Hi All,

My family and I are travelling over from Australia for a USA trip. Part of this trip is our family hiring a wheelchair accessible RV (found a great one in Orlando Florida) and driving up to Savannah over to Altanta the onto Nashville, Memphis, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and then back around to Florida.

As we have never travelled this way before, I was just wondering if anyone can give me any websites or advice on the do's and don't of RV-ing.

Also, where can I go to find good places to stay (websites). I think the RV is a Class A vehicle (gee I hope that makes sense to some of you!!)

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Regards

The RV.net forums and website is a good website for RV'ing. There is a Beginning RV section http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...s/forum/28.cfm

We have a class A motor home so if you have specific questions, I might be able to help. I haven't traveled in the south east very much so can't really help with places to stay but a couple of good websites to find camping are Trailer Life Directory http://www.trailerlifedirectory.com/ and Woodalls Camping Directory http://woodalls.com/. You might check to see if the place you are renting the RV lets you have one of these books to keep while on the road.

I don't know how big the motor home you are renting is, but we've had both a 24 foot and now a 30 foot. It's a lot harder to find parking with the longer motor home especially in big cities.

Traveling can be a little slower in an motor home and more tiring for the driver especially if it's windy or raining.

The good side is you have your bathroom with you as you travel. You only have to unpack once!

Hopefully the place you are renting from will walk you though how to run the refrigerator, heater, air-conditioning, generator, how to fill up the water tank and how to dump the sewer tanks.

As a safety tip, please turn off the refrigerator when getting gas at a gas station.

Utahtea

I have a couple of concerns.

You have outlined a trip of about 3,000 miles -- Have you allowed enough time to enjoy the trip? That's a lot of driving.

You have mentioned cities along the way. I do not know whether or not you used this as a general routing or whether you have an interest in touring the cities. ... RVs are best for touring in less congested areas like the many national parks, villages, etc. As Utahtea mentioned a 24 foot unit is relatively easy to handle in cities but as the units get longer finding suitable parking is more difficult (and sometimes much more expensive).

You might be interested in www.drivecrosscountry.net for ideas of places to visit, websites related to RVing, etc.

The book "Trailer Life RV Park & Campground Directory" is essential as it provides excellent directions to the parks as well as good descriptions and ratings. On line you can get campground info at www.RVparkreviews.com (I far prefer the professional rating of the TL directory)

As Utahtea mentioned it is essential to get fully briefed on the operation of the unit. As you are told "there is the switch for the air conditioner", don't just look at it -- push the thing to be sure it works. Get down on your knees and attach the hose, etc. Also, at the campground feel free to ask your neighbors to help you -- we've all had our learning experiences -- you'll end up meeting a "local" who will probably enjoy telling you of his first time out in an RV. (You have to ask, ...people don't want to embarrass new campers as they try to figure out the solution.)

If you plan on visiting cities have you figured out how you will travel around in them. Driving an RV in city centers - and parking - really isn;t an option in most places. You will need to find out about public transit from where you park the RV to where the sights are.

As mentioned -- an RV is great for touring the countryside/national parks/wide open spaces.

But for cities -- not so much. If you stay in an RV park on the outskirts, you'd either have to rely on often non-existent public transport, or un-hook everything and drive the 'house' into the city centre. Parking it in cities will be a bear.

So -- did you mean just generally traveling around the southeastern states, or did you mean actually visiting those cities.

If the latter . . . I honestly think you'd have a much easier time (and cheaper too) renting an SUV and staying in hotels/motels. An SUV or minivan would have plenty of space for a wheel chair, hotels/motels have handicap accessible rooms, and if you have a handicap tag you can park just about anywhere - and often for free.

Mostly depends on the type of trip you are planning . . .

I just published an article about RVing with diasbilities. Actually, I published two articles. As a disabled full-time RVer, don't let anyone discourage you. Just find out what's going to present an obstacle, then devise a solution. Disabled people travel our cities all the time. In the US, you are likely to find a Wal-Mart in larger cities. You can boondock in most Wal-Mart parking lots but that does mean no hookups. If you get spun around in one of the cities, pull into their parking lot and find a place where the 18-wheelers park. Then just plan your next move.

Take a look at the article about RVing with disabilities at http://camping.about.com/od/rvfullti...Disability.htm. I included lots of links that address getting assistance, medical supplies, oxygen, medical equipment and much more.
Also, some links in the article at http://camping.about.com/od/rvfullti...ty-Therapy.htm.
Make your reservations in advance, even if you aren't sure you're going to make it on the date you scheduled. Just remember to cancel per their policies if you can't get there on your scheduled date, or change your plans. http://camping.about.com/od/rvresour...n-Failures.htm
and
http://camping.about.com/od/rvresour...n-Failures.htm

Don't let anyone discourage you. RVing may be a bit more difficult, especially within city limits, but motels can't even compare to RVing for adventure, fun and freedom. Besides, there's a huge outbreak of bed-bugs in the US larger cities. Why take a risk of letting those critters ruin your vacation.

Perry: OF COURSE people w/ disabilities travel & RV all the time. But these folks are coming from OZ and probably don't want to spend their holiday >>finding out what's going to present an obstacle, then devising solutions

RVing makes perfect sense in national parks, rural areas or open roads. For anyone wanting to visit city centers it can present a lot of challenges. The OP isn;t clear about what they're really looking at doing.

PerryNMicki, No one was trying to discourage this trip in an RV because OP was disabled, they are saying anyone in an RV is going to have a hard time touring cities in a large RV.

Utahtea

Hmmmm, you have all given me lots and lots to think about.

Basically, this trip is my sons last hurrah (he is 6) and we have lots of other things planned but thought to take about 4 weeks to do this leg of the trip. We are definately looking at going into these city centres and I can really see the issue to taking a large RV into these areas.

I tried to look at hiring a wheelchair accessible van and then doing hotel/motel but since there are 5 of us, it seems that we have to pay for two rooms - which is turning out to be quite expensive....maybe I am looking at the wrong website for accommodation.

WOW, thanks to you all for your thoughts....I definately need to go back and rethink this part of the holiday.