We had a fifth-wheel for ten years and went out in it for months at a time. I really miss it as I hate staying in hotels.
We haven't stayed in hotels in years, especially after we saw how they don't even clean the sheets in many of them after folks partied in them.
That would have been our second choice if cost wasn't out of our league. Mary,!0 years sounds like a lot of good times in that 5th wheel.
It was too long to look 'cool'. My short bus would've looked cool all souped up though, I love talking about it as mpost here already know. It had a 7.3 diesel dually rea end and I can imagine what a couple big engines would done for it.Maybe a four in the floor? Not sure what kind of traction we'd got out of the rear end though? Jake was always making hot rods out of my once family cars,too bad one wasn't a 55 Nomad, He put a 400 GM in my Venture, took up the whole front end! Had to put the battery in the backseat floor..He painted it a baby crap ugly mustard color.
Oh, where to start..... Our first trip out, we went to Yellowstone among other places. It was a combination of going somewhere I had always wanted to see and, being freshly retired, the euphoria of knowing I'd not be returning to work at the end of vacation. Favorite: our California summer. We spent four months ping-ponging the length of California. Other favorites: Stopping at the Bonneville salt flats. Touring Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Lake Tahoe. Glacier National Park. I could be here all day. They were ALL favorites. Scariest: our California summer. We spent four months running from earthquakes and dodging forest fires. We wanted to spend a few days in Yosemite but had to camp outside the park. We were coming over from Vallejo (earthquake), where we had been sightseeing in San Francisco for a few days (not much camping near SF) and headed toward a park outside Groveland, where we planned to base while we did things in the area including Yosemite (forest fires). Unfortunately, we had to go up a narrow route called Moccasin Grade, which was about five miles of extreme elevation change, exceedingly tight hairpin curves, thousand-foot dropoffs, and absolutely no pull-offs. At times when we were inching around a hairpin curve, the end of the fiver was hanging off the side of the mountain. AND the locals drove like maniacs. Homicidal, suicidal maniacs. When we got to the RV park, we were told that the fires were near but weren't expected to be a problem. However, if that changed, we might have as little as a half hour to make tracks. The rest of the week, we never left the park without our "bug-out bag" that had all our important papers in it, just in case we returned to a smoldering hunk of an RV. The only way back out of Groveland was back down Moccasin Grade because the fiver was too tall to get through a tunnel to get to Yosemite and out that way. Going down was even scarier, but we made it. We made some dumb mistakes over the years, mostly because of my lack of navigating skills at first. We pulled into Vicksburg and had reservations at a casino RV park. Unfortunately, I directed us to turn off at what I THOUGHT was the approach to the park, but was the casino parking lot, instead. All the rows were dead ends and we ended up at the end. Nowhere to turn, so we had to back out a long, long way. I had to get out and tell people in cars that they were going to have to back out so that WE could back out. Let me tell you, people eager to get to the casino don't take that well. Another time, I directed us to take a short cut to an interstate in New Mexico. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that we had to go UNDER the interstate to get to the on ramp on the other side. We were 13 feet, 1 inch tall. The height of the underpass was 13 feet, 4 inches. Normally it would be no problem but the roadbed had heaven knows how much silt on it, so we weren't sure just how much clearance we DID have. It was either give it a try, a very, very slow try or back up over a mile to where we could turn around. We made it....barely. I did learn after the first year to navigate better and plan better. Other favorites: Maine and New Hampshire were wonderful. I look forward to going back some day. Wyoming and Idaho were magnificent. The Black Hills of South Dakota will always have a warm place in my heart. I really miss the fiver, but after 10 years of 4-5 months out at a time and two years of Covid when we didn't travel, we decided that we just couldn't do it any more. It was getting too hard on my other half to do all that driving and setting up. It really wasn't that hard on me, because the inside was MY bailwick and it was just like housekeeping at home.
Us neither. We just stay at home. That is one of the first things I think of, if and when staying in a motel; dirty sheets, pillows, mattresses. One of our friends always takes their own sheets, pillows, and towels, etc., when traveling and staying in a motels.
Have never had a motorhome and have only camped out once. After that one time of camping out, which we were members of a Colorado fishing group and met them at a local lake we'd been to many times, we got rid of all of our camping equipment. Actually, all of the equipment belong to my wife. Now, anytime we go somewhere for a weekend or week, we stay at a nice hotel, but have had our "ups and downs" at certain hotels. We've had: noisy people in rooms on both sides of us, a dog barking across from our room and a rattling water pipe next to the bed. Stayed at one hotel/casino where a number of bikers were staying. Some were staying in rooms in the same hallway we were and, at 2AM, made a considerable amount of noise (talking in the hallway). Stayed at a La Quinta once, where our room was right next to the elevator. Every time someone used the elevator, we could hear it. The hotel was sold out, so couldn't move to another room. Another time, stayed at a Holiday Inn right outside of Disney World in Orlando. Our room was right next to a jacuzzi and people were using it at 11:30 at night. Had to run the A/C to drowned out the noise. Actually, the jacuzzi was suppose to close at 11PM, but. Have never had a problem at the Marriott or Holiday Inn Express. Cost more, but well worth it! Took two trips into Yellowstone National Park. Stayed at a rustic motel, just outside of Yellowstone. They served a great breakfast and hired a Tour Guide, with a van, to go thru one part of the park. Then, got a room at a motel in Cody and drove our vehicle into the other part of Yellowstone. When we lived in Jacksonville, Florida, we rented a car and drove down to Key West. Stayed at a nice Best Western in Boca Ratan, a Holiday Inn and a descent motel in Key West. The entire trip with a hurricane off of the coast.
Not all motels or hotels are bad. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, just north of Tampa Bay, and the desk clerk gave each of us a Bud Light beer. Have stayed at the Hilton and the cost was worth it.
I replied in a long post but it wouldn't post,see if this one dose? @Mary Robi now I realize why it didn't post, they merged mine into this one. I need to take a look further back before I post a thread, only went back 3 pages.
Well, despite some replies here, there are some very nice hotels and even motels in America. Yes, the nicer ones cost, but "nice" is never cheap.