Traveling the U.S. in an RV: Cross-country road trip costs
Two years ago today, Kim and I returned to Portland after fifteen months traveling the United States in an RV. Believe it or not, I’ve never published an article about the trip and how much it cost. Although we kept a travel blog for most of the adventure (including a page that documented our expenses), I’ve never gathered everything into one place. Until now.
Today, I want to share just how much we spent on the journey — and some of our favorite stops along the way. It seems like the perfect post to celebrate the start of summer, don’t you think?
The Lure of Adventure
All my life, I’ve wanted to take a roadtrip across the United States.
When I was young, I was lured by the adventure. I wanted to climb mountains, swim rivers, and explore canyons. The older I got, the more fascinated I became by the country’s regional differences. The U.S. is huge, a fact that most foreign visitors forget. Most American citizens don’t even realize how big the country is. I wanted to see and experience it all.
Although I’ve dreamed of a cross-country roadtrip, it’s never been practical. As a boy, my family was poor. My parents didn’t have money for something like this. As a young adult, I couldn’t afford it either. For a long time, I was deep in debt. Besides, where would I find the time? I had to work! To top things off, my wife had zero interest in driving cross country.
But in my forties, a curious set of circumstances came together to move my epic roadtrip from dream to reality.
- I sold Get Rich Slowly, which meant I suddenly had a surplus of both time and money.
- My wife and I got a divorce. When I began dating again, I chose a partner whose adventurous spirit surpassed my own.
One day in early 2014, my girlfriend Kim asked me out of the blue, “What do you think about taking a cross-country roadtrip?”
What did I think? “Hell yeah!” is what I thought…
Making a Plan
As Kim and I began to discuss this adventure, our biggest concern was money. As a financial writer, I’m acutely aware that every dollar I spend today is roughly equivalent to seven dollars I could have in retirement. Every day, I preach the power of saving. I wanted to keep our trip as cost-effective as possible. (Besides, Kim would have to quit her job as a dental hygienist in order to travel — a huge financial sacrifice.)
My goal was to keep our costs under $50 per person per day. In fact, I had high hopes we could do the trip for $33 per person per day (for a total of $24,000). But the U.S. is expensive. How could Kim and I make this happen?
From the start, we knew hotels were out. Even cheap lodging would be far too expensive for us to stay within budget. Personally, I liked the idea of bicycling across the country like my friends Dakota and Chelsea have done. Kim wasn’t keen on the idea. (Nor was she willing to make the trip by motorcycle despite being a die-hard Harley girl.)
After a lot of research, and after talking with Chris and Cherie from Technomadia, I came to a conclusion: The best balance of cost and comfort would come from crossing the country in an RV. With this bare outline of a plan, the true trip prep began.
Searching for Bigfoot
After deciding to travel by RV, there were more questions to answer. Neither of us had experience with recreational vehicles. Among other things, we needed to figure out:
- Should we buy a truck and a trailer?
- Would it be better to buy a motorhome and tow my 2004 Mini Cooper?
- What about new or used? With used, you never know what you’re getting. But a new RV costs $80,000 or more — and loses value quickly.
- How much space did we need? What kinds of amenities?
After crunching the numbers, there was an obvious “best choice” for us. If we bought a used motorhome, we could tow a car we already owned while (we hoped) avoiding a big hit from depreciation. In fact, if we were diligent every step of the way, it might even be possible to resell our RV after the trip and recoup most of what we’d paid for it!
We spent the autumn of 2014 patiently sifting through Craigslist ads for used motorhomes. We visited dealerships. We attended the local RV Expo. We walked through dozens of models searching for the right fit. Some were too long. Some were too short. Some were too fancy. Many were run-down and in a state of disrepair.
Finally, in early January 2015, we found the perfect rig: a 2005 Bigfoot 30MH29RQ. (Translation: A 29-foot motorhome with a queen bed in the rear.) The owner wanted $38,000 for it — a fair price. He wouldn’t budge when I tried to negotiate, but I was okay with that. My research revealed he was actually selling a slightly better model, one worth a few thousand dollars more than he was asking. We bought it.
