- The book contains an excellent chapter on choosing which RV to rent or buy.
- The authors have meticulously researched every road trip they recommend.
- Detail-oriented readers will love the campground, restaurant and museum reviews in this book.
- The appendix contains checklists, contact information and a helpful glossary of RV terms.
- More pages are devoted to road trip descriptions than to the basics of RV travel.
- There are no photos in the book. Helpful step-by-step images would be a great addition.
- If you need a book that discusses every aspect of RV operation, you'll have to look elsewhere.
- RV Vacations for Dummies is part how-to book, part travel guide.
- The book describes 14 road trips within the U.S.'s lower 48 states.
- Throughout the book, the authors include helpful travel tips. The RV driving tips are particularly useful.
- Every RV traveler should read the "Campground Etiquette" section in this book.
- The authors include several "best of" lists, including "Best National Parks," which, strangely, omits California parks.
- The book is packed with information about visiting intriguing museums, eating local fare and finding the best campgrounds.
When I picked up RV Vacations for Dummies, I expected the book to focus on how to select, operate and maintain an RV. While these topics are covered, and covered well, in this book, the main focus of RV Vacations for Dummies is on RV road trips. The authors, who have logged over 100,000 miles in their RVs, recommend 14 different RV vacations.
The book is divided into logically-organized sections. Part I, "Getting Started," helps you decide whether RV travel is right for you, where you should go and what you should pack inside your RV.
In Part II, "Ironing Out the Details," the authors focus on buying and driving your RV, choosing where to camp and eat, communicating with loved ones while on the road and staying safe. The short but helpful chapter on travelers with special needs and interests includes contact information for organizations dedicated to senior and accessible travel as well as traditional RV clubs. I'd love to see an expanded version of this chapter in the next edition of the book.
Parts III, IV and V of RV Vacations for Dummies make up the bulk of the book. These sections contain detailed - and I do mean detailed - descriptions of each recommended road trip. I've taken a few of these road trips - alas, not in an RV - and I can tell that the authors have driven every mile themselves. Their RV driving tips cover everything from fog on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway - a chronic problem - to the hairpin curves of California's Pacific Coast Highway. New RV drivers should pay careful attention to each and every driving hint.
The final section of the book is titled "The Part of Tens." It includes ten "snowbird getaways" as well as lists of factory tours and unusual museums.
RV Vacations for Dummies, while not the operations guide I'd expected, will definitely help new RV travelers make the most of each road trip they take.
