USA Motohome Holiday

We have thought about it, having travelled a lot in the States. There are some superb motor homes to rent, but I do notice that many tow a small car, so that the drivers are more mobile in cities.

Campsites are, I understand, excellent.

But what we do is fly out, hire a car, and start driving. (Having planned where, of course) There are so many cheap and acceptable motels around, just off the interstates and highways, usually next to diners etc. and, if you just have a car, heading into the nearest town is simple. (Exceptions include places like Wyoming and the Dakotas where The distances are immense!)

The only proviso here is that if, for example, you are visiting somewhere like central San Francisco, you might need to book in advance.

We've done that Ariadne. Last time started Los Angeles, trained to San Diago (pre-booked for a few days to go to Sea World etc), then hired a car and headed east doing a big circle of National Parks and any State Parks we happened on. We went mid season and there was no problem finding accommodation. Glad we upgraded to a four wheel drive though as it meant we could go off Tarmac (Monument Valley for example). It's cheaper too if you manage to do a circle and drop the car off where you pick it up.

The only country we hired a campervan was in Australia and it worked out wonderfully but of course they are not like the enormous ones you can rent in the US.
Having said that we did a coast to coast trip across the US and across Canada.
In the US we rented a car for part of the trip which was upgraded to a 4 wheel drive at no extra cost just because the booked car wasn't ready.

We did quite a meandering tour taking 3 months but what an experience. We camped all thru the Rockies (camping in Yellowstone) and I particularly remember a wonderful site just outside LA at Malabu which overlooked the ocean. Lots of camping together with staying in motels and budget hotels made this a fantastic trip.
Other than booking the first hotel in Sanfransico which was after a long flight from London we didn't book in advance.
If you want any more details just send me a PM.
Jean

Our 4x4 was an upgrade offer at the airport. It really is worth having as ordinary hire cars were not allowed to drive on dirt roads - there's a lot of good dirt road trips, Monument Valley can be seen from the highway but driving through it and stopping where we felt like it was wonderful.

I suppose it depends where you're going. We want to do a trip from Vancouver to San Diego and we'll probably have a motor home for that. What do you think Ariadne?

Thanks for your comments. What I was really after was a recommendation for a hire company..
We are experienced Motohomers. Done all of Europe as far as Greece; so before we get too old I would like to do this one.
I felt quite happy about hiring until meeting a couple of people in Spain who had had horror stories with hiring in USA.
One chap was stuck in LA for 3 days until they could come up with something that warented what he had paid for.
It's a long way to go to be in this situation.

nfk we did that about 4 years ago - we picked up a hire car in Vancouver and drove the Pacific Highway - Route 101 - all the way to Sacramento after which we headed inland to visit family. It's a beautiful trip, Oregon is simply stunning.

We've regretted not carrying on to San Diego so have promised ourselves will go back and pick up where we left off, some day.