Perfect Fest Vehicles?

[Pieces of 8]

Really not sure where to post this, but.... I would love to hear opinions on what is the best vehicle or RV set up for someone who is on the verge of retiring and wants to travel this great county of ours attending as many Bluegrass festivals as possible.
Share your "dream" set up if you like, but I'm hoping for some practical, somewhat affordable options as well.
Thank you in advance.

[Mandobart]

Attending a festival in my 1987 25' Airstream is pretty sweet, even luxurious. Plenty of room for my wife (if she attends, which is rare) me and a few instruments. 100 watt solar panel keeps the batteries charged up plenty to run the water pump, fans, LED lights, DC solenoid gas valves for the water heater, fridge and furnace (rarely needed in festival season), chargers for phones/tablet.

Indoor shower for me, outdoor shower for the dogs, propane quick connection for a grill and/or griddle. Nice big awning for jamming out of the sun or rain.

Where parking is tighter I use my Capri Retreat pickup camper on my 8 foot 3/4 ton Chevy. Like a little cabin on wheels. It has a 2 burner cooktop, DC compressor fridge, water pump, indoor shower, outdoor shower, queen size bed, dinette, a couple fans, Wave catalytic heater. Plenty of room for my wife and I and mandolins/fiddles. Big dread Martin can fit in the cab, not sure about the double bass.

At nearly 60 I don't sleep on the ground much anymore, and it's nice to have a warm, dry shelter with creature comforts.

[addamr]

I'm with Madobart. Wife and I have a 26ft travel trailer that we camp in. Set up so we can camp with or with out hook-ups. Pryor to the travel trailer we had a slide in fully self contained truck camper. The room and comfort of the travel trailer is hard to beat, but some of our most enjoyable memories are with the truck camper. The truck camper was so convenient to pull in almost anywhere when traveling and site seeing.
There are a lot of options for RV rental this day and time. If you are new to camping you might do a couple of rentals to get an idea of what you like and what you desire from a comfort standpoint. So many options to choose from, it's all about what you want. We really enjoy the comfort of the travel trailer now days, but also miss the free roaming nature of the truck camper. On the other hand we have friends that have 45ft Prevost that cant imagine camping in anything less.

Adam

[Bill McCall]

I started with a teardrop trailer. It was fine for me as I got a good set of accessories, ie, great stove, cooler, etc. But when I remarried my wonderful, guitar picking sweetheart, we decided to get a Sprinter chassied RV, 26 feet. We love it. Good heat for cold weather, AC for those summer bake-offs. Fits Forest Service campsites, which often have a 30’ limit. Bought both used, in great shape. Shop wisely, lots of RVs around.

[Dave Greenspoon]

Started festival "campering" with my buddy in his pop-up. Now he has a 24' (?) Jay Feather. It is a really nice, fully featured camper with pretty decent storage. A solar panel easily runs the camper and keeps two batteries fully charged forever. When we are at Grey Fox, we never need see the inside of a porta-potty when we aren't by the stage. When they go with services, they're set. I know they regularly spend two weeks at a shot in it, plus lots of other jaunts around New England. Decent size tanks, and not a hard tow with a regular pickup.

[Pittsburgh Bill]

NOT TO BE CONTRARY but I have a different opinion than those expressed. I'm not saying they are wrong but just offering my take. All travel trailers are like a house. The bigger and more fitted with luxuries, the more things you have that will break or need to be repaired. The heavier the trailer or Rv the larger tow vehicle or larger motor you will need requiring a higher cost per mile to drive. I tell myself, "I'm camping and I do not need all the luxuries of home", but I do want basic comforts. So, for now I have an 18.5 foot fiberglass molded trailer which meets my basic needs. I like molded fiberglass as no seams to eventually leak. I do find that I have to load all my musical gear on the bed during travel as it takes up considerable room
and then stack it on the couch when parked.
My glass trailer is now 12 years old and still looks new with no leaks. Not saying I have never had to work on it. It has over 60K tow miles and has been in every continental state except two. I tow it with a 2001 Jeep 4.0 Cherokee 5 spd. that is used for no other purpose and I get 16 mpg. I'm happy. I once had a pop-up but was not allowed in many campgrounds due to grizzlies. Years ago I had a motor home that required me to break down camp every time I needed to go somewhere if I didn't tow a motorcycle. sales people like to sell big and all the comforts of home to new campers. New campers often see the romance and fail to anticipate the downside of a large trailer. Just my humble opinion.

[milli857]

I just do a 4-person tent with an inflatable mattress (I ain't sleeping in a half inch of foam if I don't have to lug my bed around on my back) and leave the instruments in the trunk of my car at night. Takes only about a half hour to set everything up and I have a coleman propane stove so cooking is easy. The most annoying thing is washing dishes.

A little camper would be nice for if it rains but I've not found myself ever thinking "I wish I could be in a little house right now" at a festival.

If I were to be going to multiple festivals in a row and would be on the road for weeks at a time, i'd probably think differently about it though.

[Jeff Mando]

I would take it one step further and ask, how much do you like camping vs staying in really nice motels?

