So, You Want to Go RVing?

Do you want to go on an RV vacation, but don’t know where to start?

It’s been a dream vacation for us for several years. It started with our trip to Yellowstone National Park a few summers ago- we saw so many families traveling the parks in RV’s and thought, “that might be fun!” RV trips take a lot of careful planning, especially if you are taking the family. We’re here to share our experiences with you and help you plan the perfect trip!

In this post you will find our best tips for first time RV renters. Obviously, we are newbies (that’s what makes us expert first time RV renters, ha!) so this info is based on our one trip, but we did learn a lot of useful tips! You’ll read about:

-Rental options and what to consider when choosing your RV rental

-Detailed packing lists

-Sample grocery list + easy RV meal ideas

-Boondocking vs Campsites

-How to care for the RV 

-Other Tips

1. Where do you rent an RV?

There are plenty of options to choose from as you may have guessed, all offering different features that you need to consider based on your family needs.

RV Share is kind of like AirBnB but for RV rentals! Each owner sets their pricing and lists what is included in the rental cost. Sometimes they include fresh bedding and kitchen things with the rental or have an optional fee for those items, some so each listing you’ll find is different.

What to look for?

-You can enter in your budget for your rental so you can find plenty of options in your price range!

-Rentals that include FREE or low cost mileage mileage is great if you’re planning a long trip. They will list a price per mile charge in the listing.

-Rentals that include FREE or low cost generator use may be a great option if you are planning on doing a lot of dry-camping. They will list a price per hour charge for generator use in the listing.

-Rentals that include bedding, cookware, tableware, outdoor table and camping chairs are a big value and convenient if you are planning on flying to your rental location and picking up the rental. However, this may not be necessary if you are picking up the rental close to your home.

-READ REVIEWS! Poor communication or hidden charges are common bad reviews, and should be taken into consideration before you rent from someone.

For more information on RV Share, click here.

Cruise America and El Monte RV are big name rental companies, and are more like an a-la-carte rental store. You start with a base nightly rental price of the RV, and there are plenty of RV sizes to choose from! Then, you have the option of pre-purchasing mileage at a reduced price. You’ll also have options to purchase a kitchen kit, bedding kit, and other accessories.

After pricing out all the different options and having to rearrange our trip dates last minute, we went with El Monte RV! It gave us the best value overall for what we needed, and we found a discount code for 2 free nights! El Monte RV also includes unlimited generator use, which we thought would be beneficial for us with doing a lot of dry-camping.

2. What is the cost of an RV rental?

Pricing depends on different factors such as length of your trip, size of the RV and more. The cost of our rental through El Monte RV for our trip was as follows:

RV Rental for 8 Nights at $94/night (and 2 free nights) – $564

Pre-Paid 1300 miles at $.32/mile -$377

*Kitchen Kit- $125

*Starter Kit- $39

VLF (Vehicle License Fee) -$26.32

Total// $1132.27 + Tax=  $1,224.89

*Kitchen Kit includes: Pots, pans, cooking utensils, cutting board, cutting knives, serving spoons, pot holders and dish towels, water pitcher, strainer, mixing bowls, serving platter, broom +dust pan, mop and bucket. (Items can vary depending on location)

*Starter Kit includes: 1 blue juice pack (waste tank deodorizer), 1 roll of toilet paper, full tanks of propane and water, leveling blocks, dumping and filing hoses, A/C adapter, and electrical power cord.

El Monte offers basic bedding rental for $50 per person, which includes a pillow, sheets, and sleeping bag. But we had 5 of us and didn’t want to spend $250! We decided to pick up some cheap bedding in our Walmart grocery pick up. I just searched for the most inexpensive options and went with that. 4 pillows, 2 queen sheet sets, 8 fleece blankets were only a total of $60….much better than $250, right? We also brought 4 towels from home with us.

3. What about food?

One of the great things about RV life is having your own on-board kitchen to cook meals (and save money from eating out!) Plus, who doesn’t love camping food?

Here is our complete grocery list, what it cost, and then meal ideas! Also, I feel really sorry for the person who had to fill this Walmart grocery pick up order. 😀

**We did have to stop again later in the 9-day trip and pick up more milk, water, coffee, Capri Sun, and pancake mix at a local Walmart.

