The road more traveled - Military Off Duty, Air Force Travel, hottest destinations - Air Force Times

The road more traveled

So there I was, at the stroke of midnight, driving down a darkened street in South Boston looking for a place to park the damn thing. There were plenty of shady characters lurking at that hour, lots of police sirens and old, run-down factories, but not one legit parking space.

Almost 500 miles away from home and I realized my traveling buddy, a major in the Marine Corps, was right: These things take some planning.

The idea has always been alluring — hit the open road in a rented RV, no plans and no worries, just the outstretched arms of America in front of you and the gentle hum of the road beneath your tires. In theory, it’s an affordable way to see the country: no hotel rooms, cheap home-cooked meals, no baggage check, drive until you can’t drive any farther and pull over for the night.

And so, as a last-minute effort to make the most of an unplanned weeklong vacation, the major and I decided the way to witness the grandeur of a New England summer was through the windshield of a 30-foot rented motor home.

“Where you all headed?” asked the agent at Cruise America in northern Virginia, handing us the keys after we ponied up $1,500 for the weeklong trip.

“Probably up to Boston, maybe a little farther,” I said. “No plans really.”

He paused and smiled a bit, as if we’d said we planned to cross the Atlantic in a wooden canoe.

“Have fun,” he said.

Lessons learned

Driving down an Iraqi highway or cruising outside the wire in Afghanistan is certainly an unnerving endeavor, but being boxed in by thousands of cars in a narrow lane at the height of rush-hour traffic on the Washington Beltway while driving a monstrous lunchbox with giant vinyl stickers slapped on the side that say “1-800-RV4RENT” comes with its own singular type of stress.

And like a Humvee, the ride is anything but a smooth one: Driving even a seemingly flat interstate can feel like riding a bicycle over railroad tracks.

Indeed, our first mistake was becoming apparent: Motor homes are best somewhere out West, far from civilization and angry commuters. We’d chosen one of the most densely populated regions in the nation for our journey, and the locals were not at all shy about voicing their displeasure over our obtrusive presence.

Like the lady in Salem, Mass., who refused to back up after I got the thing wedged into a tiny parking lot and couldn’t get out. Only after we’d absorbed several unprintable disparaging remarks and made several profuse apologies did we finally get back on the road.

The journey took us through New Hampshire and Maine and Vermont, through the Adirondacks and the Poconos and Cape Cod.

In upstate New York, we passed the village of Whitehall, which claims to be the birthplace of the Navy. (Several warships were built there by Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War.)

In Massachusetts, after driving mindlessly through Boston, we found a parking lot for the day with the help of a police officer with a thick Boston accent. We took a cab to a subway station, then the subway into town and visited the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides.” We were taken aboard by active-duty sailors, who told us the ship is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat, having served in the Navy since 1797. Sailors who want to serve aboard Old Ironsides can request the special duty while at boot camp.

The ship began a $7 million makeover in 2007 but is still open for tours. Anyone can visit the ship, docked in Boston Harbor, for free. Its underway demonstrations are on hold during the renovations; when they resume in 2011, a few lucky civilians chosen by lottery can go aboard for a cruise in the harbor.

In Portsmouth, N.H., after searching for a spot to park overnight, we settled on a residential area among centuries-old Victorian homes. Within a few minutes of striking up the generator (at a decent hour, I’ll point out), two police officers knocked on the door to tell us to shut it off. The neighbors were complaining.

Our mistake, I said. Lesson learned.

Another lesson was harder to swallow: that the original price tag of $1,500 per week — which included a $500 security deposit — wasn’t going to be our only expense. We’d stocked up on supplies but we were still nickeled-and-dimed at every turn. In tolls alone, we spent more than $100 for the week. Gas for the 1,600-mile trip was $500 even. Cruise America charged us nearly $200 for miles, $30 for running our generator, $75 for bringing the thing back three hours late, then $40 for not dumping the tanks and $15 for not refilling the propane.

Renting a motor home might be a cheap alternative to airfare, hotels and restaurants for a family of four traveling to the Grand Canyon. But for two buddies with a week to kill and a serious case of wanderlust, it was an expensive headache.

Mapping it out

After driving down a dozen dark roads in South Boston, we finally ended up across town and settled on a quiet spot for the night. Two full days on the road and I gave up my notion that a road trip should be a spontaneous affair, open to possibility. Instead, the major and I mapped out the remainder of our journey and stuck to it. No more endless drives through foreign neighborhoods. From here on out, the GPS and the maps would be our guide.

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Know your RVs

There are several types of recreational vehicles. Which one is right for you?

• Class A: Like tour buses, these motor homes are built on a truck chassis. They’re long, expensive and luxurious.

• Class B: Conversion vans and camper vans get better mileage and are easy to maneuver, but they have less space and fewer amenities.

• Class C: Smaller in length, these are usually built on a van chassis and have an overhang above the cab. This is the most common and convenient class — and the kind we took on our RV misadventure.

• Camp trailers: Great for weekend warriors, these hook up directly to a pickup truck. Some expand for more space.

• Fifth-wheels: These are center-hitched into the bed of a pickup truck and vary in length.

• Campers: These fit in the bed of a pickup and usually hang over the cab. Convenient for a couple of people, but they’re limited in space and resources.

• Folding campers or pop-ups: These can be hauled behind most vehicles and expand for more space. They’re relatively inexpensive but less insulated from weather.

Find out more

For more details on renting an RV, visit the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association’s Web site; also visit Cruise America’s Web site.