One huge adventure..

[BethannieRose]

Hi,

Im hoping you can help. Three friends and I are planning a HUGE american roadtrip for 8/9months starting next July.

We've all been to America at least once but never for any lengthy time and its something we all so passionatly want to do. At the time of departure two of us will be 21, one 18 and we are yet to find a willing fourth. The aim is to land in seattle travel through as many states as we can (not including Hawaii or alaska) cross over into Canada and then work back down to washington. we are each going to have £10K (fingers crossed) so roughly $80,000

Heres where i'm hoping you can help.

We are thinking of buyin RV / Motorhome

-can we do this being 21?
-do we need special lisences
-how much will we be expected to pay?
-can we fit four single beds into it? Without covering the drivers seat, as we'll drive at night sometimes.
-I hear we cant take a RV through Death Valley, are there lots of places we cant take one?
-Were can RV be parked?
-And how do we power ovens etc in them?

any thing else you think we should know?

Sorry for the length of this, not expecting one person to be able to answer everything but hopefully a few of you may be able to help.

We are just looking for advice and guidance really it is a huge thing for us and we dont want to get there to find it cant be done, if you dont think we are being realistic please do say.

Thank you for any help you give us!!

Beth, Alex, Rick and ???

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm not much of an RV expert, but there is a wealth of information available on this site already.

First in answer to your questions, you can certainly take an RV to Death Valley and every other national park in the country. There just might not be certain roads or areas that you can access because of the size of an RV.

Being 21 shouldn't prevent you from buying an RV, but being from out of the country makes buying any vehicle more difficult. To start, you will need to find some sort of address as a home base for license and insurance purposes. Speaking of insurance, I suspect insurance will be very expensive for your trip, in large part because of your age, but you'll have to talk to an insurance agent to really get some good details.

We've got an entire section dedicated to RV Travel, and Planning an RV Roadtrip. Of particular interest, I think you should look at our articles Comparing the Different Types of RVs, and How to find an RV Campsite and while you are planning to buy, How to Rent an RV is another article that has lots of information that I think you will find very useful.

[W. Larrison]

Hello BethannieRose --

You might take a look at some of the internet RV sales sites to see what's available in the Seattle area for RVs, and the prices. That'll give you an idea of what might be achievable. The Seattle Post-Intelligence has a web site, and there are several web sites that specialize in RV sales I've run across.