Over the next two months, Kim and I prepped Bigfoot for departure. We spent $2000 making minor repairs and installing a towbar on the Mini Cooper. We cleaned the motorhome from top to bottom. We took weekend test trips to RV parks around Oregon and Washington. When all was said and done, we’d invested $40,000 to get our caravan ready for the road.
Into the West
Kim and I left Portland on the morning of 25 March 2015, my forty-sixth birthday. We sped through Oregon — we love the state, but we’re both familiar with it — and entered northern California. We spent our first week on the road exploring the Redwoods and weaving through wine country.
Along the way, we got a crash course in driving a motorhome.
Near Cloverdale, California we took a wrong turn onto a cliff-side gravel road. We stopped immediately. Good thing, too. Turns out a week earlier some other poor soul had driven his RV over the side of the cliff. East of Sacramento, we took another wrong turn and found ourselves driving down a narrow dike road during rush hour while high winds buffeted the RV. Very scary.
At times we felt like Lucy and Desi in The Long, Long Trailer, but after a couple of weeks Kim and I had learned how to handle our motorhome, both on the road and off.
Early in the trip, our expenses were out of sight. We ate out too often. We bought too much wine. We did too many touristy things without searching for discounts. We rationalized that since we were visiting all of these new places (and might never return), we might as well pay to experience them to the fullest. This was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, after all.
The problem, of course, was that lots of fun costs lots of money. Ten days into the trip, our average spending was over $120 per day (or over $60 per person per day) — almost twice what we’d hoped to spend. Yikes!
We tightened the purse strings. We stopped eating out so much and cooked in the motorhome. (We cook a lot at home normally, so this wasn’t a tough transition.) We bought a National Parks pass, perhaps the best purchase of our entire trip. (For an $80 one-time fee, you get one year of unlimited access to all sorts of government-owned sites.) We learned to entertain ourselves at night with books and boardgames and a hard drive filled with old movies — and an iPad filled with comic books.
During our 33 days in California, we marveled at the state’s vast variety of terrain. We drove through forests and deserts, skirted ocean cliffsides and walked across mountain streams. We hated L.A. traffic — not recommended when you’re in a motorhome towing a car — but enjoyed almost everything else.
We loved Arizona even more. Maybe we had low expectations, but we were blown away by the magnificent scenery of the Grand Canyon state. For nineteen days, we basked in the warm spring sun and admired the colorful rock formations.
It was in Arizona that we discovered the joys of drycamping (or “boondocking”). For the first seven weeks of our trip, we mostly stayed in RV parks and campgrounds. At $20 to $50 per night (with the average park costs around $35), lodging was our biggest expense — by far. Drycamping costs nothing. All you do is find a spot where you can legally park for the night — National Forest land, a friend’s driveway, certain businesses and casinos — and set up camp. You don’t have access to electricity or fresh water, but that’s okay. The beauty of an RV is that it’s self-contained. (Our Bigfoot had a generator for electricity and a 63-gallon freshwater tank.)
After boondocking only once during our first 50 days on the road, we managed to live off the grid for 33 of the next 80 nights.
Once we began pinching pennies, our travel costs plummeted. We weren’t spending $120 per day anymore. Our average daily spending fell to $50, which lowered the trip average to about $80 per day.
The Cost of RV Repairs
With all this frugality, did we feel like we were depriving ourselves? Not at all! As we made our way from Arizona to Utah to Colorado, we found we could still afford wine and an occasional restaurant meal. Plus, we were paying to do a lot of touristy things, such as soak in the hot springs in Ouray and ride the narrow-gauge train from Durango to Silverton.
At the end of May, we stopped for a week to visit family and friends near Denver. During this break, our RV costs dropped to zero — no fuel or lodging expenses while we stayed with Kim’s mother and hung out with Mr. Money Mustache — which allowed us to spend a little more on fun. Good thing too because Fort Collins has a great beer scene.
We hit the road again in early June, making our way into Wyoming to visit Yellowstone and the Tetons. We zipped over to Idaho to spend time with Kim’s father in Sun Valley. From there, we drove north into Montana to lounge around Flathead Lake and explore Glacier National Park. Costs stayed low as we crossed Montana to enter the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.
