rv rentals in New Orleans area?

[SHOT1]

My family is planning a trip to yellowstone next fall and im trying to figure out if renting an rv might be a good way to travel there. It will be 4 or 5 grown adults 3 of them are over 6ft tall (which means the rv need at least 2 beds for 6 footers). This will be a 2 week trip.

So i figured the first step of eveluating this option would be to go look at whats available in the area for rent. Can anyone recommend some places? I dont mind driving out of new orleans if i can rent something more suitable from further away.

 

[oldman45]

http://innovativerv.com/index.cfm?section=5&This_Type=Rental&group=rv

They used to rent out my motorhome and rented out a lot of different rigs. I have not dealt with them in a few years so not sure what they have in their inventory.

 

[LACamper]

There's a place between Vets and I10 in Kenner that rents them out. Someone told me $60/ day plus gas for a driveable but don't hold me to it. I've heard they are about out right now thanks to the flood victims.

 

[LabRat]

As a gas motorhome owner ans someone who has recently been to Yellowstone, I could only say two things.

I would never, ever try to make that trip in a gas motorhome, diesel only. Much more expensive to rent.

You will definitely need to tow a vehicle or rent one near the park. The roads are very tight in some places, and the parking at the actual sites in the park are for cars (some have tour bus parking).

We spent 3 days at the park and didnt get a chance to see it all. We spent 2 days at Grand Teton to the south which could have been 1, but was very beautiful.

 

[SHOT1]

Appreciate the info. I am in the VERY early planning stages of this trip. Since we're going next fall, i have almost a year to figure it out. I'm thinking of renting a 21-24 foot travel trailer that I can tow with a truck or large SUV. An actual motorhome is too much for me to handle in terms of navigating it, not to mention the gas and rental cost is not appealing. The travel trailer can be dropped off at an rv park and then we'll move on with the tow vehicle. I found some place on the interenet, I guess that was the kenner place, and they said they had 1 21 ft and 2 24 ft travel trailers for rent for $530 a week. Sounds perfect to me!

The challenge now is going to be finding a siutable tow vehicle, because I don't have one currently. I may source one from a friend, or maybe buy like a 2002 high milege suburban for a few grand and then sell it once we're done. I'm thinking we'll be safest with something that has at least a v8 and a tow package.

 

[SHOT1]

As a gas motorhome owner ans someone who has recently been to Yellowstone, I could only say two things.

I would never, ever try to make that trip in a gas motorhome, diesel only. Much more expensive to rent.

You will definitely need to tow a vehicle or rent one near the park. The roads are very tight in some places, and the parking at the actual sites in the park are for cars (some have tour bus parking).

We spent 3 days at the park and didnt get a chance to see it all. We spent 2 days at Grand Teton to the south which could have been 1, but was very beautiful.

good stuff. So do you feel it was worth the drive or would you rather fly next time and rent a car once you're there? I want to stop at a few places along the way, like roll thought Denver, visit pikes peak, and then go on to yellowstone. So this is why I am looking into the travel trailer option. It would surely be much simpler to just fly there thought... so the jury is still out :-/

 

[wfarrell1]

good stuff. So do you feel it was worth the drive or would you rather fly next time and rent a car once you're there? I want to stop at a few places along the way, like roll thought Denver, visit pikes peak, and then go on to yellowstone. So this is why I am looking into the travel trailer option. It would surely be much simpler to just fly there thought... so the jury is still out :-/

Pikes peak is nice... but when u get 1/2-3/4 up and u hit the gravel road it can become sketchy... BUT the view from top is insane

 

[VeedUp]

I would rent hotels or a cabin

 

[LabRat]

We flew into vegas, rented a car and drove straight to the north rim of the grand canyon. Stayed two days there, then headed out to hit some of the national parks of Utah, Zion, grand staircase,etc.. (kinda just drove though them, needed more time really). Drove to Provo, spent the night in a hotel, left early the next morning, stopping every now and then to check out the sites, finally ending up at Grand Teton NP. Two days there, headed straight north to yellowstone for three days (not enough time for sure), really could have used 1 more. Left there, drove to Salt Lake City, spent the night in hotel, flew to BR next morning.

Three adults, staying in national park cabins, 2 nights in La Quinta, flights, car rental (with drop off fee), cost was around 1100 bucks each. Best vacation i have ever had, unbelivable scenery. We went in june of 2010, it was hot when we got to yellowstone, and snowing when we left.

 

[SHOT1]

So u would recommend flying over the travel trailer idea?!

 

[LabRat]

In almost all cases, you will come out way ahead flying, for long distance trips anyway. We booked way in advance, which also helped with the costs. With those elevations, and the time it would take to get that far, driving just wouldnt be worth it in my opinion. Even if costs were equal, you would be giving up a lot of time just driving. We rented a larger SUV, that easily held all our luggage and handled all the terrain. Also, really shop around for flights and car rental, there are some friendlier comapies that dont ask an arm and a leg for a drop off fee.

Maybe map out some road plans on mapquest.com and see if you could get in enough site seeing without having to drive too far between the sites, explore every option. I would love to see Mt Rushmore, I just wish it was close to something else I wanted to see.

That being said, camping is still something that is awesome to do. If I were retired and had no time contraints, I would probably be willing to drive anywhere, but taking ten days off from work makes me want to cram in all in I can. We generally limit our motorhome trips to a maximum of 12 hours one way. If i were pulling a camper, probably 8. JMHO

FYI, my motorhome gets 7.7 mpg on flat earth.

I will see if we still have our itenerary and some of the literature we used from the National Park service

 

[SHOT1]

Thats interesting because we did an identical trip as well. We flew to Vegas rented a car and drove all around the different canyons. It was a pure blast, I absolutely enjoyed the heck out of this trip. The only part that sucked was that they made me drive the whole time. Those bastards...

Anyway. I'm thinking now I might try to score cheap round trip flights to Denver. We can rent a car there, tour Denver, Pikes Peak, etc. and then drive over to yellowstone.

I'm glad you shared your experience, because it confirms my suspision that this trip might just be a little bit too far in a camper, and might take a toll on everyones nerves, and limit the things we can do because of our bagage. It might also prevent us from staying in a cool cabin or something....

And wow on that motorhome mpg. I knew it was bad, but 7.7 on flat land?! That probably means 5mpg in the mountains. No thanks...