Storing and resuming trip later

[Anachr0n]

Does anyone do this?

Travel in your RV for a period of time.
Put it in storage in X-Town.
Fly home.
Fly back to X-Town some months later
Resume your travels for another period of time
Repeat in Y-Town.

It seems like a good idea because you don't have to put in the time and miles to keep retracing your local roads. It's also helpful for us Canuck snowbirds who don't have to run the snowy gauntlet down to warmer climes. If you pay for RV storage at home anyway, then you're effectively paying the same storage costs, just in X-Town vs Hometown.

I can picture us travelling in the south through the winter but flying home for Christmas. Or breaking up a circumnavigation of North America into manageable parts.

Have any of you done this? Is it as simple an elegant as I'm imagining?

[hbn7hj]

Yep. You just have to decide whether to keep the refrigerator on or off. It helps to have a little solar to keep all batteries charged.

[ks@yvr]

We are doing this now. Learned this idea from Swiss and Germans in South America. They travel for 3-6 months then head home for 3-6 months and come back to continue their adventures. In South America you need to pick your storage country so it works with the temporary import permits for your vehicle. We have now done in Phoenix stored camper for two months then moved on to New Orleans and eventually to Boston. Van is now in Boston until July when we will travel east coast to Ottawa and then fly back home to Vancouver. We are storing van for usually 60 days. We empty fridge and holding tanks although I forgot to dump gray water 25% full will no ill (smelly) effect after 60 days in Phoenix. My bad 😕

Storage in Boston was looking like it was going to be extortionate ($400-500 mth) but after hunting around and saying that was not in my budget one of the chain storage places told me about a special at another location 4 miles away that was $100 month also secure and $10 uber ride to airport. We paid $75 month in Phoenix again in a secure facility and $6 uber ride to airport. I tried looking online for storage in Boston before I arrived but couldn’t find any but after just picking an area near the airport and physically visiting a couple of storage facilities a couple of days before my prebooked flight I found a reasonable priced option. We have located secure storage in Ottawa for $50 a month but it is not as close to the airport for August/September. It is working out for us. I originally just planned to visit Phoenix area for 6 weeks in winter then head home for 6-8 weeks then was planning to spend another 6 weeks before heading back to Vancouver but my wife came up with some different plans (New Orleans and east coast).

It is a lot more enjoyable to travel at a very leisurely pace and to smell the roses. Because we are booking the plane tickets months in advance we are getting unreal plane fares and frugal us, we only take carry on luggage and don’t pay the seat selection fees that adds up quickly.

[KAB]

Originally Posted by ks@yvr

chain storage places told me about a special at another location 4 miles away that was $100 month also secure and $10 uber ride to airport.

I find this all to be a very interesting concept that I had never really thought about but find it to be a great time save for those who need a break or have to get back home for whatever reason and do not want to backtrack before their next journey.

I do want to ask however can you share the spot in Boston where you got that great rate. I am considering over wintering mine next winter and in the Boston area. Thanks

[Anachr0n]

Thanks @ks@yvr. This is exactly the insight and experience I was hoping to bear back on this thread. I was expecting some hurdles and caveats too. But it seems like it’s as easy as it sounds. Extortionate fees notwithstanding.

[ks@yvr]

Yes it is relatively painless. Actually totally painless if you don’t stress out about not having every last detail arranged way in advance. I found storage in Boston on the Friday before for the following Monday and completed all the paperwork on Friday, went and enjoyed the weekend sightseeing around Boston and dropped off van Monday morning for 1:00 pm flight. Ordered Uber ride and was at airport 10 minutes later.

[jbucking]

An interesting idea.... but "storage in X-town" would be what might bother me. I would want very secure storage (people do steal those RV flat screen televisions, rodents like to chew on the wiring and move in...), and I would want to keep the batteries on a battery tender, or solar to keep them charged. Good indoor storage might offset the cost savings of driving back home.

[Weroadtrip]

You will probably think we are crazy but we have stored either a trailer or a brand new RV in Mexico twice. The first was the trailer for a week while we took a train trip. It was a very open RV park with not much fencing. Didn't lose a thing. Even left my runners on the back bumper to dry and they were not touched. Our 2-year old Toyota 4 Runner was simply parked at the train station under the hopefully watchful eye of the staff. It was fine too.

The second time we left our new RV in the locked compound of a nice RV Park just outside for Mexico City. We were taking advantage of $400 return tickets from MC to Ecuador and were gone for 6 weeks. No problem. Everything in perfect order.

Strange enough on that second trip when we came back home through Texas we stopped to spend the day viewing an aircraft carrier. Our kayaks were strapped to the roof. Someone made a very good attempt (in the parking lot of a national naval museum no less) at getting the kayaks off. One was dangling off the side of the roof. But after securing the kayaks to the roof racks we'd run a cable through everything and they could not cut it.

So yes, we would leave our RV behind again anytime. We live in Canada and our cousins are currently on a multi-phase trip through southern and eastern US where they leave new truck and trailer behind in storage somewhere in US then fly home for a month or two. They've had no problems.

[avanti]

Boaters do this all the time.

[KAB]

Ken
I do want to ask can you share the spot in Boston where you got that great rate. I am considering over-wintering mine next winter and I am in the Metro
Boston area. Thanks

[ks@yvr]

Originally Posted by KAB

Ken
I do want to ask can you share the spot in Boston where you got that great rate. I am considering over-wintering mine next winter and I am in the Metro
Boston area. Thanks

Sent you PM with details earlier today.

[Anachr0n]

Thanks @weroadtrip. Funny enough the two who have described their experiences doing this are BC’ers just like us.

[akrprogers@gmail.com]

This is how we roll. We live in Anchorage AK and have stored our Campervan in Phoenix, Bozeman (Belgrade), Albuquerque and Minneapolis. We're planning a New England adventure this fall and we're hoping to find storage in greater Boston area for winter. We've paid from $60/month to $120/Month for a private garage in Belgrade MT. Our biggest worry is rodents to we always make sure there is not a crumb of food around. We also use a tyvek cover, disconnect the starting battery, and remove any loads from hose batteries.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by akrprogers@gmail.com

This is how we roll. We live in Anchorage AK and have stored our Campervan in Phoenix, Bozeman (Belgrade), Albuquerque and Minneapolis. We're planning a New England adventure this fall and we're hoping to find storage in greater Boston area for winter. We've paid from $60/month to $120/Month for a private garage in Belgrade MT. Our biggest worry is rodents to we always make sure there is not a crumb of food around. We also use a tyvek cover, disconnect the starting battery, and remove any loads from hose batteries.

Welcome to the forum akrprogers!