After celebrating Independence Day in Deadwood, our average daily spending for the trip was about $84. We felt good about that number. It’d be nice if it were lower, but $42 per day per person seemed reasonable. At that rate, the trip would cost us $30,000 for the entire year.
On July 8th, the tenor of our trip changed. So did our costs. We were cruising across the vast emptiness of central South Dakota when the motorhome’s engine overheated. We pulled off to give it a rest. The oil level looked fine, but I added more just in case. It didn’t help. An hour down the highway, the engine seized up completely. Turns out Bigfoot had “spun a bearing” and the engine was toast. (Also turns out that spun bearings are not uncommon with this particular engine.)
Unfortunately, we were in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town was Plankinton, South Dakota (population 707). Fortunately, the folks in Plankinton were friendly. The owners of the local garage diagnosed the problem and ordered parts. Meanwhile, we got to know the owners of the only RV park in town. We spent ten days drinking beer with Plankintonians while exploring nearby attractions such as the Corn Palace and the real-life homestead of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
In the end, the engine repair cost $7751.39. Ouch! We did not count this against our daily trip budget but instead factored it into our overhead, much like we had with the purchase price of the RV. (You might choose to account for it differently.)
The Expensive East
When the new engine was ready, we waved good-bye to our new friends in Plankinton. We drove through Minnesota to Wisconsin, where we spent a week in the Great North Woods. (At the recommendation of world traveler Gary Arndt, whom we had lunch with near Milwaukee, we took a boat ride out to view the amazing Apostle Islands.)
After eating our fill of Wisconsin cheese, we crossed into Michigan’s upper peninsula and then drove south to Indiana’s Amish country, where we rested for a week. (We also took the time to dart into Chicago for an overnight trip.) From there, we moved to Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
As we made our way east, we noticed some interesting changes.
- First, there were fewer opportunities for boondocking. There’s less government-owned land in the East than there is in the West. (The western U.S. is largely government land, which means lots of places to camp for free.)
- Second, while gasoline prices were lower in the east, everything else was more expensive. RV parks were more expensive. Groceries were more expensive. Beer and wine were more expensive. Restaurants, especially, were more expensive.
Our average daily spending started to creep upward. By the time we reached Ohio in mid-August, we were shelling out $120 per day again. After 150 days on the road, the average for the entire trip was $93.48 per day (or $46.74 per person).
By this point it was clear that we couldn’t spend a year on the road for our initial $24,000 budget. (You might, but we couldn’t. Not while enjoying the lifestyle we wanted.) Even $30,000 for the year seemed unlikely. We revised our budget upward to $36,000 (or about $50 per person per day) — not counting the expensive engine repair. We had plenty in savings, so we could afford to stretch some, but we still wanted to spend as little as possible.
From Cincinnati, we traveled to beautiful West Virginia, then north to Cleveland. After that, we hopped over to Niagara Falls, where we camped for a few days at a winery. (We helped bottle brandy and bought a few bottles of wine in exchange for firewood and a place to park.)
Stopping in Savannah
During September, we sort of lost our steam. The enthusiasm we’d had at the start of the trip petered out. Instead of exploring Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and North Carolina, we holed up in the RV and worked. It might sound crazy, but we missed being productive and making money! Being hermits saved us money, of course, but we felt like we were wasting an opportunity.
After much discussion, we decided to take a break. We spent a week driving around the eastern seaboard, looking for a place to park for the winter. We fell in love with Savannah, Georgia, so we rented a condo and put the RV in storage. For six months, we lived a relatively normal life. Kim found full-time work as a dental hygienist, and I launched Money Boss (which I’ve been folding into Get Rich Slowly since re-purchasing this site).
Our six months in Savannah were interesting. I had never lived outside of Oregon, so I suffered some culture shock. I always say that I’m relatively conservative for the Portland area — but that still makes me pretty liberal for anywhere in the southeastern U.S.!
