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Old 08-13-2016, 12:08 PM   #1
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Question while you sip your coffee re Towing

Good Morning! We will be hitting the road in October after settlement....going to stay local for a couple of weeks then start to mozy. We do not intend to tow this first year but are not sure about storing the car yet.....so,how many if you drive seperately for the convenience of having your vehicle? It IS boring riding by yourself but we figure you'll only be driving 3-5 hours tops to s destination and then once you get set up you dont have to breakdown or rent something to go do things. Is it worth it or just rent a car if you can? TIA!

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Old 08-13-2016, 01:35 PM   #2
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I love to have my copilot!! Always something to talk about, helps me avoid hazards etc. One suggestion is to put bikes on the back so you have some mode of transportation. Renting a car does make sense, as sometimes you just want to get out and see the local attractions. Another idea is to buy a scooter for two and put on small rack. Just my 2 cents!! Happy trails!
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Old 08-13-2016, 01:52 PM   #3
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Jerry- yes that is exactly what we are doing- taking our bikes!! and you are right about co-piloting and navigation/samwich fetcher!! Just wondered if anyone really NEEDED their car/toad!
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Old 08-13-2016, 02:03 PM   #4
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We tried it once on a 5-hour drive. She followed me with minivan loaded with bikes and supplies for a week of cycling because she had to return a couple of days earlier. Having the minivan to go into town was great, but she doesn't enjoy driving (particularly alone) so made it clear we wouldn't be doing that again. While it probably works for some, I doubt we could do it on a regular basis.
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Old 08-13-2016, 02:13 PM   #5
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We do the scooter on the rear with a hitch mount. I have a Yamaha which is capable of 70 mph. Weighs about 300 pounds and is easily mounted on carrier. We love to go explore the area on it.

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Old 08-13-2016, 02:44 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by WillowRun View Post
Good Morning! We will be hitting the road in October after settlement....going to stay local for a couple of weeks then start to mozy. We do not intend to tow this first year but are not sure about storing the car yet.....so,how many if you drive seperately for the convenience of having your vehicle? It IS boring riding by yourself but we figure you'll only be driving 3-5 hours tops to s destination and then once you get set up you dont have to breakdown or rent something to go do things. Is it worth it or just rent a car if you can? TIA!
We currently don't have a toad but have rented a car/suv when we get to our destination. Kind of a pain but it's nice to have the option to go explore once you set up camp. Guess it just depends on where you're going and what you want to do once you get there :-) Happy trails!
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Old 08-13-2016, 09:29 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by JollyRodgers View Post
We currently don't have a toad but have rented a car/suv when we get to our destination. Kind of a pain but it's nice to have the option to go explore once you set up camp. Guess it just depends on where you're going and what you want to do once you get there :-) Happy trails!
we did it once, to a local park under an hours drive away. We've been to that same park a few time since and haven't done it. I honestly don't recall why we did it that time and why we haven't since.

Regardless, my copilot is usually sitting back on the sofa or in bed, so it really makes no difference to me. It's so loud we can't talk anyway.
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Old 08-13-2016, 10:07 PM   #8
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We bought our motorhome in Utah and live in Washington. We went there together in our Subaru Outback, and then caravanned back. We used FRS radios to communicate. It took two days driving. If we were going somewhere less than a days drive, and wanted to go off the paved road when we got there, I would consider it. However it is much more pleasant to travel in the same vehicle.

We just completed our first trip. Our motorhome is only 24 ft long, so it is pretty easy to drive around and park. I found it was very quick and easy to disconnect the water and electric from the coach and leave them connect to the pedestal. It took about 1 or two minutes. We just did our excursions and sightseeing in the motorhome. It's not much different than driving around in the 3/4 ton pickup we used to pulled our travel trailer with.

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Old 08-13-2016, 10:50 PM   #9
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The cost of Towing

I was thinking of turning my 2006 Honda Element into a toad. But, by the time I priced out the tow bar, the plate for the Honda, and tow brakes for the Honda, it was $3500.00. That's a lot of Uber rides!

Add to that, when you want to fill up, you have to disconnect, fill, and reconnect.

I'm going to put mt Honda in storage for the first year and see what happens.
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Old 08-14-2016, 02:40 AM   #10
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We fixed our car to tow when we traded a our fifth wheel for a class A several years ago. For us and the way we travel, having a toad is a must. We enjoy exploring new areas, and driving the backroads. We often set up, then drive to a local restaurant for a nice dinner. So nice to leave the Vegas hooked up and take our little car off on adventures!
We spread the initial cost of the base plate, tow bars and brake apparatus over a lot of years and a lot of trips. Your results may vary.
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Old 08-14-2016, 03:01 AM   #11
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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Add to that, when you want to fill up, you have to disconnect, fill, and reconnect.
I'm curious why you need to do that? We used to refill our truck with a 31 foot travel trailer attached. We just had to be sure what we were doing before approaching.

