Considering a LA - Carlsbad Caverns - LA round trip in April with two young girls

Hey Guys,

I have made up my first draft, and I was hoping you could have a honest look into it. 3000 miles feels like a fair share of driving, mostly for the two girls. My goal will be to cut the drives into shorter parts of 1 ~ 2 hours with a cool stop in between. I am hopeful to find some cool stops with your great map wizard!

All suggestions regarding stops that might interest us, and more importantly the girls, would be highly appreciated. Examples I have found so far is Slid Rock Park and sledding in White Sands NM :-).

Thanks in advance!

PS: If I could find a way to include Sequoia, and if that is a good idea in April, that would be amazing. But I feel that that would be a bit much. Attachment 4902

Forgot to add: I am also considering to start driving already on day 1, so that we can split up the 5h drive to Kingman on 2 days. I assume there is plenty to do around route 66 for stops?

The route through Amboy and Oatman on '66 is pretty cool as you head to Kingman. You could still do it in a day without an overnight stop and add something down the way or just keep it relaxed. A night in Sedona could be rewarding if you got a head start. From Kingman you could take '66 through Peach springs and Seligman. The Petrified forest is probably best seen when you leave Holbrook for Albu to save doubling back on yourself which could free up a little time to visit Meteor crater and/or Winslow AZ on the way.

Hello Guy,

We finally booked our flight tickets, so it is official, we are doing another road trip!

We are strongly considering to book a campervan (with our 2 girls) so we can spend the nights on campsites rather then hotel rooms.
My personal favorite would be a campervan instead of an RV. I have no experience driving large vehicles, which makes me think I will feel more comfortable driving a (camper)van. The lack of room should be fine if the weather is not too horrible :-).

Does anyone have experience with these types of vehicles? Any websites I should definitely check out? So far I have been looking at the following:

- Escape Campervans

- Lost Campers

- Jucy Campers

Thanks!

Moderator Note: Please keep all questions about the same trip in the same thread.

Those seem to be the major campervan rental companies. Really anyone else would likely be a local company where you'd have to be careful about what kind of support they can provide when you're on the road.

Personally, I wouldn't underestimate the space issues. I've considered going that route, but wouldn't do it with more than 2 people. There are rooftop sleepers and other things that can expand the sleeping capacity, but those have always looked to be more complicated and cumbersome than I'd be interested in doing. That's just me though.

The other thing I'd make sure to pay attention to is the costs of all the extras. Mileage alone can get very expensive, very quickly. There was one trip I looked at using Escape, and they had a good base rate, but when I calculated out the mileage costs, it became more than I was willing to pay. There are also additional fees for bedding, cooking, and other gear that can add up - but also pretty common in the RV rental world.

When will this trip take place? Where are you going?

The reason I ask ... any form of a campervan or RV is going to be problematic if the trip takes place during the winter months, unless you are sticking to the southern reaches of California, Arizona and New Mexico where it usually doesn't hit 32F or below. Whenever you have water pipes and freezing temperatures, you may be in for trouble. However, in the summer, this isn't usually at issue unless you insist on camping at 10,000' elevation.

FWIW, I agree with Michael....I peeked into a Jucy van that was parked at our neighbor's house a couple of years back....small! There was a young couple that had come for a wedding, and they said they were comfortable but "liked to spend a lot of time outside anyway."


Donna

It looks like Escape has 2 models that would be suitable - the Mavericks and the Big Sur. They sleep and seat up to 5. It looks like the Mavericks is an older Ford Econoline and the Big Sur is a new Ford Transit.

As said, space could be an issue with a campervan but as your girls are young, doable for some people but not all. I prefer the space and facilities an RV offers and as you get a lot more open roads in the USA they are not really difficult to drive once you have adjusted to the charactiristics of the handling. One thing I have considered in the past, but have not yet done, is to rent an Escape type campervan and plan to spend every 3rd or 4th night in a Motel in a 'proper' bed with a decent shower. For me it's those nights around the campfire in the campgrounds that make the trips extra special, but it's not for everyone.

Hey Guys,

Thank you very much for your input.

@Donna: We are going from April 1st till April 26th, and we are sticking in the south, roughly (LA -> Santa Fe - Carlsbad - (Big Bend) - Tucson - San Diego - LA). Please see a more detailed itinerary in post #11.

I have considered, reconsidered and discussed with my wife about all options (car, campervan, RV, ...). The current situation is as followed, and I need your honest (as always :-)) advice:
Through a local traveling company (I never use those, I mostly book everything online) I got a great offer for a CruiseAmerica RV Type C25 for €2380 (= roughly 2620 USD). This includes the following :

- Campervan Rental
- Unlimited mileage + (= including a motorhome kit, 4 x personal kit and unlimited usage of generator if applicable)
- 4 camping chairs
- Enviromental Fee (5 bucks :))
- Vehicle Kit (kitchen gear)
- Damage Deposit of USD500

I was a bit stunned by this offer, as this is a lot below what I have been finding before, and a lot below what I found online directly at CruiseAmerica (USD4480) for a similar booking.
For the record: this is not some shady local travel agency, but a reliable, well reviewed company with a few offices around Belgium.

Anyway, budget being one of the factors, and as Michael stated, space being another, both me and my wife are currently convinced this might be a great offer for our family.

Here comes the question (sorry for the long introduction :-)):

As I assume travel time will be slower with an RV (which is OK), my wife is strongly suggesting to drop the Big Bend from the itinerary. I would hate to drop it, but I think she is right. This would lower the amount of miles drastically (more then 500 miles), allow a few extra days to explore the rest and limit the driving to acceptable miles per day, which will be more enjoying for the kids. However, before dropping one of the stops I felt would have been a highlight of our trip (luckily I am convinced there will be many :-)), I was hoping to get your opinion about the distances and driving times with an RV vs our itinerary.

Thanks!!

Note that this is a standard RV (motorhome), considerably larger than a campervan. It's 25 feet long, 8 feet 4 inches wide, and 12 feet high.

https://www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-ren...es/standard-rv