Traveling without a car

[stargirl96]

How many of you travel in a motorhome without towing a car? Due to some health issues we are no longer able to dinghy tow our car. We would like to take a long trip in our motorhome to New Mexico, Colorado or Arizona. I do not want to drive a separate vehicle. Are there campgrounds that provide transportation to sights of interest. We will also have to rent a car but I would like to keep those costs down as much as possible. We are really open to going anywhere but do not want to stay in temps. above 95. Thank you.

[Roy_Lynne]

I use to follow a gal who had a Toadless Blog and she had great hints on going toadless. We have never had a toad, but we drive a Class B so haven't needed one.

[CFerguson]

stargirl96 wrote:
I just had some inspiration! We could plan our trip to go by a nearby RV repair place, pay someone $20 or so to help us hook up our toad, then be on our merry way. At our destination we can disconnect ourselves. When it's time to go, we can probably find someone (park employee or friendly camper) to help us connect again, give them a little spending money or some beer and then off we go! Wash and repeat! Do you think this will work?

I think its a good idea. Plenty of good folks still around.

[sempka]

stargirl96 wrote:
Yes, the Wanderlust park is great! Next time you're in Weatherford stop by the Gen. Thomas Stafford Air and Space Museum.

Great museum. Lots to see..

[Expyinflight]

At almost 64, I am still perfectly capable of hooking up a towbar to a motorhome. Did it quite a lot during a full time adventure for 8 years, in two different Class A rigs. A car was a definite advantage then.

Today...downsizing wins the day so just don't care to tow anything any longer. I can assure you, it is not the end of the world. We are quite happy with the current arrangement.

Who knows? That may change in the future.

[dodge_guy]

I couldn’t imagine traveling without a car.
No need to wonder how to see the sights and where to park a MH.
Always have your own car to do when and what you want.
You always have a back up IF something happens to the MH.

There are just to many pluses to have a toad than to not have one. And this is not meant o bash, but if a person cannot hookup a towbar then they should not be driving a 15,000lb plus RV! This is just my opinion and maybe it will come back and bite me in 20 years, but that’s what I think!

[stargirl96]

Yes, the Wanderlust park is great! Next time you're in Weatherford stop by the Gen. Thomas Stafford Air and Space Museum.

[Expyinflight]

We don't tow a car, and have no desire to. Have just returned from a 5,000 mile, 14 state trip. Not towing a car is not much of a sacrifice....if you are organized and plan ahead.
Just like at home, we seldom eat our meals out....and stock the pantry/refrigerator accordingly, for several days at a time. We keep a running list of anything we may run out of or need, and can stop at any Walmart, grocery store, etc...along the way. No problem.
As for sight seeing...you can often get a satellite view on your phone, ipad, computer...of anywhere...to see if there is suitable RV parking. We have no problem walking, when required. Or, at places we plan to stay a few days to check out the area or things of interest...we rent a car for 2 or 3 days or longer.
We just find ways to make it work. It can be done.

And to the OP...we were just in Weatherford for the night 2 weeks ago, for the second time. Love the Wanderlust RV park there.

[RedRollingRoadb]

stargirl96 wrote:
I just had some inspiration! We could plan our trip to go by a nearby RV repair place, pay someone $20 or so to help us hook up our toad, then be on our merry way. At our destination we can disconnect ourselves. When it's time to go, we can probably find someone (park employee or friendly camper) to help us connect again, give them a little spending money or some beer and then off we go! Wash and repeat! Do you think this will work?

Maybe if you tell us why you have difficulty hooking up your toad someone may have an idea that works for you.

The problem with finding an employee of the park would be the liability factor, there is just to many people that are sue happy if something goes wrong.

The happy camper next door is likely going to do the job without thinking of the liability, but then some may have been burned before.

[Airdaile]

kknowlton wrote:
If you tend to camp in well-provisioned RV parks, you may find this less of an issue

I'm wondering where these are.

[kknowlton]

Depends on the kind of campground you stay in, and if you have another alternate form of transportation (one of those adult "tricycles" with a basket could be very helpful). When we had our MH, it was too small to tow a car, and we found it a royal pain to get set up in camp, only to need groceries or firewood, then have to undo everything to go get those things we needed. If you tend to camp in well-provisioned RV parks, you may find this less of an issue, but we leaned toward state and national parks, and ended up switching to trailers over the years since, partly for that reason.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I was in a class c for 5 years--never needed a toad.

[DrewE]

I've traveled without a toad, and generally not found it to be a big drawback for me (emphasis on for me...different people have different needs and desires), though there are a few times it is a significant consideration for planning where to stay, where to go, and what to do. The longest trip by far was from Vermont up to and around Alaska and back.

I have put some miles on shoe leather over the course of several trips. I have occasionally used a bicycle, too, which can often be a nice compromise; a bike rack on the back of the motorhome is a lot less of an annoyance in maneuvering, etc. than a towed car.

I think generally if you're one who likes to move every few days or so then a towed car is much less of a help or necessity than if you like to spend a relatively long time at a given spot. It's a lot easier to stock up on groceries, say, if you can do it along the way to your next destination than if you have to unhook everything, drive the motorhome a couple miles to the local supermarket, and drive back and hook everything back up. It also depends somewhat on how much you do to set up and break down camp; simplify that and getting away for the day often becomes a little easier.

[jplante4]

We did our first long trip (6 months, 6000 miles) without a toad. We didn't have a car you could tow 4 down anyway. We rented from Enterprise when we wanted a car. Getting parts for the RV got real expensive 🙂

We found that we were picking campgrounds based on the proximity to an Enterprise office. Not the best criteria. They say "we'll pick you up" but there's a limit as to how far they'll go to do that.

The next year I set up to tow a car. First thing I needed to do was find a good toad and buy a tow bar and brake. I lucked out on the tow bar, an older gent was selling his Blue Ox and RVi brake 2 for $900. A few hundred more to wire the Eqiunox and we were off.

We found that we see a lot more stuff with a toad. We did our second long trip out towards Glacier and we would have been hard pressed finding a rental in N. Dakota.

[stargirl96]

I just had some inspiration! We could plan our trip to go by a nearby RV repair place, pay someone $20 or so to help us hook up our toad, then be on our merry way. At our destination we can disconnect ourselves. When it's time to go, we can probably find someone (park employee or friendly camper) to help us connect again, give them a little spending money or some beer and then off we go! Wash and repeat! Do you think this will work?