Coming to America

[Dave@Sam]

Hello all.
The family and I are coming to the USA in Dec\Jan 2011-2012 and we want to hire an RV for at least 2 of the 5 weeks we will be there and take a look around the place. We are Australian and live on a small tropical island in the Torres Strait (between the tip of Queensland and Papua New Guinea) The prob we have is that every place seems to "winterize" their vehicles and we wont have a shower/toilet/water on board. Does anyone else think this is an issue or are there plenty of roadside places that we can stop for our ablutions? Obviously we realise that this is your winter and as we will be spending the first 3 weeks in Washington DC, New York and Niagara falls we will be able to experience this first hand. What we envisaged doing was then flying to Portland or Seattle and hiring an RV to drive down the west coast before flying out of LA to home.

Does anyone know of anywhere we can fly to and hire an RV drive around for a couple of weeks and the return to LA and not freeze our butts off?
Any advice would be most well received
Regards David

 

[Blueeyes]

Re: Coming to America

The main problem you would have is that most of campgrounds would be closed in the Northwest at this time of the year. If not, all campgrounds have a public restroom with showers & toilets and most have laundries. Your motorhome would have central heat that with a few adjustments, like leaving your cabinet doors open & wrapping your pipes with heat tape, would keep your pipes from freezing. We buy bottled water so that we don't have to leave our water hooked up over night, thus keeping our water hose from freezing.
Cruise America rents motorhomes & just type in a search on Yahoo for motorhome rentals to find several companies in the state that you wish to rent in.
Hope this helps.
Deb

 

[C Nash]

Re: Coming to America

At that time of the year you are going to encounter many problems in a RV traveling where you are planning. JMO Have you ever rved? Good luck

 

[Dave@Sam]

Re: Coming to America

No, we have never 'rved' - this will also be our very first time in the USA - hence we just don't know what to expect.
Are we able to just pull over somewhere and spend the night if we want to?
If not, are there likely to be places open where we can stay in our rv?
If we go the West Coast as opposed to the East - are we likely to have icey roads and problems with pipes freezing etc?
We have so many questions.
It's all sounding very difficult and we are wondering if we should reconsider.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[akjimny]

Re: Coming to America

Hi Dave and welcome to the RVUSA Forum. I did a search for the average temps in Seattle and Portland for December and January. You probably won't freeze your butts off, but you will definitely be out in the cold, wet and nasty. Average highs in the 40's (5 degrees C) and lows in the 20's (-2 degrees C) and rainy. You would probably hit snow and ice in the mountain passes.

There are not too many places where you can just pull off the road and camp, other than staying in a Walmart parking lot. You would need to stay in an establish RV park. You can check this website www.rvparkreviews.com and search by the cities you want to stay in. The website will tell you which campgrounds are open or not.

We really do welcome visitors to the States, but first time RVing in the winter may be a stretch, and we do want you to have an enjoyable trip. Have you considered renting a car and staying in motels? For winter touring that might be a more viable option.

Again, welcome to the forum and do post back to let us know if we can provide any more info.

 

[Pillaz]

Re: Coming to America

Dave and Sam,
glad to hear you are visiting the states. Please be aware that in December and January the temps in Niagra falls will remain below freezing. There will be snow and ice. As you said you are from a tropical location, I believe you should forgo Rv'ing in the northern states. It may pose more problems than its worth. It can be done, but inexperience my prove costly. Also as most campgrounds will be closed, you would have to overnight in Walmart parking lots and truck stops. Rent an RV and tour Southern California and stay in Hotels in the North. That is just my opinion. Good luck with whatever you decide.