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Old 07-01-2015, 01:08 AM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Vegas 24.1
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We recently purchased our first motor home a 2015 24.1 Vegas. We've had a tow behind and 5th wheel travel trailer over the years though limited travel since we both were working at the time. Now that we are both retired we hope to hit the road and see the USA. Either one of us want to give up our vehicle to tow (SUV and full size pickup) and certainly don't want an 3rd car. Any of y'all travel without towing?

Jack & Linda

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Old 07-01-2015, 01:16 AM   #2
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We have a tow vehicle (2002 Pontiac Grand Am) and tow it behind the motorhome sometimes, but also leave it home sometimes.

If we are "sightseeing" the countryside, wherein we move to a different location every day, or every couple of days, we often leave the towed vehicle home.

But if we go to one location for 4 days or more, we often take the towed vehicle.

Thing is, when we are on the move, the towed vehicle almost becomes a hindrance, and we can easily go to a grocery store or pick up any other supplies or sightseeing side trip each time we move.

But when staying put for awhile, it is awfully convenient to have alternate transportation. Consequently, due to our current habits, we tow our vehicle about 50% of the time.

Earlier this month, we went out for 9 days. Stayed one place for 3 days, and another place for 6 days. We towed our Grand Am on that trip.

But next week, we are going out for 7 days and will visit 3 different locations. We will be leaving the Grand Am home for that trip.

And there are other options.

Depending on your physical capabilities, taking a couple of bicycles puts you within a range of how far you are comfortable in riding. Another option is to rent a car when one is needed. Enterprise, for example - will often deliver a vehicle to you - but they are often not open on weekends, so advance planning is wise.

My advice is try a couple of trips without a towed car and see if you miss it. Especially since you probably don't have the ideal towed vehicle, you are going to incur some expense in outfitting a vehicle, so make sure you really need one before making that commitment.

But since you are retired, you may find it easy to downsize one of your vehicles to something you can easily tow. We're retired as well, but we only put maybe 1,000 miles a year on the Grand Am outside of the towed miles it incurs.
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Old 07-01-2015, 01:41 AM   #3
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Thank you.
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Old 07-01-2015, 01:42 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Texvegas View Post
We recently purchased our first motor home a 2015 24.1 Vegas. We've had a tow behind and 5th wheel travel trailer over the years though limited travel since we both were working at the time. Now that we are both retired we hope to it the road and see the USA. Either one of us want to give up our vehicle to tow (SUV and full size pickup) and certainly don't want an 3rd car. Any of y'all travel without towing?

Jack & Linda
Depending on the situation and my itinerary I sometimes travel without towing and if needed rent a car from Enterprise. If the rental is during their normal hours which may vary by location they can generally provide pick up and drop off service. I did this on my last two week trip and rented cars in NC and SC each for 5 days.
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Old 07-01-2015, 01:44 AM   #5
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For the first year we had our Axis we had no means of towing anything. During that time we only had one trip where we needed a car. On that trip we drove to the local airport and simply rented a car. You can pay for a lot of rentals for the price of a tow setup.

Now we are into our 2nd year and 4 of our 6 trips this summer we are bringing a car--we picked up a dolly in the offseason.

So we do both depending on the trip.
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Old 07-01-2015, 01:47 PM   #6
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We don't have a toad and probably won't for quite some time; if ever. Just don't like the idea of the extra weight and added length that would require more of an eye.

We've used Enterprise several times over the past year at various locations (as we will toward the end of this week on a trip to Gulf Shores SP for several days) with good success. We will usually find their office somewhere close to where we are planning to stay and drop by for pick up but had them pick us up once when at Myrtle Beach.

If we only plan a 2 or 3 day trip, we don't usually rent.

This just seems to work for us. It seems, though; that probably 75% of the those we meet have a toad.
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Old 07-01-2015, 02:19 PM   #7
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We are 50% retired (DW retired, me still working!).
We don't have a toad and we have not thought that far in advance to know if we wil be towing or not. I think I would rather tow a boat than a car.
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Old 07-01-2015, 02:27 PM   #8
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Another thought, although this only is good for certain circumstances: Usually when we rent (either with or without RV'ing) we try to get a car that we may purchase in the future. e.g. I treat renting a car as an extended test drive--especially if we'll be picking something up within the next year or so.

Even when we are not in the market I use the rental as a chance to try something different. There are times, though, when the car I've been looking at isn't available at the time we rent. In those cases it becomes simply transportation...

Conversely, by taking your own car means you have your own car (duh LOL). No worries about if someone has been smoking in it, whether or not you actually like the car, blind spots, etc. (This is similar to the argument about bringing your RV vs hoteling it.)
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Old 07-01-2015, 03:20 PM   #9
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We do not tow at this point. The smaller RVs are pretty easy to move around and at this point we have not needed one although I can see the advantage of having one. We are heading west for 5 to 6 weeks in October but will never be anywhere more then a day or two. I think we will rent a car if needed.
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Old 07-02-2015, 01:39 AM   #10
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Thank y'all enjoyed reading your replies.
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Old 07-02-2015, 12:25 PM   #11
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We've taken the opposite approach. We downsized from a Class C to a van camper so we could enjoy the mobility of a smaller car-like vehicle -- unfortunately having to give up a lot of room in the process. But that's an acceptable trade off for us because we generally value the freedom more than the space. For the few trips when we needed more space we have rented RV trailers or motorhomes.

Now that we are looking at replacement due to age, and upgrading at same time, we are having a tough time deciding on whether to get one of the much roomier Class Bs on market so we can continue to drive it anywhere and tow a trailer only when needed (expecting it would be even less often), or go up to small motorhome the size of an Axis.

Trying to avoid a toad we have thought about the possibility of buying a powerful scooter or small motorcycle to add mobility without having to tow a car but the danger concerns me, particularly riding in locations I'm not familiar with. For our type of travel and preferences towing a toad would probably be more trouble than it's worth. But if conditions change I wouldn't be against trying it (first renting a dolly to test how I like it).
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