Aside from groceries, we also purchased other necessary things in our grocery pick up order:

-Coffee Maker ($11, compared to El Monte’s rental price of $12)

-Smores skewer fork

-To go coffee cups w/lids

-Firestarter sticks

-Lighter

-Lysol disinfecting wipes

-4 camping chairs (these were only $6 each, compared to El Monte’s rental price of $12)

-5 reusable cups (each a different Disney character for each person)

-Bedding items that I mentioned above

The total for the grocery pick up was $413 (including the bedding, all groceries and other items listed.)

I chose to keep meals very simple and easy. I went with our go-to dinners that we all love at home, so that there would be no fuss at meal times. Also, these meals took less than 20 minutes to make which was great after a long day of adventures.

RV Meals:

**based on the groceries we purchased above

Breakfast:

-Oatmeal

-Cereal

-Pancakes with bacon

-Eggs with bacon

-Mini-donuts (these were eaten every breakfast)

Lunch:

-PBJ or Ham/Turkey Sandwiches with chips, grapes and carrots/hummus

Dinner:

-Pizza

-Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread

-Taco meat & cheese with Tostitos chips

-Chili & cheese w/ Fritos

-Cheese Quesadillas with tomato Soup

-Hot Dogs & Mac and Cheese

{We ate out one night and the last night I made leftovers}

-Snacks: Apples, granola bars, popcorn

4. How much does gas cost?

What we DIDN’T consider in budgeting for this trip is that gas prices are not the same everywhere. So, just because gas was only $2.50 at the time in Texas, didn’t mean it was that price in the middle of nowhere Utah! Doh! Each time we filled up, it would cost anywhere from $65-$85 for our 25’ Class C RV. How much you spend on gas will depend on how many miles you travel and the type of RV you rent.

5. Campgrounds vs boondocking: Where to Camp?

We did extensive research into where to stay, and decided that we preferred to do as much boondocking or dry camping as possible. Boondocking allowed us the flexibility to stay where we wanted without reservations, or umm, having to pay! There are pros and cons to staying at a campground verses boondocking, and honestly it may just be your personal camping preference.

RV resorts and parks offer various amenities like restrooms, WIFI, cable TV hookup, showers, laundry facilities, grills and even pools and recreational activities. Depending on your set up, you can have full electric, water, and sometimes even sewer hook up. However, the campsites are typically close together and may not offer stellar views (unless you like looking at other people’s RV’s)

Campgrounds in the parks aren’t as bougie as RV resorts, but sometimes worth it for convenience. They may have amenities like restrooms, showers, grills and hookups too. One perk for camping in the parks is to get up and get out in the morning and not worry about long lines at the park entrance. However, some campgrounds do not offer amenities beyond restrooms, so make sure you research what each park offers.

What the heck is boondocking?

Honest to goodness, y’all… I’d never heard of boondocking until I joined Instagram and saw a bunch of pictures of RV’s in the desert. Boondocking, or dry camping, is parking your RV anywhere that you’re allowed to do so and camp! FOR FREE. But this also means that you will not have hookups for electricity, water, sewer….nada.

So before you go boondock, you need to make sure your fresh water tank is full enough, and the grey and black tanks are empty-ish…at least enough for however long you want to camp. A generator is also handy so you can keep your RV powered and functioning when necessary, but you don’t want to run it all night.

Boondocking is my favorite thing ever. The places we stayed and the views we were surrounded by BLEW OUR MINDS! This is why we seriously could live in an RV and live nomadically, because I would never get sick of views like these.

Here is a list of the places we camped on this trip, which included 2 nights at an RV resort, 2 nights in state parks, and 4 nights of boondocking in varies places:

-Close to Valley of Fire State Park: Poverty Flats Rec Area (boondocking) One of our favorite spots (pictured above)!

-Just outside of Bryce Canyon: Ruby’s Inn and RV Resort ($45) **We stayed here only because the roads to the boondocking sites were completely snowed in and inaccessible!

-Bryce Canyon National Park Sunset Campground ($30)

-Moab, Utah. Willow Springs Trail (boondocking) Wide open spaces and beautiful views! We stayed here 2 nights.

-Just north of Page, Arizona: Lone Rock Beach Campground ($15) Our absolute favorite spot, hands down!

