Do they make hybrids? LOL.
Stop what you're doing and fill up the tanks now!
You're fifty?
Dang, that's old!!!!!!
Winnebagos are great. I know people who work at the main plant just up the road...
now Clark, thats an rrrrv. she's a beauty ain't she. (betcha can't wait to pump out the sh#tter.) ;^)
If you can afford it go with a class a and make it a pusher they are easier to work on.
Get a dish setup and a laptop w/ cell phone hookup. (Ya gotta be able to FReep from anywhere)
Rent RV's every chance you get. Even look int
Take weekend trips, long vacation trips, and outings. If you burn out of RV living while renting, you have save a grundle of money. A couple of years of renting every other weekend will tell you if you really like it.
Buy used. They depreciate like crazy. I have friends who bought a BlueBird for half of retail with only 8,000 miles on it. Many very elderly buy new and have health/death issues that prevent enjoying the RVs for very long. From what I've seen, RVs depreciate faster than mobile homes. The good news is that buying used one can find real bargains. Good luck.
rent one, take a long trip. If you like it buy.
My parents go half time. They absolutely love it. We've been trying to talk them into going to Alaska, but, it's their winter getaway. They go to Texas, Louisanna, Mississippi, Florida, Arizona, California, etc. I don't know all the operating details, just throwing my two cents in. They're 73 and 76 so, they've got a couple years left. I'll bet you can get some satelite package for freeping. I can see it now, a daily thread, "On The Road With Focault's Pendulum".
Don't have a lot of experience with RV's but I found this website that appears to be pretty good.
http://www.rvforum.net/
Never owned a motor home, but a lot of travel trailers. We greatly enjoy the lifestyle. Check out RVnet.com to get more information than you can use. Just an observation, but mpg, convenience and motor home deprecation would incline me towards either a travel trailer of 5th wheel.
If you are handy with tools and have a lot of drive, building an rv out of an old greyhound bus is very rewarding.
I know a full timer who spent a lot of time building his RV (got the shell for $2k, put $25k into the engine and transmission rebuilds) and spent another $25K building his RV his way. They have been living in it full time 10 years now.
Last time I talked to him, he said he was going to Branson for the music fest, then to the gulf coast. I asked why the gulf coast, his answer "For the good food".
Go sign up at www.rv.net
They have a very active forum and you will learn a lot just by reading the posts for a few days or weeks.
The other thing to do is start reading Tioga George's blog: http://vagabonders-supreme.net/blog/blog.html He has been more or less doing what you describe for the past few years and has written pretty extensively about it.
If you are going solo for sure, a class C is fine. If you ever want to have another person with you, a medium-size class A is going to be a lot easier to take long-term.
We bought a 30' class C last June, primarily for touring and having a base to look for retirement property. We got the class C because DW felt uncomfortable at the thought of driving anything bigger. There are two of us and two Labrador Retrievers -- the class C is big enough for a few weeks, but would probably wear on us for much longer. The longest trip we have taken was about 2 weeks. We have spent a week at a time in it several times this summer.
With gas prices going up, there should be some good deals on very recent used models soon. If you are really going to live in it, fuel prices should not bother you a lot. Tioga George drives an average of less than 30 miles per day and makes it from Mexico to Canada in under 2 months. Think along the lines of about 8 mpg.
I personally would stay in the US because of firearms restrictions in both Canada and Mexico. But, a guy could spend years wandering the US and never see the same place twice.
You can get both satellite TV and satellite internet for the right price.
Plan on parking the RV a lot unless you have an unlimited fuel budget.
Forget the RV, and get you a big truck...I mean a big one. About an 8 X 20 sleeper with ALL the comforts of home. Drive, drop and hook for atlas van lines or a similiar company and travel the country getting paid big bucks to do it. A 170,000 dollar truck with a 294" wheeel base(Tractor) will pay it'self off in three years and you'll still pocket close to 100g a year...
For what it's worth...
You will not necessarily have to give up cable. More and more campgrounds have it, even in the wilderness areas of Montana. Make sure it has a good generator, like an Onan, for those camp-outs at Wal-Mart and pull-offs in Idaho etc.
You will need a good cell phone company with a great plan, a laptop and a usb cable. Satellite systems are available where you can receive internet connection, IIRC. Those are very expensive, however.
Will you be towing a vehicle? Fifth wheels are really nice and roomy and much less expensive, but not as convenient in other respects. FReepmail me if there are other questions I can help you with.
Gas mileage will depend on a lot of factors. If you are towing, in the mountains, in the plains, all play into the equation. It is far less expensive to RV than to pay rent/house payment - PLUS - utilities. There are clubs where you can park for $10.00 to 14.00 per night, all utilities, except propane, included.
If you go to Mexico, La Paz, BCS is nice and very cheap.
Although a Class A seems a little pricey for me and a little scary to drive over the Teton Pass!
Although to actually live in it I may need to think bigger than this:
Renting will cost you some money, but it is far cheaper to rent an RV and find out that if won't work for you than buying one and losing all of that money.
Once you think that you have found the one that will work for you, rent it for a week for a major trip. Pack it as if you were going to live it in. See how and where everything is going to fit. It will take a considerable amount of time, energy and money to do this, but it will pay huge rewards in the long run.