Renting a camper is a relativiely new phenomenon, so I put together a list of the reasons we rented in the past and others rent from us now.
1: Try it before you Buy It
I tent-camped for awhile and was okay with it. But once I hit the ripe old age of 24 my husband and I decided our lifestyle warranted the addition of a travel trailer. At the time, I was eight months pregnant and attending a wedding with no nearby hotels. Problem is, there are a lot of camper styles out there, and a lot of standards and upgrades to sort through.
Overwhelmed by the options and on a deadline, we decided to rent a camper for the occasion rather than buy. At the time it seemed silly to rent rather than just purchase right away, but I can’t say how glad I am we did it anyway.
For one thing, what a vehicle says you can pull on a piece of paper is completely different than actually trying to pull said thing. That number on the piece of paper doesn’t tell you how it will feel on windy straightaways or pulling up next to a semi. It doesn’t tell you about making sure you fit in gas stations and restaurant driveways. And it doesn’t take into account if you are driving up and down hairpin turns on the side of a mountain. Yes, your vehicle will tell you what it is rated to pull, but I would always advise pulling an actual camper first, to make sure you are comfortable with it. In the end we purchased a smaller camper than we rented, even though the bigger ones were almost the same price, because we wanted to fit into more camping spots and be comfortable pulling it in some of those more dicey situations.
It was also wonderful testing out the design; we could figure out what features actually mattered to us and which we could live without. We were better able to put value to the items we wanted, and ended up with a more amenity-rich but smaller camper than we had rented because of it.
2: You Don’t Have to Make a Long Term investment.
Did you ever hear the joke about the boat owner whose happiest day was the day he bought his boat? And his second happiest day was the day he sold it? Well, the same applies to some camper owners.
Let’s face it, buying a camper is expensive. And I live in Minnesota. So our potential camping season is only a few months long. Everyone has the best of intentions when they buy a camper of using it every weekend, but a lot of people realize this will never be the reality for them.
Renting is the perfect solution to this problem. We have both friends and family camping reunions every summer, and to miss these because we didn’t have a camper would mean missing out on memories we can never go back to. And we don’t all enjoy roughing it, so don’t try to convince me that’s the only solution.
Renting allows you to take advantage of camping once or twice a year without having to purchase a camper, fill it with supplies, winterize it, store in your yard for the summer, do the maintenance, and pay to store it indoors in the winter.
3: Don’t Miss out on the Memories
Since purchasing our camper, we have been amazed to find out the number of relatives and friends who also have campers. We have gotten in on annual family reunion camping trips, met up with friends from college and even high school, and gone with our parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews on more excursions than I can keep track of. Without a camper, we would not have attended these events, and would have fallen out of contact with more than a few of these people.
Even when we travel alone with our kids, we spend so much more time just being present with each other that I can see these memories will literally last a lifetime for the kids.
4: Take a Road Trip
One of the great American dreams is to travel across the country in an RV. Renting one allows you to do this very thing without tying yourself into owning a travel trailer. You don’t even have to go all the way across the country. Instead, visit your friends from out of state and stay with them without having to actually stay in their house. Visit your parents or grandparents who have retired to Arizona or Florida. Go to the Appalachian Mountains or Yellowstone National Park or the Grand Canyon. Seeing our beautiful country and meeting people on the road is a completely different experience from flying straight to a destination, one I believe every American can benefit from.
5: Stay in places you can’t get to from a Hotel
Did you know you can park on the side of a mountain on the Pacific Coast Highway? Imagine waking up to ocean waves and seagulls every morning. Or spend the night in one of hundreds of state or National Parks. Even spend the night in a Walmart parking lot if that’s your style.
Have you stayed in an unusual place because you were in a travel trailer or taken a road trip you will never forget? I would love to hear about it below.
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