First time to rent RV

Cruise America is your best bet.

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Looking for tips/advice for doing a one week RV trip out west. Going to do a one way trip in March from Albuquerque to Salt Lake City. Best company to rent from? Size? What do first time renters typically not realize? Not wanting to break the bank or go too cheap. Just looking for something big enough for my wife and two teenagers to have a little space

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See if you can find a Road Bear rental spot. Road Bear RVs were much nicer when we checked them out on our trip and talking to other people at campgrounds that rented. Would go for one of theirs over Cruise America.

The biggest one you feel like driving for that many people. I rented a standard size Cruise America for Me, my daughter (10 at the time) and wife last summer that we picked up in Kansas City and did a massive loop out west for 3.5 weeks. We each had our own bed and it was nice to have our own space. Me and wife couldn't fit on the table bed, anyone of decent size will have trouble fitting on it and it isn't comfortable for adult weight. I had the big bed. Wife sometimes slept with me and sometimes slept in the bed over the driving cab, which was probably the biggest, but had very little padding.

Cruise America gives you nothing unless you pay extra. We brought our camping plates/ silverware/cooking setup instead of renting their setup for extra. We also stopped in a Walmart getting close to Colorado in a dust storm to get sheets/pillows/extra foam/blankets because the beds suck.

The RV sucked as far as driving it, but the whole trip was worth it and one of the most fun vacations we have had and we got to see some awesome places. Some places in national parks are harder to get to because RVs aren't allowed there. Zion is banning access to get permits to go through the tunnel with big RVs this year, which sucks. That was a fun route for getting from the Grand Canyon to Zion.

The RV fridge will be your nemesis, have a backup option for frozen items, bring a cooler.

KOAs are always pretty decent. With 4 older people, I would be wary going for over a night without being able to dump black/gray water and fill up water.

Let me know if you have any specific questions, I have a full run down of campgrounds we stayed at and mileage we traveled each day. Picking a good campground is key. Allstays is a great app for finding them. Try to stay in National Parks when you can.

Make sure the CO2 detectors are in working order. We rented one and realized that it was not working and we had to use the generator overnight because it was a unusually cold. Really scary that it was not working.

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Just know that driving an RV across country will be hard work. If you can drive a car 700 miles a day, figure about 350 a day in a motorhome at best.

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What?

I drove the largest RV cruise america had that wasn't a bus. I was surprised how easy it was to drive on the interstate. Now driving it on a mountain pass in Colorado is a different animal, but you can easily drive for 10+ hours on the interstate with no issue, assuming you aren't over 60 years old or a woman i guess.

Yes i can see if its really windy it not being a fun drive. And you'll get that out west at times.

But for the most part they aren't difficult to drive. Little most stressful when you're in big cities like Dallas or Denver or Phoenix, but you didn't rent an RV to be in those cities other than just passing through.



OP, renting an RV with the family is a great adventure.
My best advice is do your research on where you are going to stay and have some flexibility. Know that certain RV parks will get booked up many months in advance. pay attention to what size your RV is and if it's 30A or 50A and make sure you book sites that conform to what you need. When we went i tried to make sure we stayed at a nice enough RV site that we could dump our waste ever 2-3 days. If you aren't dragging a car behind you, then make sure whatever it is you want to go do along the way that the RV can get there legally, and physically, and if not, make sure there's ways for you to get around town by other means.

We rented the largest one from Cruise America. It wasn't bad, but i wished we had gotten one from RV share that had pop outs so we'd have more room to walk around in the RV in the evening when were parked. It does get a little cramped in there with 4 people "living" inside it.

Pay attention to how much they charge for extra mileage. this makes a huge difference.
Don't expect to get whatever gas mileage they say the RV gets.

I don't know what you're goign to pay to pick it up from one place and drop it off somewhere else, but that's going to cost a pretty penny most likely, on top of you having to fly back. I don't know what your plans are north of I-70, but i'd consider going up through Utah and the national parks along the way, then go east in I70 and come back down from Grand Junction through Ouray and Durango (million dollar hwy)


Don't be afraid to shower at RV sites. It's probably a better shower than your RV. I recommend not having a TV and spend some quality time with the family. Play cards or board games or something like that at night.