While in Savannah, we didn’t just work. We made sure to have some fun too. Over Christmas, we flew to New York City for a long weekend, where we got to hang out with some of our favorite money bloggers. In February, we took a couple of weeks to tour the state of Florida, from Jacksonville to Tampa to Miami to Key West to the Kennedy Space Center.
Important note: By this time — nearly one year into our trip — Kim and I had both started packing on the pounds. Sad but true. We were eating great food and drinking great beer everywhere we went, and we were out of our exercise routine. Not good.
After returning from Florida, we began planning for our return trip to Potland. It had taken us six months to make it from the Pacific to Atlanta. It seamed reasonable to budget the same amount of time for heading home.
Old Pros
If this were a travel blog, I’d cover the return trip in depth. A lot of fun stuff happened during our final three months on the road. But this is a money blog, and I’m trying to focus this article on the financial side of our journey. As a result, I’m going to gloss over a lot. Financially, not much exciting happened.
From the start, the return leg felt different.
For one thing, we were old pros at the whole RVing thing by this point. At the start of the trip, everything had been new and exciting and even a little scary. A year later, however, Kim and I had things down to a science. We were no longer freaked out by little problems. On our first day back on the road, one of our headlights went out. No problem! Kim promptly repaired it.
The return trip felt different too because we spent less time with friends and family. While we did stop to see people along the way, we didn’t have nearly as many contacts in southern states as we had in the north.
Also, we spent much more time in state parks during the drive home. Traveling east, our camping spots had been varied. Sometimes, we parked in driveways of friends or family. Other times, we did drycamping on Forest Service land. Many of our campsites were located in Thousand Trails parks, which means they were essentially free. (Kim had access to an annual pass through her father.) But these options were few and far between in the Southeast, so we learned to love state parks, which are cheap and plentiful all over the United States. (State parks can get busy on holiday weekends, but otherwise are nearly empty — especially midweek.)
Finally, we changed the pace of our travel. On the outbound leg, we moved camp every two or three days. (We moved every 2.84 days, to be precise.) But going home, we intentionally slowed down. We tried to say four or five days in each location. (Until we picked up our puppy in Oklahoma — about which, more in a moment — we moved every 4.25 days.) In short, we stayed in each location nearly twice as long on our way west as we had on our way east.
The Journey Home
We had intended to spend six months driving home, just as we’d spent six months getting to Savannah. That was the plan. We knew that our first two months would be spent carving an “S” through the southeastern United States. And, surprisingly enough, those two months went as we thought they would.
We left Savannah at the end of March and drove to Asheville, North Carolina. (“This town is like a training ground for hipster who aren’t ready for the West Coast,” I observed.) We visited Dollywood and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Eastern Tennessee. We dallied a few days in Nashville — home to the worst drivers we encountered on the entire trip (no joke!) — where we had a lot of fun immersing ourselves in country music culture. I was pleased to see the Taylor Swift exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame!
One of our favorite stops on the entire trip came in Lexington, Kentucky. For one, we got to hang out with friends for the first time in months. More than that, northern Kentucky is beautiful, filled with rolling green hills and horse pastures. Kim and I spent our fourth anniversary as a couple watching the races at Keeneland. And, of course, we sampled the “Bourbon trail”.
From Kentucky, we drove west to St. Louis, then to central Missouri. My grandmother was born near Lake of the Ozarks, so I spent my time there trying to imagine what it must have been like for her as a girl 100 years ago. (By the way, did you know that the Ozark Mountains are the opposite of most mountains? Most mountains are formed when land thrusts up from the Earth’s crust. The Ozarks were formed by erosion when the vast inland sea that once occupied the space between the Rockies and the Appalachians drained away.)
Our next stop was special. In late April 2016, we drove into northeast Oklahoma to visit my cousin Gwen and her family. She and her husband Henry moved from Oregon many years ago, and they now own a 100-acre creek hollow outside Tahlequah, Oklahoma. (Tahlequah has two claims to fame. First, it’s the endpoint of the Trail of Tears. Second, it’s the setting for Where the Red Fern Grows. In fact, one scene in the book takes place on my cousin’s property!)
From Tahlequah, we doubled back on ourselves, turning east. This part of our trip was educational, to say the least. We got to see some of the poorer parts of the country.
