. USA TODAY maintains editorial control of content.
