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144 days in a 18 foot box

Dennis_Smith
Explorer
Explorer
Well me and the wife did it 144 days in our little 22 foot (18 foot box) Fun Finder. We left Colorado Springs on 2 May, Headed north, Ended up traveling through 10 states covering 20847 miles. We kept track of just about everything we spent, the wife typed up a spread sheet and here are the results if anyone is interested. We Moved 44 times longest spent was 10 days, a few at 1 day but the average was about 4 days. We stayed in KOAโ€™s, national parks, military campgrounds (I am retired Air Force) city run, private campgrounds and a couple of dumps. We do not overnight at Walmartโ€™s or any free campgrounds. The longest we dry camped was 7 days. We try and make reservations at least 2 stays out, we just like knowing were we are going to stay We have three house batteries so electric was not an issue. The most we spent was $66, the least was $15 for camping. We canoed in every state but Oregon. So here are our totals by trip and daily average. Miles 20847, 145, camping $4749, $33, Gas $4399, $31, Groceries $1630, $11, Restaurants$3517, $24, Propane $62, $.43, Misc, $3063, $21, Museums $616, $4. I am over 62, so entry into national parks is free, we saw 41 parks, monuments, battle fields etc . We enjoy eating out so we do. We spent a total of $18,036, or $125 a day. That is what we budgeted for and what we spent. We could save money by not eating out as much, but other than that I donโ€™t think we could cut our budget and see the sites we want to see. The tire pressure monitor caught it and we didnโ€™t have to change it. A few loose screw etc in the camper but nothing we had to fix then. The only thing we would change is remove the sofa in the slide and put in two nice chairs. But we canโ€™t figure out how to do that. The built in DVD on the 12 volt Television did quit working so we will replace that, we do like to dry camp and have our movies when we want one. Had a friend stay in our house and covered the utilities, and mailed us our mail 3 times. We used our discover card 95% of the time and our debit card when they donโ€™t take discover. I paid the bill on line once a week, just to keep track of our expenses. It was a great trip, we saw a lot of stuff and really enjoyed our self. We DO NOT WANT a bigger camper, we pull with a gas Ford F250, crew cab with a topper on the back. We love it lots of room and lots of storage in the back. We are planning for next year and headed east this time. Our average gas mileage was 12. That is towing and not towing. Hope you find this interesting we had fun doing it.
25 REPLIES 25

Marine_By_Choic
Explorer
Explorer
Nice report! We typically average around $100/day.

RideSlow
Explorer
Explorer
Dennis, thanks for posting, curious about your choice of resources for deciding where to stay. AAA doesn't issue the Campbook anymore, they sell an RV guide. I use that, & the RVparkreview site, Benchmark Atlas, & the AAA maps. We are a couple of years out from taking months at a time, and have chosen a smaller rig
2007 Dodge Ram QC 4x4 6.7 CTD 3500 SRW
2014 Stealth AK2612 TH
2004 HD Ultra Classic

Dennis_Smith
Explorer
Explorer
We didn't eat out every day, $23 was the average over 144 days. There was times when we didn't eat out for 3 or 4 days. Just where we were at and what we were doing. The numbers are trip total and daily average, sorry for the confusion. It was a trip of a life time and there is so much to see out west. We are really into the National Park system, just so much to see and so much information.

CopilotCompanio
Explorer
Explorer
DS, thanks for posting. Very informative. /CC
DH: Designated Curmudgeon
Lupรฉ the Rescue Dog: Self-appointed Tattletale
DW: Copilot & Companion
No offense intended. Sarcasm is my strong suit.

JnJnKatiebug
Explorer
Explorer
deltabravo wrote:
Dennis Smith wrote:
...camping $4749, $33, Gas $4399, $31, Groceries $1630, $11, Restaurants$3517, $24, Propane $62, $.43, Misc, $3063, $21, Museums $616, $4.


I'm confused by your numbers.

Camping is list at $4749, but what is $33, which is the number before the cost of gas, which was $4399.

There's several other mystery numbers further in your details (in bold): (what were they for?)

$31.00
$11.00
$24.00
$.43
$21.00
$4.00


Its pretty obvious that is the average cost per day of their 144 day trip
2016 Chevy Tahoe
2017 Flagstaff 26FKWS
(Picture in profile)

"The best things in life are the people you love, the places you've seen,
and the memories you've made along the way".

CopilotCompanio
Explorer
Explorer
DB, he's listing the average cost per day after each total. So, $4749 divided by 144 days is roughly $33 per day. Every cost category has a trip total and a daily average. Capiche?
DH: Designated Curmudgeon
Lupรฉ the Rescue Dog: Self-appointed Tattletale
DW: Copilot & Companion
No offense intended. Sarcasm is my strong suit.

deltabravo
Nomad
Nomad
.
2009 Silverado 3500HD Dually, D/A, CCLB 4x4 (bought new 8/30/09)
2018 Arctic Fox 992 with an Onan 2500i "quiet" model generator

westend
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks for posting. I have a similar set up. Just waiting for the day we can bust out for 144 in a row. I'll take that canoeing report as a personal challenge to do something in every state.
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
'71 Starcraft Wanderstar -- The Cowboy/Hilton

LadyRVer
Explorer II
Explorer II
Excellent trip report.

I used to budget 30.00 day for food.....15.00 eating out, 15.00 for grocery store.
Always came in under total amount. Sometimes eating out was more, groceries less.
We generally ate breakfast in the camper, lunch mostly in the camper and supper out.

It seemed gas equaled food and campground fees. 1/2 budget gas, 1/2 all other.

What a fantastic trip you had and problems seemed minor compared they could have been.

temccarthy1
Explorer
Explorer
How can you eat out much and only average $24 a day? Do you just eat breakfast out? Or are you eating fast food most of the time? Just wondered. My wife and I also like to eat dinner out when we are camping but that alone is at least double what you spent.
Tim, Ramona and dog Scruffy
1982 Coleman Sun Valley PUP (retired)
2014 Keystone Bullet 285RLS Ultralite TT
2013 Ford Expedition XLT 5.4L Triton V8
Equalizer E2 hitch

bstar1952
Explorer
Explorer
Very nice post Dennis. I'm also retired USAF and like to stay in military Famcamps. Nellis AFB is one of our favorites. We just got back from a 32 day trip out west ourselves --- loves me some Utah! Surprisingly, but we were a little underwelmed by Yellowstone. By the way, our daily expenses were very close to yours. Cheers
Bstar1952
Bandera, Texas
2020 Ram 2500,6.4 Hemi
2019 (East to West) Della Terra 29KRK
Fastway E2 WHD Hitch