We spent a couple of nights in beautiful Hot Springs, Arkansas, for instance. Hot Springs was once a booming resort town, popular with tourists from the East Coast. Today, the downtown area is a hollow core of what it once was (although there are a lot of people doing their best to save it).
Memphis was even worse. Kim and I spent several days in the Memphis area, driving down into Mississippi to travel the Blues Highway. This part of the U.S. is poor. Its infrastructure — roads and services and so on — is falling apart. It was shocking. (About a month after we drove the Blues Highway, we stayed a few days in Natchez, Mississippi, a few hundred miles south. Conditions in that region were even worse.)
Our eastward extent ended in Huntsville, Alabama, where we enjoyed spending time with my college roommate and his boyfriend. From there, we headed south to the Gulf of Mexico, which we followed from Gulf Shores, Alabama to New Orleans.
Kim and I loved southern Louisiana. The culture is distinct. The people are friendly. The food is amazing. It was here that we realized our favorite parts of the United States are those that retain a distinct character. You see, much of the U.S. has become homogenized. Indianpolis could be Orlando could be Sacramento could be Cleveland. No knock on any of these cities, but there’s a sameness about them despite the unique aspects of each of them. Cities like Miami and New York and New Orleans, however, feel very different. They’re unique. They have a unique culture, and they cling to it in the face of pressure to conform. As a result, they’re the most fun places to visit. (In each case, we believe this is because the population of these places is so diverse.)
Our leg across the Mississippi to Houston was interesting. And frustrating. It was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend 2016, and the heavens opened up. It rained and rained and rained. Texas isn’t equipped to handle so much rain. There was flooding everywhere, and roads became impassable. What ought to have been a five-hour drive to our campground turned into eight or nine hours of struggling to get where we wanted to go. We had to change plans and camp at the first place we could find with open space.
As you know, Texas is h-u-g-e. I mentioned earlier that the United States is larger than most folks realize. Well, Texas is too. During our nearly two weeks there, we visited Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. Even with all of that driving, we barely scratched the surface of the state.
The Home Stretch
At this point, we were just over two months into our planned six-month return trip. We had planned to head toward west Texas, then revisit some of our favorite western spots from the previous year. That plan changed when:
- The couple who had been watching our condo in Portland found a home of their own. The extended housesitting gig worked out well for them because they were between places. It gave them time to be patient and purchase the perfect house. But once they found it, they were eager to leave. (And understandably so.) As a result, we needed to return to Portland sooner than anticipated.
- We got a dog. When we’d stopped in Tahlequah, Oklahoma in late April, Kim fell in love with a litter of puppies. “Can we take one home?” she asked. At the time, I argued against it. But over the next few weeks, she whittled down my defenses. By the time we reached Dallas — just a few hours from Tahlequah — I agreed we could get a dog.
So, after our time in Dallas, we returned to the 100-acre creek hollow where my cousin lives. We picked out our puppy (which we named Tahlequah, naturally) and spent a few days getting her used to the RV. When we felt like she was ready, we hit the road — making a bee-line directly for home.
But even when you’re trying to make tracks in an RV, things still take time. Despite the fact that we were rushing the last part of the trip, it took us three weeks to get from northeastern Oklahoma to northwestern Oregon.
We spent our first two nights with the puppy in tiny Kingman, Kansas. There, we enjoyed one of our favorite campsites: An entire country fairground where we were the only guests. We had the run of the place, which was awesome because we could get the puppy used to us — and we could get used to her. Plus, the fairground was cheap cheap cheap.
Note: By the way, we found this location with our copy of the book Free and Low-Cost Campgrounds, which was a godsend on the trip. Although we’re all accustomed to great cell service in cities, the reality is that most of the U.S. has shitty coverage. There’s just no need for it in sparsely populated areas, and most of the U.S. is sparsely populated. (This fact surprised me, by the way. For some reason, I thought the reality was population density but the opposite is true.) As a result, when you’re doing an extended road trip, you need important info in print format.
