RV test drive

In May we drove to Prescott, AZ to rent a Pleasure Way class B RV. We have seen these and similar vehicles in our travels and they look so fun. We've gone to RV dealers and checked out new models but they are very spendy, $80-110,000. That's a lot of money for an untried camping lifestyle... if you can call it camping. So we decided to rent one but they are hard to find, thus the long trek to Arizona. Here it is:

Here is John connecting the TV cable at the highest priced RV campground we had. You can see the electrical and water connections too. Notice the gravel. We did have some shade and were close to the bathrooms, but it was interesting that the highest priced campground we ranked as the second poorest quality!

This was our Grand Canyon campsite. There was enough room in our space that several people thought it was the road and drove right through. Notice how we found the ONLY shade! In this picture you can see the two single beds/couches, the night stand with two drawers and the storage space. We kept chairs, backpacks, hiking poles, and hiking boots in this space. It could be accessed from the two back doors and a small door on the inside below the night stand drawers. The small door was just the right size for Marilyn's hiking boots to pass through.

Gromit and his buddy, Hutch, took a tour of the inside.

Gromit and Hutch found their nice in the corner while their buddy, Pug, sat in front of the pillow. The single beds/sofas and night stand could fold down into a big bed. However, there would be no access to the night stand drawers and it would take up the entire back of the RV. We'd brought sleeping bags, silk sleep sacks, and fleece blankets and it was more convenient to use the single beds.



There was a TV that could swing out. If we stayed in an RV park with cable and electricity, this worked great once we figured out how to use the menu! Since it is an older non-digital TV, we couldn't get over the air broadcasts. It could run on 120 (electricity) or 12 volts (battery). For all but the first few nights of our trip, it was useless. It did have a sliding cover, behind Hutch, that kept it protected while driving or not in use.

There were several storage areas above our head. Gromit and Hutch are sitting in my 'clothes closet.' It held everything from my duffel bay with ease and was a lot easier to use than plastic boxes in the back of the van. John and I each had one of these and another good sized lower drawer and it was plenty of room. If we had to carry both warm and cold weather clothes, it could get a bit tight.

The built in coffee maker looked great. Apparently the carafe couldn't stay in the coffee maker while on the road so we would have had to find a storage spot for it. Since we use individual coffee bags to accommodate our regular and decaf choices, we opted not to even bring the carafe with us.

There are two storage spaces above the cab end. We used it for dirty clothes! My handbag fit nicely to the right above the door. Next to that is the tank and battery monitoring system, and switches for the hot water heater and water pump. There is a door directly below. Anyone taller than Marilyn had to duck to avoid a head bump when entering through this door.

The kitchen is small. Under the red cup is a cover for the sink, but the sink was used so often that covering it wasn't even an option during meal prep. To the right of the gas burners is a pantry with plenty of space. In looking at floor plans and photos of similar vehicles, this much pantry space is unusual. We kept paper towels and paper plates in a storage space above the kitchen and pots and pans below the sink. The BEST part of the kitchen was the 3-way refrigerator. Once we discovered how well it worked, we had ice cream for dessert every night! A microwave was available, with electricity only, above the coat closet directly behind the camera.

Speaking of the coat closet, here it is. Marilyn made sure to hang the jackets so the zippers didn't rub on the walls. There was a table secured in here that we only used once. It fit right in front of the night stand but took up a lot of room and was too high for Marilyn. We kept two laptop computers in here too.

And the bathroom!
We didn't really use the toilet except when miles from any other facilities. The shower was nice. The curtain is tucked into the towel rack and covers the door and the cabinet area. It was a tight squeeze but, along with the refrigerator, a highlight!

The sink is tiny and okay for brushing teeth. The medicine cabinet couldn't hold much and we had two small drawers for our toiletries. The lower cabinet held cleaning and holding tank supplies. Every campground we were in had decent, close bathrooms so we utilized those. Sometimes we wondered if the space for the bathroom was worth it, but the first shower after a sweaty hike in a campground without shower facilities convinced us of its value.


We had some learning experiences along the way... how to get the TV signal to come in when we had cable, how to reset the fuse when the air conditioner was on (just didn't use the AC because of the fuse problem), how to flush the holding tanks without looking like rookies, how to tighten the battery kill switch after two dead batteries, how to get the refrigerator to work on gas (who knew to interpret the word 'stop' as 'hold both buttons down at the same time'), discovering that the awning doesn't help when the sun is low in the sky just when you REALLY want it, remembering to duck when entering, or walking under the air conditioner, stepping UP over the sill into the bathroom...


So, what is the verdict? It was not an easy vehicle to drive, especially in the wind. John did all the driving and it was two handed all the way. After analyzing the cost and thinking about how often it would be used and where it would be stored, we decided we could rent one for a couple of trips a year for many years before we spent that $80-110,000. The only problem is how far we have to travel just to get to a rental dealership and the daily mileage limits.


Also, there were a couple of places we would have gone if we'd had our own vehicle - some down dirt roads, or driving around to see the town after getting set up in a new place. The motor home RV does limit the incidental driving. We were less adventurous in our travels and stuck to the main roads.

We are both glad we did this, as it was really fun. We will keep RV rentals in mind for the future - and we did see a cute little 19' cab-over unit from Cruise America that would fit us nicely!