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Old 08-14-2016, 05:54 AM   #12
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Being a newby, I've given this a lot of thought and having spent many hours traveling with my wife and I believe that towing a vehicle would be a better option than renting in most cases. I see that you have a Super C so it should be no problem to tow a vehicle and it won't take long for a tow dolly to pay for itself, you can pick one up for about $900 new. Also based on your plans to "mozy" scheduling a time and place to pick up or be pic'd up could be challenging. That said I can see the benefits of a rental for a short stay on a well scheduled trip or carpooling to dinner or the market with friends or family at a rendezvous point so always towing is not always necessary but a good option to have, IMHO.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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Old 08-14-2016, 08:51 AM   #13
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Having purchased our Hurricane in May 2015, we've spent our first year in our RV without a toad. Most trips were short and close to home but out in the "boonies" so we didn't do much exploring. We just set up, cooked our meals, and enjoyed our time out in nature.

On the one longer trip we took (to the SF Bay Area) last winter, we were parked for a week in one urban location so we rented a car to be able to get out and visit friends and relatives while there.

Next month we are planning a 20 day trip - our first with a toad. We found a nice little used Suzuki for a decent price. It came with some limited tow-related equipment on it. We have been piecing together the tow bar and brake systems, and are pretty much ready to flat tow our little PJ (short for Puddle Jumper).

Most of our travels on this trip will be in less populated places with lots of interesting places to explore (eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains), so we are looking forward to having our little toad with us.

We will see how we feel about towing on this trip. We will be covering close to 2500 miles roundtrip, so should get a good sense of whether dragging a toad is for us.
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Old 08-14-2016, 11:34 AM   #14
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we've pulled our toad 54,000 miles across country several times and Ontario to PEI Canada and back thru Calais Maine, around NYC burroughs, down to KeyWest, over to Parumph NV, San Diego, up thru Big Sur to Everest WA(Boeing tour of course) - only actually driven the car 17,000 miles during that time.
it's about convenience, though we did take uber into Chicago's House of Blues from drycamping at the McCormick Place marshaling yard(rv park of sorts), we've never went without our toad.

...most of the time we don't even know it's back there, we enjoy the ride together just as much as the destination....
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Old 08-14-2016, 11:43 AM   #15
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Well now.....isnt this just a confusion! Lol.......so it seems after all this wonderful input (love the stories) that you can do okay without a toad and that it is okay at first to try that. But as we get more experience and different "not so safety net " destinations that we may eventually want to invest! Thank thank you for the feedback.....keep the stories and resaons why or why not coming!
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Old 08-14-2016, 11:52 AM   #16
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Maybe its because our RV is 25ft but we have been out 4 weeks at a time on about 4 occasions and we did not need a toad. We just unhook and go. The longest stay has been about 3 days in one place. For us, the few times we may need an extra vehicle we will just rent but haven't had to yet.
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Old 08-14-2016, 01:44 PM   #17
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We tow a 2004 CRV behind our 25 foot class c and hopefully in a week or so behind our new Axis. The only place we haven't used the toad is Disney. It stays home. Who wants to leave Disney and ruin the fantasy? Well, it also stays home during the weekend jaunts to the woods.
When we go to the Smokeys we always tow. The bikes are then on a rack on the back of the car. It's a receiver rack so we can use it if we don't have the car. In the mountains it is not unusual to drive 500 miles in a couple of weeks visiting different areas of SMNP to hike, see different towns, generally explore the entire area. Who wants to drive the mh around the mountains for 500 miles? We don't do a lot of sitting around in the campground except at night.
We found towing to be very easy. Not enough difference in gas mileage to notice. Just think ahead when choosing where to gas up. A little forethought saves aggravation.
CW has pretty good sales on tow equipment. I use Falcon II. All was installed by CW and ended up being about $1200. Well worth it to us. No added braking. l'll probably add that before visiting the Rocky Mtns.
Oh. When connecting or disconnecting always, always use a checklist. I won't go into details but will say looking back we can laugh at the scene where the campground ranger and myself were chasing the car rolling down the hill after disconnecting. Don't ask.
Tow Dolly - Remember you have to store that puppy and that's two more wheels to deal with. If you can flat tow it is less hassle. If you can flat tow.
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Old 08-15-2016, 02:25 AM   #18
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Our first RV we didn't set up for towing... Used it for 3 seasons - without toad... One trip (an hour away) we drove a car along... Another (1000 miles away) we rented...
We crossed the line when we got the new RV - and planned 3 months in Florida - that required a toad (in my mind at least.. )

We still don't always take it - depends on the destination and duration.. Haven't had to disconnect 'mid-tow' (flat towing a Wrangler) - it does take a little advance planning when pulling into a parking lot/gas station to have a 'forward only' exit plan...
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Old 08-15-2016, 02:30 AM   #19
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We have driven separately twice: Once because there wasn't enough room (had the camper full of kids and thus all the seatbelt's were taken) and the other it was simpler to just drive a car the 90 minutes instead of using the dolly.

I'm not sure we'd go for more than a couple of hours separately.
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Old 09-18-2016, 03:12 PM   #20
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First, love having my wife as navigator, snack and drink fetcher! She enjoys riding in the Queen seat a lot!

When we had our Tuscany we always pulled a toad due to size and maneuverability of our coach. With our Windsport we may not pull, haven't decided yet. With a 31' coach we can drive a lot of places our Tuscany just couldn't go. Depends a lot on where you like to go, the size of your coach, and how comfortable you are in tight spots.
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