I want to own an RV and travel the country with it, but I don’t own one yet. So my wonderful son found me an RV Airbnb to stay in when we (my significant other and I) finally made it to Scottsdale on our three-week cross-country road trip. “Mom, you always wanted an RV, so why not stay in one on your Route 66 road trip?” he said. What a good son I have, and what a great idea that was.
It got me thinking as I was planning the trip. Where else can I stay that’s out-of-the-box or historic or weird? Now I understand that others are going to read this and say, “Well, I stayed in this or I stayed in that?” That’s awesome for you. But this is all stuff that’s new to me.
As the Virgin Traveler, I was doing things for the first time that I had never done before. I’m also trying to encourage other virgin travelers to do the same. Maybe you haven’t even stayed in a hotel yet, or taken a road trip. You will always find others who have done more, no matter how much traveling you do. Don’t let that stop you. Enjoy your accomplishments!
So I went online and looked for other unique places to stay beyond hotels. Here are a few places I stayed at while I was on the road. I also looked for treehouses to stay at but couldn’t find any for this trip, so maybe next time.
Rebecca’s Place
Rebecca’s Place is an Airstream RV Airbnb that is located in the homeowner’s backyard near Scottsdale, Arizona (I’m standing in front of it in the main photo). There’s a cute retro checkboard floor, booth table, small kitchen area, shower, and a full-sized bed that can sleep two (the owners rent to a maximum of two people). There is a fridge, stove, and microwave if you need it. This RV is just so cute, and I loved staying here. It was my first time staying in an RV, and I enjoyed the experience and definitely could picture myself doing this long-term (although I know that a two-night stationary stay is nothing compared to long-term on the road).
I wrote an Airbnb review for the Airbnb owners and can tell you that they were so nice and got a very positive review from me.
The only issue I had with the RV was that the bed was not as comfortable as I would have liked FOR ME but for someone else, it might be perfect. If you’re heading to Arizona and want to book this RV, click here.
WigWam Hotel
For the return trip, I booked a Wigwam. This was very Southwest of me, haha. The Wigwam Village #6 (also called the Wigwam Motel) is located in Holbrook, Arizona, on what’s called ‘old’ Route 66.
When you first pull up to the Wigwam Motel, you will see a collection of classic cars in the parking lot that add more to its retro feel. There’s also a small RV trailer (empty inside). It’s all there to set the mood and take you back in time.
Although it looks like what I would think of as a teepee, there are differences between the two that I didn’t know about.
When I arrived, it was so windy and freezing, so I couldn’t wait to get into the room. I had no idea if these were heated or not. I learned that one of the main differences between a wigwam and teepee is that teepees are portable and wigwams are much more stationary. There are differences in their shape, too, with Wigwams being dome-shaped and teepees are more tent-like. Wigwams are traditionally made of materials such as birchbark, grass, brush, rushes, and mats.
Based on this, I was surprised to see that the Wigwam is shaped like a teepee but called a wigwam. it wasn’t really dome-shaped on the outside. When you step inside, there is a flat ceiling, so you can’t see to the top of what you think is a teepee. All that’s fine and it’s how they created it. It just made me realize how little I knew about teepees and wigwams. That being said, the room was tiny but cute. You definitely get the feel of sleeping in a rounded wigwam. With how cold we were, it was pleasant to know that the heater worked really well, warming us up after we were absolutely frigid from the wind.
I posted a video of going into the wigwam on my Instagram account here.
You should know that my room did not have a microwave or a refrigerator, so be aware if you’re bringing or buying food. While the heater did a great job of warming the room, it didn’t completely make it to the bathroom, so the toilet was quite a bit chilly when we had to go. We didn’t use the shower, but there was one.
The full-sized bed was pretty comfortable. I should say that I have a metal rod in my back, so my needs might be different than yours. I need a firmer bed because my back can’t bend in certain ways. You might like a squishy bed. I can only tell you how I feel.
Compared to some of our other hotel rooms, this room came in at a modest $99-$105 per night. (I tried to find rooms at around $100 per night for our trip. I didn’t have a choice in California because the location to So-Fi stadium would be important for WrestleMania, but I kept to my budget for the rest of the trip.)
If you need more room or amenities, there are apartments located behind the wigwams that come with refrigerators, two double beds, microwaves, etc. The good news is that the rate remains the same, so it’s all about what you need. You can then say you slept in a wigwam!
For information on the Wigwam Motel, visit https://sleepinawigwam.com.
Munger Moss Motel
An RV and a Wigwam…what else? Of course, I had to pick another historic Route 66 accommodation to finish out my trip. I picked the Munger Moss Motel, which opened in 1946. The first thing you see when you drive up is the iconic neon Munger Moss sign. You can read all about the history of the Route 66 motel here.
I have to say that even though we had some unique stays on our cross-country Route 66 road trip, not one accommodation was dirty or unstayable (if that’s a word). I really was expecting to not like something, but they were all pretty clean and that is vital to me while traveling.
Our Munger Moss Motel room had one queen bed which was okay in terms of comfort. I don’t have any of my own pictures of the inside of the room for some reason. Our only complaint was with the heater. We had the same problem with this room that we did with the wigwam. The heat didn’t really warm up the bathroom. There was heat in there, but it was still very chilly compared to the rest of the room.
We had some fun taking photos with the guitars and the signs outside. Here are mine…
In walking distance from the motel is a Taco John’s. Why do I mention that and no other restaurants near these other places? Because Ej has mentioned the potato oles more times in our relationship than anything else, so I had to try them. They were pretty good. I don’t know if I would rave about them the way that he does, LOL, but they were quite tasty. (He lived in Montana and Taco John’s was next to the bar, so…LOL.)
Outside of Taco John’s is a Locks of Love, a place to add your lock to the hearts and, of course, snap a selfie. I love fun silly stuff like this.
For more information on the Munger Moss Motel, click here.
When you’re planning your first or next trip, consider where you want to lay your head. There are more places to stay other than hotels. And if you have stayed at some out-of-the-box places, where were they? Let me know in the comments section.
