Pulling a Toad

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"I GO WHERE I'M TOWED"

 

If your primary source for camping is a motor home and you're wondering how to get to town for groceries once you're all set up, this blog is for you. Get ready to tow a toad. Let's talk about it.

 

As is likely evident by now, we do our RVing in a 37' motor home. We love everything about our house on wheels, but going this route comes with a unique set of options when it comes to getting around once you're set up. If you're pulling a 5th wheel or a bumper pull, you're already driving your vehicle for site-seeing and running errands. If not, you already know your rig probably won't fit in the parking lot of the Dollar General. Thus, you need a toad.

To bring along a separate vehicle for just getting around town, you basically have 5 options for getting it there. Yes, five. Honestly, there may be more, but I can't think of any short of an air drop. And to be fair, I've only tried one of these. Here are the five:

1. Using a car dolly. The advantage to using a car dolly, is that it opens up your options to bringing along nearly any front wheel drive vehicle on the market. The disadvantage is that once your car is unhooked, you still have a trailer back there. Unless you're in a pull-thru campsite, you'll have to unhook it to back in...OR you're a way better backer than me.
2. Using a car trailer. The advantage to this one is that you can bring along any vehicle you can get up there. Car, truck, Side-by-Side, Mule, ATVs...whatever. This disadvantage would be similar to Number 1. Once you get your car unloaded, you still have to unhook the trailer to back up. Unless...you're better at backing a trailer with a short tongue than I am.
3. Using an enclosed trailer. This one comes with great advantages. If it's big enough, you can bring your car, tools, bicycles, lawn chairs, etc and it's all protected from the weather. The disadvantages would be the same as the first two, plus, you have considerations of weight. Be sure you have a rig with enough horsepower to tow this and expect your fuel mileage to be affected.
4. Flat-towing. This is the option we chose, but it wasn't without some serious investigating. If you invest in a good towing setup, like Blue Ox, this is a system that makes hooking and unhooking a breeze. We can do either with our jeep in under a minute. That's the big advantage for us. The disadvantage is that you're seriously limited to the vehicles you can tow.  Let me explain. Not very vehicle on the market is designed to be flat-towed. It's not as simple as just putting it in neutral and heading down the road. Modern transmissions can be ruined by this method. Be SURE you check with your manufacturer about your vehicle's specs on being flat towed. WE found, the simplest, most reliable vehicle for flat towing is a Jeep. There are those that will tell you they've been towing their Honda Civic (pick your own vehicle here) for years with no issues. Just remember, you've been warned. Your transmission guy will love you. And remember, no matter how good you are a backing things, DO NOT attempt to back up with this configuration. It's expensive to install the first time. Don't break it.
5. Tagging along. We have run in to more than one traveling team that split the driving. One person drives the coach, the other follows along driving the smaller vehicle. Advantages would be not having to hook up and unhook. And if you're tired of sharing the same space, I guess there's that. The disadvantage is that you're not spending road time with the person you chose to make the trip with in the first place. Kinda defeats the purpose, in my opinion, but you do you.

Whelp, that about covers it. I can't stress enough that you really, really need to do your homework on this one and determine what setup works for you. What kind of vehicle to you have? Under what setup can you tow it? What's your budget?  How far are you traveling? How much do you like your partner? And for god's sake, ask your mechanic and manufacturer about whether your vehicle is fit for flat towing.

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Stay safe. Be smart. See ya on the road.