A couple years ago we did a "western driving trip" that was probably our best vacation ever. It was almost a month, and we visited most of the western national parks -- wonderful!
As we were planning the trip (which took several years), we started with the assumption we'd rent an RV; however, as it became time to start firm plans, we opted to go with driving and staying in hotels. Our reasons:
- As others have pointed out, the cost of renting an RV was significantly more than we expected: the rental was high, they charged a fee for every mile over a certain point, and the gas was outrageous.
- Most of our trip was state and national park based, but we also visited a couple cities, and we didn't look forward to driving a big RV through downtown Denver and Salt Lake City.
- My husband was still working then, and he traveled fairly often, so he saved up his rewards points for some free stays. Our kids were teens when we took this trip, and we liked the idea of occasionally having a suite (or two hotel rooms) to allow for a bit of separation. We did this every 3-4 nights /tried to plan it on evenings when we had some "down time".
- We welcomed hotel amenities: we always opt for hotels with free breakfast, which was a money-saver, and hotels offered washer/dryers and ice machines. We spent lots of time outdoors /hiking, etc., so we welcomed a comfortable bathroom with plenty of clean towels each evening -- rather than walking to the bathhouse.
- We did spend more on food than we would have in an RV. We had a cooler /we to the grocery store every couple days, but typically we had a free breakfast in a hotel, sandwiches for lunch, then ate out for dinner. Though we spent more, we also didn't spend time cooking.
Two last comments:
- On our trip, we made a game of counting the Cruise America RV rentals. We saw well over a hundred.
- If you do end up renting an RV, find out just how it's been cleaned /sanitized. If you're trying to stay out of a hotel where a sick person may have stayed, you don't want to get into the same situation in an RV.
An alternative to consider: if you're not looking for a road trip, you might rent a camping cabin. The prices are reasonable, and you could do a super-clean on the first day.