144 days in a 18 foot box

[Dennis_Smith]

Summer road trip for Dennis and Shauna Smith
June 3, to Oct 15, a total of 134 days.
Touched 12 states, camped in 9 different states in the mid-west.
19,015 miles, trailer pulled 6898 miles/ average 141 day.
33 different campgrounds, average stay 4.06 days per campground.
Camping cost $4786, $35.71 average a day. High was $70, low was $15
Gas cost $3717, $27.73 daily average, .19 cents a mile for gas, about 10 MPG
Entertainment, $2585, $19.29 daily average.
Groceries $3332, $24.86 daily average
Restaurants $1863, $13.90 daily average
Total $16283, $121.51 daily average
36 National Parks (5), Monuments (6), Memorials (6), National Lakeshore (4), Historical Parks (4), Historical sites (8), Historical trail (1), National battlefield (1), and National scenic River Way (1).
Campgrounds ranged from KOA’s to national parks to Military base campgrounds. We prefer small private campgrounds, we never park in free places. Gas, we use gas buddy and shop for gas, Entertainment, we have a senior park pass so all the parks are free, but we do something every day, boat rides, train rides, movies, plays, museum, etc. etc. We find something to see or do every day. Groceries, most from Walmart, they have what we want, easy parking if we are pulling our trailer and there everywhere. Restaurants, we eat out when we want to, we do have a budget and a waist line to watch.
We have a 21 Foot trailer, with our tandem bicycle on the back bumper of the trailer, 21,000 miles and it rides great. Our tow vehicle is a Ford F250 with the 5.7 gas motor. We also have a 18 foot Kevlar canoe on top of the truck.
A fun trip, lots of neat things to see and do in the Midwest.

[Redwoodcamper]

Awesome post. Planning a trip several months long it is difficult to calculate actual costs. On paper is often different than the real world. Any specific advice for anyone planning similar trips? Things that you didn't expect?

[Aadkins101]

Love your post! From VA, we traveled all through Quebec, PEI, Nova Scotia, including Cape Breton, US East Coast. Spent entire months in FL and SC, all in a 16 ft. Fun Finder – 2 retired adults and a dog. Now we have a 23 ft. trailer – more space but definitely not as easy towing and travel.

[TurnThePage]

Excellent post! As we near retirement, this is always on our minds. Sounds like you know how to get the most bang for the buck. Thanks for sharing!

[Lwiddis]

$35.71 average per night CG fee seems high but I’m a USFS/BLM Senior Pass holder.