North America/Central America RV Trip of a Life Time

[CAC RV]

My wife and I are planning a 1 year plus RV trip through North and Central America and wondered if anyone had advice to provide us.

We are new to RVing and we are jumping into this with both feet. We are purchasing a Class A 45 ft coach and stacker trailer to tag along. I know, its a lot of vehicle for a newbie, but I say go big or don't go at all and I've always been very good at handling vehicles of all kinds.

We are planning on leaving Toronto, Canada in late Aug, early Sept. The route we are contemplating is thought to go something like this:
-Chicago
-St Louis
-Then the mountains of Colorado and Utah
-Then to the Grand Canyon
-Lake Mead (going to rent a house boat for a few days or so)
-Vegas
-Then head to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico through Texas and into Mexico.
-In Mexico we will want to hit the Mayan Rivera
-And then head south to maybe as far as Panama
-We want to then start heading back up the Pacific coast and back towards California, Washington and Oregon.
-By the time summer is back we will head to British Columbia and head up to Alaska.
-Finally once Fall has is upon us we will start to head back towards Ontario and catch the fall colours.

Its a lot of travelling for sure but we think it will be wonderful. What we don't know is how RV friendly is Mexico and the countries south of that? Are the main highways good enough for a 45ft RV with a 24 ft trailer? Are some of these regions/countries a little too unsafe to be able to really enjoy them

[Kirk]

I assume that the trailer will be heavily loaded? You are spending a great deal of money on a product that you seem to know little about. That seems a bit risky to me, as you could get lucky and have all solid quality equipment, or you may buy some junk. If you have not done so, I suggest that you start now to learn about RVs and who makes quality ones as well as how you go about judging it. You would be wise to join the RV Consumer group (www.rv.org) and study the materials that they supply.

Then there is also the risk of finding that you don't like RV life, as some people do discover. You may love this life as most of us do, but there are no guarantees. I think you would be wise to rent one first just as a small test. Then there is support services in Mexico and Central America. Parts can be hard to find and so can some services.

The combination that you are speaking of will be very heavy and expensive, as well as needing significant maintenance and care along the way. My main advice is that you need to go very slowly and learn as much as you can before you start to buy equipment.

[jimj]

In 2004, I took a 343 day, 16,000+ mile RV trip through Mexico and the seven Countries of Central America. I have lots of photographs and information on my website.

Central America - The New RVing Frontier!
How to take an RV into Mexico and Central America, enjoy countless experiences and return alive!

Now my comments...You will regret taking that large a rig (never mind with a trailer) into Central America. Even on the Pan American Highway you can expect to have lots of problems with that large of a rig. I have a 23.5'Class A and did fine, but friends with a 32' had problems. The countries are very old with lots of narrow roads. I highly suggest you do a lot more research about Central America before heading down that way, especially as newer RVers. FYI, because of the poor roads, we averaged only 25 miles per hour on the entire trip. Of course we got off of the Pan American Highway and wandered through the back country. Central America can be substantially more dangerous than Mexico, that's why so few people ever go beyond Mexico.

My final comment is for a one year trip that it is way too many miles. If all you want to do is drive, it will be great. You will have little time to relax.

Good luck on your adventure!
Jim

[TexasClodhopper]

Oh Boy!

[brodavid]

oh my

I think i would rethink the lenght and weight, not all roads are that great and towns are small

[big bilko]

My book HOW TO GET FREE ADVERTISING< Is now available for only 4 payments of $39.95 includes a set of steak knives and a bottle opener . Order now and get a free pencil sharpener. Regards BIG BILKO> OH BOY

[CAC RV]

Kirk, I really appreciate your advice and concern over us leaping into this investment and trip being over our heads. I have been fortunate in that I came up with an idea about 8 years ago and a large company just bought my idea and company which has left me in a very comfortable financial situation, so I'm not too worried about the cost of the rig and will be buying top end equipment which we hope will be very reliable. There are some great deals out there now, I am close to purchasing a Class A couch that is only 18 months old, only 8000 miles on it and its $600,000 less then the original purchase price. It’s still a very expensive vehicle but within our means. If we find that we don't enjoy this lifestyle or find the trip too long we can always turn around and go home.
We are relatively young to find ourselves retired and comfortable, we think a one year trip will be a memorable way of enjoying our new freedom. We are an adventurous couple and enjoy traveling and driving. It’s always been my dream to do something like this.

Jimj, I think we will be buying your book, its exactly what we are looking for and hopefully it provides us the advice we need to bring this trip to fruition. Your warning about the size of the rig is one that I will have to contemplate wisely. My wife will not want to go in a rig much smaller then 45 ft but I understand the geometric restrictions of the road and bridge system we could be facing in Mexico and Central America, never mind the restrictions of finding camping locations that can handle such a large rig. We have friends near the Mexican border so we could take off the trailer and just go without or just tag along the SUV instead of the stacker trailer. We could also look at renting a Class C or even B+ for the few months we are going south of the American border, that might take a bit of convincing to get my wife to buy into that.

Bordavid, as per Jimj’s advice we will be considering the rig size, thanks.

WHAT ABOUT THE RIG SIZE FOR THE TRAVEL THROUGH U.S.A AND CANADA, WILL WE FIND THAT TOO MUCH TO REALLY ENJOY THE TRIP?

[CAC RV]

Kirk, I really appreciate your advice and concern over us leaping into this investment and trip being over our heads. I have been fortunate in that I came up with an idea about 8 years ago and a large company just bought my idea and company which has left me in a very comfortable financial situation, so I'm not too worried about the cost of the rig and will be buying top end equipment which we hope will be very reliable. There are some great deals out there now, I am close to purchasing a Class A couch that is only 18 months old, only 8000 miles on it and its $600,000 less then the original purchase price. It’s still a very expensive vehicle but within our means. If we find that we don't enjoy this lifestyle or find the trip too long we can always turn around and go home.
We are relatively young to find ourselves retired and comfortable, we think a one year trip will be a memorable way of enjoying our freedom. We are an adventurous couple and enjoy traveling and driving. It’s always been my dream to do something like this.

[CAC RV]

Jimj, I think we will be buying your book, its exactly what we are looking for and hopefully it provides us the advice we need to bring this trip to fruition. Your warning about the size of the rig is one that I will have to contemplate wisely. My wife will not want to go in a rig much smaller then 45 ft but I understand the geometric restrictions of the road system we could be facing, never mind the restrictions of finding camping locations that can handle such a large rig. We have friends near the Mexican border so we could take off the toad and just go without or just tag along the SUV instead of the trailer. We could also look at renting a Class C or even B+ for the few months we are going south of the American border, that might take a bit of convincing to get my wife to buy into that.

[SnowbirdInFlight]

<font size="3" face="comic sans ms,sand">Welcome to the forum CAC RV. Sounds like you have quite a plan. </font></p>

<font size="3" face="comic sans ms,sand">Can't give any info on camping in Mexico, but we took our 38 foot travel trailer pulled by our 3500 Dodge Ram with extended cab into Canada without any problems at all. We stayed at one of the Provincial Campgrounds and the sizes of the sites were comparable to the sites in the US.</font></p>

<font size="3" face="comic sans ms,sand">Good luck on your trip; you should have a wonderful time! </font></p>