From Kansas, we drove through the most barren stretch of our entire trip — eastern Colorado — to visit Kim’s mother in Fort Collins (and to see our pal Mr. Money Mustache once more). Then we burned rubber (literally…two of the RV tires started to fall apart!) to make it to her father outside Boise. We spent the last two days of the trip visiting my brother in central Oregon, then on 29 June 2016, we pulled into Portland.
At long last, we were home.
Culture Shock — at Home
Once Kim and I returned home, we experienced unexpected culture shock. After fifteen months of what was essentially an extended holiday (despite the fact we both worked in Savannah), normal life felt…well, normal life felt crazy.
We were overwhelmed by the busy-ness of it all: the pace, the scheduling, all of the requests for time and attention. “Why is this so tough for us?” I asked after a couple of weeks at home.
“I don’t know,” Kim said. “But it sucks.” She was right. It did suck.
About that time, I read Guardians of Being, a short book that mixes the philosophy of Eckhart Tolle with the animal art of Patrick McDonnell (from Mutts). Tolle, of course, is best known for his massive bestseller, The Power of Now, which encourages readers to get out of their heads and be more “present in the moment”. I was struck by this quote from Guardians:
Most of us live in a world of mental abstraction, conceptualization, and image making — a world of thought. We are immersed in a continuous stream of mental noise…We get lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating — lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.
While we were on the road, Kim and I lived in the Now. We were always present in the moment. We might have vague plans for where we wanted to be in a few days or a few weeks, but mostly we made things up as we went along.
“Where do you want to go next?” Kim might ask, and then we’d pick a spot.
“Where should we camp tonight?” I might ask as we drove to the new town, and Kim would find a campground. “What should we do for dinner? Should we visit that park? This site is awesome — let’s stay a few more nights.” Nearly everything we did was spontaneous. We had no plans or commitments and it was wonderful.
But back home, even without jobs to go to and few plans, the pace of modern life was staggering. We were always doing something with somebody. We scheduled appointments and anticipated commitments. We had to-do lists. We went to the gym three mornings a week, took the puppy to puppy classes, agreed to help colleagues, and so on. There was so much going on that there was never a chance to simply be present in the Here and Now.
We had no “margin” in our lives.
And the stuff! There was so much stuff! We had few possessions in the motorhome; we didn’t miss what we did not have. At home, even though we had less than many folks, we were surrounded by tons of stuff. Tons of stuff! So many books! So many clothes! So many dishes! So much in every closet and cupboard.
Kim and I were overwhelmed because we made a sudden transition from doing and having very little to doing and having a lot. All of the stuff and commitments comes with mental baggage. It takes brainwidth.
Even after we had settled down, we found it tough to resume “normal” life. Kim went back to work four days a week as a dental hygienist. I resumed writing and giving speaking gigs. We did our best to return to our old life…but it all felt wrong, like old clothes that no longer fit. So, we bought a place in the country. We have access to the city when we want it. Mostly, though, we stay at home and enjoy the relaxed pace with our ever-growing zoo.
It feels good to not be racing around so much. It feels nice to just be, you know?
Getting Rid of Bigfoot
Aside from the culture shock, Kim and I faced another problem upon our return. We no longer needed a motorhome. It was time to sell our loyal companion.
For some reason, we thought selling the RV would be simple. It wasn’t. From the time we started the process — which was eight or nine months after returning home — it took a year to actually get rid of Bigfoot.
We started by listing the rig on both Craigslist and RV Trader. Plus, I created a sales page that contained more information than we could fit in a normal advertisement.
We waited. And waited. And waited. Nobody seemed interested.
“Maybe we’re asking too much,” Kim suggested after a few months with zero responses. We had purchased the RV for $38,000, remember, and then spent nearly $8000 to replace the engine. By our reckoning, we had a $46,000 vehicle on our hands (and we’d made other upgrades too!) so we wanted $40,000 in return. Nobody wanted to pay $40,000.
We lowered the price to $38,000. As a result, we received a few email inquiries, but nobody came out to see the RV in person. We lowered the price to $35,000. We got more email inquiries, but still nobody wanted to view it.
