Who is the best company to rent an RV from?

[sara1980]

Myself and three friends are looking to hire a RV to drive from New York City to Los Angeles from Wed 21st July to Thursday 5th August 2010.
I am wanting to get a recommendation on which RV and package would be most suitable for this kind of trip. We are not sure on how many miles we would need to include but we're driving through Washington, to Miami, up to New Orleans, Houston, Las Vegas, San Fran and down to LA.
Any advise on:
Who the best company to rent a suitable RV from is?
Ways to keep traveling costs down?
Is it true you can park and sleep in any Walmart carpark for free?

Thanks!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

If you check out the planning section of this site, you'll find all sorts of information and articles about RV travel, including renting RVs. That article also includes links to Cruise America and el Monte, the 2 largest RV rental companies plus links to find others.

Many Walmarts will allow RV parking, but not all of them, and you should always check with managment before parking on private property. Additionally, when you use these parking options, you really need to be self contained, not using features like slide-out, or other things that will make it obvious that you are camping.

As far as keeping costs down, your best bet is to not use an RV! RV travel is a great choice if you like the lifestyle, but cars/motels will almost always be cheaper, and since your trip is very city heavy, and RV quite likely isn't the best choice.

You're also going to have to be very frugal with your time. 2 weeks simply isn't a lot of time for the route you've laid out. Its not impossible by any means, but you're looking at 5000 miles. That's 10 solid days of driving, and when you've got 7 cities you want to see, that's going to be tough to fit into a 15 day trip.