RV trips? Does anyone do this?

amother

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 9:14 pm

There's a diary story in the Circle magazine about a frum family who went on a long RV road trip last summer and I found it so interesting that people do this! How does it work for shabbos? Food? Camping with only random nonJews for company? It doesn't sound like something I could pull off lol. If you've done it can you tell me about it? I'm fascinated!

amother

Royalblue

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 9:19 pm

I haven't but I think at least some people arrange to spend shabbos at frum communities or at least someplace where there is a chabad. I'm pretty sure a family who was doing it stopped in my OOT community.

amother

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 10:15 pm

That makes sense! I'd love to hear from anyone who personally did it! I'm enjoying the magazine story more then my kids are LOL

amother

Bottlebrush

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 10:21 pm

We just did one, packed all the kosher food and stopped in a frum community for Shabbos. Not such a big deal. We spent the nights in RV camps but didn't interact much with the people there, same like staying at a hotel.

amother

DarkKhaki

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 10:25 pm

We are doing it right now . But it’s our first time and we didn’t want to risk it with Shabbat until we do a trial run for a couple of days and know exactly how it would work . We left Sunday and will be back Thursday night . We love it ! We are already making plans for our next trip , which will be hopefully longer and probably not till next spring . We would probably plan it so that for Shabbat we are in some Jewish community , arranging in advance for someone to let us hook up to their water and electricity , and davening at shul and maybe being hosted for meals .

amother

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 10:28 pm

You are all so cool and adventurous! I don't even know where to start with questions! I just find the whole thing interesting. Where do you go?

amother

Dustypink

Wed, Aug 04 2021, 10:29 pm

I have done it and so have/do my parents.
Also happy to answer any questions.

Ideally stop in frum community for shabbos, but last year when many shuls were closed anyway we set up a portable eruv we brought with (talked to a rav about what we needed) and made shabbos at campsites.

RV has basically a full kitchen so food is much easier than other kinds of travel.

Really fun and I would recommend.

ces

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 12:26 am

I would love to do this with my family, is there any point of doing a trip from Sunday-Tuesday or is that too short? That's the only time I would have available

amother

Bottlebrush

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 12:29 am

ces wrote:

I would love to do this with my family, is there any point of doing a trip from Sunday-Tuesday or is that too short? That's the only time I would have available

Where do you plan on going? If it's not too much driving I think you can do it!

amother

Bottlebrush

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 1:14 am

amother [ Lightpink ] wrote:

How hard is it to drive an rv?

More difficult than driving a Camry Wink

But once you get used to it it's not that bad. I drove one that was over 30 feet long, you can get a shorter one

essie14

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 4:14 am

I know some people who have done this and there is at least one write up of an RV trip in Alaska on Dan's deals forum.

amother

Snow

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 4:35 am

It’s so much fun! My family has ton this numerous times. We’ve either made shabbos at a campground, rented a cabin, or taken a hotel room for shabbos. You freeze meat in advance and keep it in the RV freezer or a cooler/ice chest. Since my family is still small, we do rod trips and camp out but Iyh when we have more bigger kids, we’ll prob start taking an RV.

imasinger

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 5:40 am

DH has been saying for years that after he retires, he wants to get an RV and travel in it a lot. I'm game for it, we love tent camping and have camped over Shabbos. We know of other frum people who have done it. Shabbos sometimes in a community where they found parking for their RV at a home of family, friend, (sometimes even a shul), or host where they could hook into what they needed, sometimes in a campground with eruv poles.

lk1234

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 6:28 am

Stupid question but are the RV's purchased or rented? How does it work? How much is it to buy vs. rent?

amother

Bottlebrush

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 9:45 am

lk1234 wrote:

Stupid question but are the RV's purchased or rented? How does it work? How much is it to buy vs. rent?

RVs are not cheap (over 100k on average) and for us it's more cost effective to rent since we don't do it that often.

amother

DarkKhaki

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 9:59 am

lk1234 wrote:

Stupid question but are the RV's purchased or rented? How does it work? How much is it to buy vs. rent?

Looks to me like renting makes much more sense financially . But you can do either . It’s a huge investment and requires money to maintain and store it if you own one . We know people who own an RV and they have to rent it out when they don’t use it otherwise they are negative . We rented our smaller and older RV for this trip for about $150 a night . It’s on a cheaper end .

amother

DarkKhaki

Thu, Aug 05 2021, 10:02 am

amother [ Lightpink ] wrote:

How hard is it to drive an rv?

Took some getting used to . I wouldn’t be able to, it’s like driving a bus . DH is doing fine with it BH. Also someone has to be a hands on person to operate it , but when you rent it , they give you very detailed orientation of the vehicle , so it helps a lot