When we lowered the price to $32,000, we finally got a reasonable number of responses and had a few people come out to take a look at the motorhome. We also learned that the price wasn’t the only thing holding people back. To us, the fact that Bigfoot had a new engine was a selling point. Turns out, that’s a red flag to a lot of people. Their reasoning is that if the engine went out once, it’ll go out again. This baffles me, but that’s what people were telling us.
“We’ve got to get rid of that thing,” Kim said last Christmas.
“I know,” I said. “It’s an albatross. Let’s lower the price to $30,000.”
After we lowered the price to $30,000, we immediately had buyers interested. We were flooded with email. One guy drove out right away to look at the RV. “I can’t have money for you until Monday,” he told us. “Will you hold it for me?” Given our inability to sell the thing, you might think we’d take him up on his offer. But we didn’t.
The next day, a couple drove seven hours from Sandpoint, Idaho to look at the motorhome. “We’ve been looking all over for a Bigfoot!” they told us. After several hours of inspecting the rig, they made us an offer: $28,000. We accepted. After three years of ownership, we were rid of the RV.
The Cost to RV Across America
So, this is a money blog. The most important question to answer is: How much did this trip cost us? Great question. We don’t have a precise answer, but I’ll share as many numbers as I can so that you can decide whether a trip like this would be worth it for your family.
Because I’m a money nerd, I keep detailed stats on most of my life. The RV trip is no different. I have a spreadsheet with detailed trip info, and I published trip stats at my travel blog. Here are some highlights:
- During 283 days on the road, we spent 371.3 hours (15.5 days total!) driving the RV across the U.S. We put 17,250 miles on the motorhome and 17,718 miles on the Mini Cooper. That’s a total of 34,968 miles driven — about 1.5 times the circumference of the Earth! Between the two vehicles, we drove an average of 120 miles per day.
- Everyone wonders about fuel efficiency in an RV. Well, it sucks. We had hoped to average 10 miles per gallon; we got 7.7. (No, replacing the engine didn’t make things better.) The motorhome consumed 2202.6 gallons of fuel at an average price of $2.48 per gallon. It cost us 32 cents per mile to drive that beast — and that’s only counting gasoline.
- On the first leg of the trip, we spent a total of $17,137.07 for budgeted daily items. Fuel and routine maintenance for the motorhome and car ate up a third of that budget. Food (both groceries and restaurants) consumed another third. We spent $3086 on lodging, which works out to $16.24 per night. The remaining $2000 was spent on alcohol, fun, and miscellaneous expenses. (Our stats for the return leg weren’t as detailed.)
- About two-thirds of our nights were spent in campgrounds or RV parks. We drycamped 19% of the time on the way east (but not once on the way home). We spent 18% of our nights in somebody’s home or driveway.
- We visited 38 states. We spent the most time in California (33 nights) and Colorado (25 nights). We loved them all.
- Arizona and West Virginia were the two most beautiful states we saw on our trip, although the area around Jackson, Wyoming was probably the single prettiest place. Charleston, South Carolina and Lafayette, Louisiana had the best food (the Midwest had the worst) and Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, New York had the best beer. The worst drivers? Orlando, Savannah, and especially Nashville.
To me, the most important numbers is what I’d call our “base costs”. These are the combination of gas and lodging, the costs for keeping the RV in action. During the first leg of our trip, our base costs were $35.09 per day (with an overall cost of $90.20 per day). During the second leg, our base costs were $41.25 per day (and I didn’t keep track of total costs).
How much you would spend beyond these base costs is, well, up to you. Obviously, we were spending an extra $50 to $60 per day, or about $25 to $30 per person. This includes food and fun but it does not include the cost of the RV and/or maintenance. (Our net cost for the RV was $10,000 — $38,000 purchase price, $28,000 sale price — plus the $7751.39 for engine replacement.)
And don’t forget that we spent about $2000 to furnish the RV before setting out, plus had to make miscellaneous repairs. My guess (and this is only a guess) is that our total cost for for the RV trip outside daily expenses was $23,500. This equates to about $80 per day. If you add this to our ongoing daily expenses, you get a total of $170 per day. Let’s round that to $175 per day. [Note that these are corrected numbers. My original calculation of daily cost forgot the engine repair. Oops.]
