Anyone rented an RV before?

I have owned a number of RV's large and small through the years.  Be careful with the larger coaches, in some cases they are set up too sleep fewer people so therefore they are cheaper to rent.  Another factor is campgrounds, many of the state and national parks have restrictions on length in the 30' range so again be careful, depending on where you plan to go length may be an issue.

As far as mileage most of the gasoline coaches get between 5-8 mpg depending on your driving.  The smaller coaches may be a little better but not significantly.  

My best advice is to find a coach that fits your family for comfortable sleeping arrangements.  

Good luck.

family rented one back when I was a kid.  The black water tank was never empty, it was fulled.  It overflowed on us the first night.

So make sure the tanks are empty.

And I agree, stick to a smaller one that fits your needs.  If you're new, maneurving is going to be hard, smaller will help.

I have a 30' RV.  The #1 key to driving it is planning your escape route.  You can easily get into situations that are very difficult to get out of.  That being said I'd think carefully about driving into downtown SF.  Those roads can get tight very fast.

Avg MPG on the bigger rigs is going to be 7-9 mpg.  Smaller ones will be 9-11.  The secret is to keep it below 70mph.

We rented one a few years ago that we towed, sucked gas mileage like crazy but it was nice.  They had requirements about having expanded mirrors on the sides of the truck for towing it.  (large hard body trailer had the works)

Last year we rented from a place that is near the campground we stayed at.  They came and set up/ tore down.  All we had to do was make the beds and supply our own food.  We had a problem with the unit after a couple of days and the guy was out at the campground almost immediately. I would definitely rent that way again.  (apache style sleeps 6 with refrigeration)

That.    I watched someone trying to park this massive RV one day.  It was funny.  Cause you know, it didn't actually fit anywhere.  Think about where you are planning on staying ahead of time and take a look at the sizes they can accommodate.  If you are staying in big RV sites it is less of an issue but if your planning smaller locations it can be a factor.  I try and stay out of the pure RV parks. 

Some spots do have length limits but we have always found at least one spot in the park that would accommodate our rig (which is one of the longer ones out there).

The Reserve America site is where you go to reserve all state and national parks.  Each spot will list the maximum length allowed (and honestly they are VERY conservative)

http://www.reserveamerica.com/