As a young man, I camped out of necessity of being broke. Actually, if I had my sleeping bag and my Ford van I was all set. Obviously, it works better in nice weather. Sometimes, I would lay my sleeping bag on top of the picnic table at a rest area and slept like a baby under the stars! I even "camped" parked on the street in New York City -- which was kind of scary 40 years ago. Today, I doubt it is even legal. And, in theory, I saved a lot of money on motels. In reality, I couldn't have traveled to a tenth of the places I've been, if I had to figure lodging into the cost. So, there's that.

Fast forward, my neighbor across the street bought a super fancy (expensive) RV when he retired and he and his wife went to every state except Alaska and Hawaii. They loved camping and spending time seeing all the sights. They did that for 20 years, she got sick and died, and now he doesn't use it but won't sell it because of the memories. Today, it is mostly used for a storage shed.

Two extremes. I'm not a kid anymore, and as a senior I prefer a motel with cable and internet. Of course, these days even Motel 6 will give ya that. OK, simple math says a $200,000 RV divided by a $200 a night hotel equals 1000 nights in a really nice hotel. If you can settle for a less fancy hotel you might get 2000 nights. OK, if you go out for 5 nights/6 days that calculates to 200-400 vacations in a nice motel. In all honesty, I know I don't have 200 vacations left in me. Let alone the desire.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Obviously, a nice RV requires major maintenance/tires etc., which is an added cost. Food, you have to buy either way. OTOH, you could get a nice used rig for $10-20K if you can get by with less space/comfort. Another factor, if you need to be immersed 24/7 in the BG festival, then camping is the way to go.

[sunburst]

I started tent camping, then a camper shell on the back of a pickup, then bought a small, old pull-behind trailer camper, then 2 Airstreams ('76 followed by a '73), now we have a 24-foot Sprinter camper; Itasca Navion (same as Winnebago View). It does everything well; has a slide-out for extra interior space, usually fits in one parking space, not too hard to drive. I sometimes miss the ability to leave the camper set up while making local trips in the tow vehicle, but these days I believe a small RV is the way to go.

[r0gue]

Really not sure where to post this, but.... I would love to hear opinions on what is the best vehicle or RV set up for someone who is on the verge of retiring and wants to travel this great county of ours attending as many Bluegrass festivals as possible.
Share your "dream" set up if you like, but I'm hoping for some practical, somewhat affordable options as well.
Thank you in advance.

Oh I like the way you're thinkin'! Sounds wonderful. Maybe some sort of a Yoda conversion.

[Bacfire]

'63 Chevy Nova wagon. Seats down, windows down, big skeeter net over the whole car. Parked close to the bathrooms.

[Russ Jordan]

We’re in the trailer/truck camp. Our trailer is 27 foot, and we carry a dog, mandolin, guitar, and acoustic mini bass/amp. We only go to 2 or 3 festivals a year, but take 2-6 week trips, staying mostly in state and national parks.

YMMV, but this works great for us.

[MikeEdgerton]

I would take it one step further and ask, how much do you like camping vs staying in really nice motels?

When my wife and I started attending Bluegrass festivals our kids were both in college and we had friends that had motorhomes that travelled together to the same festivals. We would go in the car or van and bring our share of the food and everything else but sleep at a nearby hotel with our eyes to the future and buying a motorhome. When the kids graduated we decided that camping out at a Hampton Inn wasn't all that bad and financially for us made sense. I may still go the motorhome route, I just haven't got there yet.

[Chris Gray]

My setup is great for festivals and bike races....

[journeybear]

I tented for years until I got a VW camper. Never looked back. Having a comfy, dry bed with no set-up - perfect. Furthermore, with the pop-up, this makes for a place to stand up on a rainy day, which immensely improves one's mood - need a petty big tent to compete with that. And then there's the propane stove, for making a nice cup of espresso any time.

Even when the van failed in its murder-suicide attempt (burst into flames, but didn't get me or my instruments), subsequent vans did the job. Before that, though, there was one time I had a Toyota truck, and put my futon mattress in the bed (so to speak). Used that one year for Winterhawk (now Grey Hawk) Bluegrass Festival in upstate New York. It had rained buckets the night before opening day, and the road up to the hillside was so muddy they weren't letting people go up. Somehow I answered a request for volunteers to drive workers and supplies up from the bottom to base camp. When I got up there I asked if I could camp up top out of appreciation (cramped camping at the bottom didn't seem too pleasant). They said sure, if I thought I could. I zig-zagged my way up there, much like tacking a sailboat into the wind.

When I got up top there were two other camps - that whole area and just us. I pulled in right up to the treeline, where I knew I would catch the shade in the morning. Stretched out on my futon under a blanket of stars, in that stillness and quiet, and got the best sleep I have ever had at a festival. During the weekend bit by bit people came up, as the ground dried out. That was fine, made for some decent jams without having to hike down to the bottom. But sadly, on Sunday there was a bit of rain, which put a bit of a hurting on the futon. It took a long, long time to dry it out, I think weeks. So I don't recommend that. The enclosed space of a van is vastly preferable for this reason, among others, including the security for instruments.

