Road trip transportation and accomodations

Do we bring them with us?

We're planning a family vacation to Colorado by highway this summer. The Caravan is a natural choice. However, due to our perpetual budget shortfalls, we're planning on doing some camping rather than hoteling along the way. This can be hard, since the wife isn't a huge fan and luggage + camping supplies + food is more than even the cavernous Caravan can handle.

If I were to turn this trip into something else, an RV, a tow vehicle (that can carry six) and a camper of some sort, some sort of camping-stuff-hitch for the Caravan, what would it be?

I would not be happy about flat out towing with the Caravan. I think it's a solid vehicle, but I don't want to tempt it like that.

I'm thinking almost anything else will be more expensive than the caravan, since you already own it. RVs tend to be expensive to rent, and cheap used RVs and camper trailers tend to need a lot of work. Best bet may be to get a small rooftop carrier for the minivan to hold the camping supplies.

Edit: one other option (assuming you have free accommodations at the endpoint of the trip) would be to look at the really cheap airlines. But then you'd miss seeing all the in-between stuff.

I'm thinking rooftop carrier and maybe one of the HF aluminum racks that attaches to the hitch might make sense. Add Air-Lifts as necessary (I added them to our minivan and it makes loaded trips much more pleasant).

We picked up our rooftop carrier as a scratch and dent at a local dealer for over 50% off what a new one costs. I'd imagine finding one on CL will have the same effect.

yeah, RV rental will run you about $200 a night when all is said and done, which is a heck of a lot of hotel every night. My vote would be a big, easy to set up tent, nice air mattresses and blankets, and a big cargo snail for the top of the caravan. It's cheap and you can be pretty comfortable in a big tent with the right car-camping gear.

Do the numbers. Do you already have all of the camping supplies? Any you have to buy will be a hit on the vacation budget.

I seem to recall you have a number of tunakids - requiring more than one room?

Another option is to sort of "mix" it. Stay in motels, but bring food, a small folding table and a camping stove and cook outside your room. A buddy of mine and I used to do this when we did skiing trips on the cheap.

In reply to golfduke:

Every time I looked at the cost of renting an RV, I ended up just getting hotel/motel rooms. Especially after factoring in the fuel cost.

One of the Lemons teams next to us rented one for the event about a month ago. It was $600 from Thursday-Sunday, and there was a mileage surcharge for anything more than 100mi per day. That's not factoring fuel at about 8-10mpg either.

It's not cheap by any means.

You're welcome to make a stop in scenic Canton,Il and use my home as a complimentary b&b on the way out and back. You could take whatever you might have spent on two nights of room and board and put it back in the travel budget.

In reply to golfduke:

I could see doing it for a Lemons race where having personal facilities right at the site could be worth the additional cost.

Grand Caravan and pop-up camper. Sleeping up off the ground is much nicer and spreading out the load of weight and cargo to another axle would be kind of nice.

And the next few months are a good time to buy RVs.

The pop-up camper sounds like a good idea. Works like a small utility trailer and contains all the camping supplies including a nice tent.

The thing about RVs is that while the daily rental rate is not that high, the mileage surcharge plus gas costs KILLS the economics. I would imagine that in a place like Colorado with lots of uphill MPG would be even lower than in flat places like Florida. ListofCraig always has pretty good deals on popups, and you could probably buy one, fix up and use for the vacay, and then resell for what you have into it.

I have a 2011 T&C and think the roof carrier (even the "bag type") and a hitch rack would allow plenty of overflow from the the cabin. I'm amazed at how much stuff fits in the Stow N Go bins too. We just did a week long trip to Florida (2 adults, 3 kids) and everything, except the cooler, fit behind the rearmost seat. I didn't put anything in the wells.

As mentioned, Class A and C RV rentals will kill you on the per mile charges and the fuel. You could buy on the bottom of the depreciation curve, though, and sell it after your trip but if I can use The Voice of Experience for a moment here: "something will break on your trip and you will need to be a mechanic/plumber/electrician/roofer/carpenter/HVAC tech/psychiatrist". Personally, I kind of find that fun, but I can see how iy might be a bit frustrating.

A travel trailer is a good choice as well, if you've got something to pull it with. No extra drivetrain to worry about, same ability to buy on the bottom of the curve and resell, you have a car to drive around in, and if anything happens to your tow rig you have a place to stay while you figure it out. Rentals typically have no milage cost and are usually much lower than motorhomes in terms of nightly rate.

A pop-up camper could be a great solution as well, but they're a bit tiny.

While I love having a class A, it isn't something that makes tons of sense economically speaking. The whole 7mpg thing really makes it hard to justify, although for my family it would be two hotel rooms a night plus having to eat out every meal.

Depending on the time and where you want to stop I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss hotels. For years now we've been playing vacation roulette where I drive till I get tired and then bid on Priceline. If I'm not picky we can often get someplace on the $50 range with a free breakfast or a really classy place for around $100. It still worked out cheaper than renting an RV.

5x8 trailer? Not the 4x8 HF one, maybe one of the Tractor Supply ones with 13" wheels. Still pretty light, and you could probably get most of your stuff in tubs, outside of the van to give the kids more space. Also opens up the ability to bring along bikes and stuff to wear them out more .

How much does a popup weigh? 1500 or so? I was wondering if you'd overload the van with 6 people in the cabin plus the camper weight.

Might be worth renting a Transit or Promaster full size van for the trip. Not much more than normal car rental rates, unlimited mileage, and no worries about breakdowns.

Thanks for the ideas folks, I'm not sure I am eager to put a hitch on the Caravan and pull a pop-up, just because I don't want to endanger the transmission over mountainous Colorado, but it would make some camping setup easier.

Is there anything Aztec-like for a Minivan, where the roof and/or cargo area becomes part of the living space?

Like this?

this is the company you want. SUV and Van tents

What about a roof top tent or lightweight tent trailer? the problem is they aren't cheap... http://www.autohomeus.com/