On Monday, six days after Gary folded up his camper and towed it home to Venice, the $500 hold finally dropped off our credit card. That was the last loose end, so last night Dana read the Myakka receipts out of the trip log while I added them up at the kitchen table. Three nights in a rented pop-up came to $876.
The whole trip, line by line
- Pop-up rental, delivered and set up: $435
- Campsite at Myakka River State Park, three nights with water and electric: $98
- Gas: $82
- Groceries: $96
- Lunch at the park cafe: $38
- Boat tour on the lake, four people: $62
- Firewood and ice: $20
- Cat sitter, three visits at $15: $45
Total: $876, or $292 a night for the four of us.
The rental line breaks down like this: three nights at $85 for $255, $120 for delivery, setup and takedown, and $60 for the service fee and protection plan. The $500 security deposit was a hold, not a charge, and it came back in full. We never needed the protection plan. The only damage on the whole trip was to my pride, courtesy of a drip of condensation on Dana's forehead at 4 a.m.
Delivery was $120, more than a night's rent, and I'd pay it again. Gary had the camper level and set up before we arrived, walked us through everything and folded it down at the end. For a family that has never towed anything, that isn't an add-on. It's the reason the weekend worked at all.
Camp math against a tent trip
The closest tent trip we've taken to this one is Curry Hammock last spring break: also three nights, also a Florida state park, also four of us and a cat at home. That trip came to $443, about $148 a night.
Take the $435 rental out of the Myakka total and the rest of the trip comes to $441. Almost exactly the same. So the camper itself added $145 a night, and that's the real question: is sleeping off the ground worth about $145 a night to our family?
For three nights in November, honestly, probably not. The nights were in the 50s, and our dome tent would have been fine. Where the math changes is in the months a tent is useless to us. A camper with air conditioning on a site with electric could open up the Keys in May or a summer week on the Gulf, months when Dana's 70 rule keeps us home.
Did it convince us to buy one?
Not yet. It convinced us to keep thinking, which for two people who called this a "just to try it" weekend is a bigger step than it sounds.
Here's the rough math we did on the couch. Used pop-ups we've seen listed around Miami-Dade run from about $4,000 for a project to around $10,000 for a newer one. Then add a hitch for the Pilot, tires, insurance, registration and whatever the previous owner forgot to mention. At $145 a night, a $6,000 camper is about 41 nights of renting before owning comes out ahead, and so far this year we've camped 19 nights. Owning only wins if it gets us out more nights, in more months, and if we're honest about the upkeep that comes with anything that has wheels and canvas.
What the weekend did settle:
- Dana loves sleeping off the ground.
- The kids love having their own end, and asked to "rent Gary's again" before we were even home.
- I now know what a well-kept pop-up looks like up close, thanks to a 35-minute walk-through from a retired firefighter who checks his canvas seams the way he probably used to check a hose.
We have two tent trips left this year, Juniper Springs after Thanksgiving and a week up the Georgia coast after Christmas, with nights that could dip into the 30s. Dana says we'll decide after those. I noticed she said "decide," not "talk about it."