-Grand Canyon: Long Jim Loop (boondocking)

-Sams Town Journey KOA. Las Vegas, NV. ($40)

All in all, we spent $130 on campsites for our nine day trip. We planned on just spending money on Lone Rock Beach (pictured below), but we had to change plans on boondocking sites at the last minute for various reasons. Factor that into boondocking planning.

6. How to care for the RV.

At El Monte RV Rentals, you’ll watch an instructional video before you go and be given a booklet/guide for your trip. However, if you are new to RVing, it’s a lot of information to take in all at once. Something about hoses and connections and certain things connect to somewhere. Add 3 kids in the mix and you really just want to get out on the road already and figure it out later.

Tip: if you know what vehicle you are renting in advance, watch a few YouTube videos about connecting the electrical and water hookups, as well as emptying the tanks. We spent quite awhile in a gas station parking lot on this trip watching how-to videos to figure out how to fill the water tank. The instructions you receive on day 1 about how to dump and fill tanks isn’t utilized until about day 4, so it’s easy to forget crucial steps.

There are a few key components to the RV that you need to know about:

Electric hookups– Your RV have a power cable to connect to the campsite post for electricity, yay! RVs have either a 30 or 50 amp electrical system. You may need an adapter for your plug in case your RV site doesn’t provide the right hookup. Many RV parks offer 30 and 50 amp service. This is usually referred to as “shore power.”

Fresh water tank– This holds all of your potable water. I don’t recommend drinking it unless the RV has a good filter (minimum 1 micron or smaller) but it’s fine for washing dishes and brushing teeth and showering. We purchased our own gallon jugs of drinking water at the grocery store.

Grey water tank– this is your dirty water (from kitchen or bathroom sinks, plus the shower).

Black water tank– the very, very dirty water that’s full of, you know, pee and poop.

There is a panel, that your rental place/owner will show you, where you can see the levels of all of the tanks. When your fresh water or propane levels are low, that’s when you’ll need to seek a place to fill those tanks. Conversely, when your grey or black water levels are high, you need to seek a place to dump them. These facilities are available at RV Parks, campgrounds, and select gas stations. Online resources like Gas Buddy are great to locate gas stations for RV service.

7. What about car seats?

I did EXTENSIVE research into car seat rules when we rented our RV. Children are still required to be properly seated in the RV, just like riding in a regular car. You will need to research to learn what the seating set up is in the RV you are renting. For instance, our RV had seatbelts in the dinette seating, but only on the forward facing seats, as well as on the passenger chair. However, they were only lap belts, no shoulder straps. We learned quickly that a conventional car seat or booster would not fit well in the dinette seating because it lifted their legs too high and pinched them under the table.

THANK GOODNESS we brought our amazing travel car seat- the WAYB Pico Travel Car Seat. This is the best travel car seat we’ve ever had, it is super easy to travel with because it only weighs 8 pounds and is very compact! It fit perfectly in the dinette seating and Lily (our almost 3 year old) was able to sit there comfortably and securely during our long road trip. The other carseat and boosters seemed unsafe because they propped the kids up too high and therefore their legs were jammed too close to the table edge. The WAYB is low profile and gave plenty of leg room for Lily. You can check out the WAYB Travel Carseat here.

8. What should I pack?

So, you’re ready to take your RV vacation. Now, what do you pack? You’ll need to consider a few things, to make sure you pack everything you need, and nothing you don’t! Check our list and note that you may not need all of these things (they might be included in your rental.)

Things to consider before packing…

-What is the weather like in all of the places you plan to visit?

-What kind of activities will you be doing on your trip? (Hiking? Swimming?)

-Do you plan to do laundry on your trip?

-What items are included in your RV rental (dishes, cookware, bedding, etc?)

-How long is your trip?

Tips:

Bring resuable cups. As I mentioned in our grocery list, we picked up 5 different reusable cups for everyone to use. Walmart had a variety of themed cups, so everyone had their favorite character.

Pack coloring/activity books. These were great for the kids to do during drives or having some quite/downtime in the RV. We created an Amazon list (hello easy shopping!) for getting some activities for the kids to enjoy during the road trip, see our Amazon List here.

We certainly hope you’ve found this guide to renting an RV helpful, and it encourages you to finally take that dream RV road trip! Check out our blog post about our RV trip itinerary around Nevada, Utah, and Arizona here.

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