Will it be Class A, B or C? ? It's difficult to decide what class of RV provides the most enjoyment. The bigger A's—those rolling palaces—while luxurious, can be intimidating to drive and impossible to park. They also come with peripheral restrictions. Some state and national parks simply cannot accommodate 40-something-foot mansions. If they do, the number of sites is often limited.
The Class B’s—those cozy converted vans—can feel cramped unless you are a family of two. But these small campers can be the perfect vehicle for visiting national parks, wine touring the back roads of Napa, or antiquing through Maine in autumn. On the other hand, the Class C mini-motorhomes, whose sizes range from 20 to 35 feet in length, offer the traveler a vehicle with the great combination of practicality, maneuverability and comfort.
We road tested a Class C from Jayco, referred to as the Greyhawk 30GS. Built on a Ford chassis, the 30GS is powered by a gasoline-fed Triton 6.8L EFI V-10 engine that produces 305 hp and an impressive 420 lb-ft of torque. Mated to a five-speed automatic Torque shift series transmission with overdrive, the numbers looked to give this 7-ton rig a bit of spunk. That was exactly what I wanted to investigate after first seeing a 30GS on the road.
I had been trying to find time to test a vehicle from Jayco’s Greyhawk series when plans for a long-anticipated family ski trip fell through. As it turns out, one cannot ski without snow. My wife blamed global warming. I saw serendipity. Suddenly I had a free week to try out the 30GS before summer arrived. But with only five days’ lead, deciding where to go was a problem.
As seasoned RVers know, it is nearly impossible to secure a camp site inside America’s popular national parks without advanced reservations—very advanced reservations. That, I assumed, mattered only if you wanted a prime location. When cobbling together a last-minute camping trip, it is best not to be choosey.
Still, I wanted to head someplace worthy of taking the Jayco. So onto the website Recreation.gov I jumped, with the high hopes of finding a spot in, of all places, California’s Yosemite National Park.
As one of the nation’s premier parks, Yosemite welcomes over 3.5 million visitors annually from around the world. Many visitors stay at the famed Ahwahnee Resort or the quaint Wawona Hotel, while others pitch a tent, bring a trailer, or arrive in an RV. A majority of the campgrounds accept motorhomes up to 35 feet long, but rigs stretching to 40 feet are restricted to the Lower and North Pine campgrounds.