BTW, this was back in the latter part of last century. VW campers have gotten ridiculously expensive since, into collectible pricing. And this tends to conflict with their status as affordable utilitarian vehicles. I understand the company is planning to manufacture new ones, if they haven't already, and they will be electric. But sadly, not for export.

[Pittsburgh Bill]

When my wife and I started attending Bluegrass festivals our kids were both in college and we had friends that had motorhomes that travelled together to the same festivals. We would go in the car or van and bring our share of the food and everything else but sleep at a nearby hotel with our eyes to the future and buying a motorhome. When the kids graduated we decided that camping out at a Hampton Inn wasn't all that bad and financially for us made sense. I may still go the motorhome route, I just haven't got there yet.

Something different for everyone. My wife and I are a little freaked out about motels and really prefer our own bed. On those occasions when we do stay in a motel we use our own bed cloths and my wife spends the first hour sanitizing nearly everything in the room. Really is a hassle when traveling abroad.
Willing to bet most people are glad they do not suffer from our particular kind of OCD.

[musicofanatic]

This is how we festivise...the tent is octagon shaped, tall enough for me to stand fully upright and not just at its peak, has a hinged door (no zipper to get in and out), has a 22" high air mattress with plenty of room to walk around three sides of it and sets up/breaks down in about 20 minutes. We gaze lustfully at all manner of camper trailers and motor homes...for a minute, until we recall that we do this two or three weeks a year, and do we want that kind of hardware languishing in the yard for the 49 other weeks...? That said, my wife will retire in a coupla years, me having preceded her in this status, and when she is free, I say sell the house, buy a vehicular home and let's go! I have the next two/three years to talk her into that...

[sunburst]

Unfortunately my experience leads me to believe that the surest way to make it rain when packing up to leave a site is to camp in a tent!

As for staying in a nice hotel, I've done that at festivals, but I love having the motor home on premises.
Stay up late for jam sessions, be there late to catch such sessions, sleepily drag myself to my own bed when the time finally comes to call it a night, accept that extra offered adult beverage with no worry of driving... I could go on...

[dhergert]

The wife and I and our little dog... And a guitar, a mandolin, a banjo and a double bass... We all fit pretty comfortably in our 2010 21' Coachman Class C. All the amenities of a 40' Class A mother ship except a number of automatic features and about 20 feet of space. Gasoline engine and generator, solar on the roof, a number of additional niceties. Easy to drive and park, even in the cities.

Our motivation for having one is simple: jamming at festivals and campouts, and camping in the mountains.

Tried sleeping in a car, a tent, pop-ups, larger trailers. A modest size and cost RV seems to be the answer for us.

[tiltman]

I have a tent trailer that I bought slightly used many years ago. It's pretty comfy, easily fits in the garage, and is easy to tow.



When the family doesn't go...I sometimes take the motorcycle. Different type of fun but does mean that I sleep on the ground.

Kirk

[Don Grieser]

My big upgrade was to an REI discontinued Big Agnes tent I can stand up in and a Coleman ComfortSmart cot (rated the most comfortable cot) with some extra padding from when I slept on the ground to make it even more comfortable. I only attend a few fests a year, so can't really justify the expense of an RV. (I'd enjoy an expensive mandolin more days of the year than an RV.) My pickup tailgate is my table. I take an Easy Up but hardly ever use it. I spend most of my time at other people's campsites picking. Just take breakfast and lunch stuff and eat at the vendors for supper. Minimal setup and cleanup time.

[Sue Rieter]

I have been to one jam camp and no other such festivals or events as of yet. I stayed in a cabin with a bunch of other people, not optimal. I just got a newer car, a 2nd hand Forester SUV, and I'm thinking about putting the back seats down and putting a mattress in the back and getting one of those tents that hangs off the back end of the vehicle, so there's a place to change and such.

A small camper would be nice, but even though there's a hitch, I don't think the SUV would pull it.

[pops1]

I have been to one jam camp and no other such festivals or events as of yet. I stayed in a cabin with a bunch of other people, not optimal. I just got a newer car, a 2nd hand Forester SUV, and I'm thinking about putting the back seats down and putting a mattress in the back and getting one of those tents that hangs off the back end of the vehicle, so there's a place to change and such.

A small camper would be nice, but even though there's a hitch, I don't think the SUV would pull it.

There are plenty of small campers that the Forester will pull easily.

[j. condino]

I spent over 1000 paid days in the field in a sleeping bag or tent or huddled up on a rock wall or glacier when I was younger. Sleeping is pretty low on my list of priorities when I go to festivals, so by the time I lay down an hour or two before dawn, crawling into the back of my old Prius and using my upright bass case for a sleeping bag is usually all it takes!

[Sue Rieter]

I spent over 1000 paid days in the field in a sleeping bag or tent or huddled up on a rock wall or glacier when I was younger. Sleeping is pretty low on my list of priorities when I go to festivals, so by the time I lay down an hour or two before dawn, crawling into the back of my old Prius and using my upright bass case for a sleeping bag is usually all it takes!

<Pictures Mr. Condino curled up in his bass case the same way the cat curls up in a mandolin case>