Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

1) There are only a few nation-wide RV rental firms that will be able to accommodate you. The two largest are Cruise America and El Monte. Start with those two and make sure that they have depots in both the San Francisco and Orlando areas. But under no circumstances expect this to be anything but expensive.

2) That's entirely up to you and what you and your wallet are comfortable with. If you'd like a bit of privacy on occasion but don't want to 'upgrade' the RV, consider bringing along a small tent or two and letting the kids rough it if the weather's nice.

3) Besides being expensive to rent, RVs are expensive to push down the road, with gas mileage approaching or even hovering in the single digits. So you're going to want a relatively short route and, perhaps surprisingly, a relatively slow one. Remember that doubling your speed (say from 40 to near 80) in a typically boxy RV will increase the gas required to overcome air resistance (the main force you'll be fighting) by a factor of four. So something very much like I-5/CA-58/I-40/US-287/I-20/US-49/US-98/I-10/I-75 by way of Bakersfield, Flagstaff. Amarillo, Dallas, Jackson and Mobile should serve as the backbone of your trip. You could probably drive that in about seven comfortable days. From that basic route you can then add detours, side trips and back roads as time allows and your interests dictate.

4) You should probably make as much use of the national and state park systems as you can. Some of the many possibilities include the Mojave National Preserve, Grand Canyon National Park (NP) (and several smaller national monuments (NM) in that area), Petrified Forest NP, Petroglyph NM, Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, Vicksburg National Military Park, and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Golf you can find almost anywhere (even here in the desert southwest), but water will be hard to come by until you get into the South and particularly along the Gulf of Mexico and Florida's Atlantic coast.

5) KOA and similar 'campgrounds' would be my last choice. State parks are a better deal and usually offer far more scenic and enjoyable surroundings. National forests are another resource to keep in mind if you end up with a smaller RV.

6) First things first. Start doing your research on whom you're going to rent from. Then ask them to give you a walk-around of an RV that's the size you'll be using. They typically do this in detail when you pick up the vehicle, but learning early can't hurt. Once you know what you'll be driving, start getting serious about your route and how much you can fit into whatever time you'll have left after accounting for driving, fuel/food/rest stops, getting set up each evening and packed up every morning. Then you can start to apportion your time and make reservations where you'll be wanting to stop each evening.

That's not all you'll need to know or will have to attend to, but it's at least an overview of the major items. Of course as you progress with your planning, we'll be here to answer further questions.

AZBuck