All told, to live like we did on the road — which was living well — it cost about $180 per day (or about $5400 per month) for two people. I’m sure it can be done for less. And we met tons of people who spend much more.
I realize that not everyone can afford this sort of adventure. Nor do many people have the ability to pick up and leave their lives for six or twelve or eighteen months. In other words, this isn’t the sort of trip that everyone has the time and money to make happen.
But for those who do have the resources, exploring the United States by motorhome can be relatively affordable — especially if your engine doesn’t need to be replaced!
On the Road Again?
Here’s the thing: Our story is not unique. There’s this idea that RVing is only for old people with more time and money than sense. Sure, there are plenty of retired couples out there in brand-new $200,000 luxury motorhomes, but there are also a surprising number of younger couples on the road full time — including couples with kids!
Everyone we talked to reported the same thing: If you’re careful, it’s perfectly possible to live large in a motorhome on a modest budget. There are plenty of awesome side-effects too. The trip strengthened my relationship with Kim. (If you can make things work in 245 square feet, you can certainly do it in a larger space!) It taught us that we need far less Stuff to live than we thought.
The best side effect of all? Realizing just how awesome everybody is. I’m not joking. The media has whipped us into a state of hysteria in this country. The Left hates the Right. The Right hates the Left. Nobody talks or takes time to understand the other side. That’s bullshit, to be honest.
During our fifteen months away from Portland, we had two bad experiences — and they weren’t even that bad. (Maybe the people were just having off days?) Universally, everybody was friendly and polite and fun.
This morning, as I was finishing this article, Kim and I got to talking. “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a trip like that again?” she asked. “Maybe we should buy another RV.” Haha. Maybe. I told her we should put it off until next year.
Our adventure across the U.S. truly was the trip of a lifetime.
What are you waiting for? If you too have always dreamed of an epic cross-country roadtrip, get cracking. Draw up a plan. Save your money. Make it happen.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best time of year to buy an RV?
The optimal time to purchase an RV in the USA is usually during the off-peak seasons, particularly late fall and winter. During these periods, demand decreases and dealerships are more inclined to provide discounts to clear out their inventory. However, keep in mind that the selection may be more limited than in peak seasons.
How much does it cost to rent an RV for a month?
The cost to rent an RV for a month can vary significantly based on the type and size of the RV, as well as the rental location. On average, you can anticipate costs between $2,000 and $8,000 per month. Remember to take into account additional costs like insurance, fuel, and campsite fees.
How much does a new RV cost?
Prices for new RVs can range widely, influenced by factors like type, size, brand, and additional features. Entry-level travel trailers may start around $12,000, while high-end luxury motorhomes can exceed $300,000. Be sure to consider other costs such as maintenance and insurance.
How much does a used RV cost?
The price of a used RV is influenced by factors such as age, condition, brand, size, and included features. Used RVs can range anywhere from as low as $6,000 for older models, up to over $150,000 for newer luxury motorhomes. Always ensure a thorough inspection is carried out to avoid unforeseen repair costs.
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There are 96 comments to "Traveling the U.S. in an RV: Cross-country road trip costs".
Wow, and at $150 per day, that’s a bargain. America is so amazingly beautiful…. after doing all kinds of crazy world traveling for many many years, I’ve really come to the conclusion that I’d like to focus my attention back on my own country. I’ve been to 45 of the 50 states, but there’s still SO much to see.
I love the term “ten days drinking beer with Plankintonians”, it just rolls off the tongue and sounds exotic. And I have been to the Corn Palace, and I don’t care what anyone says – it’s a treasure to be seen!!
It sounds like a line from a sci-fi novel of the lost adventurea of some Han Solo space smuggler.
Great trip I find it about even Rv or motel and car just more convenient with Rv especially with pets. I do not blame the media for our differences without media we would be Russia, China or any other dictatorship. Thanks
Wow, great post! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us. This was great from both the travel and the financial aspects.
That was an epic trip! But where is the spreadsheet? I’d like to see things break out into categories in spreadsheet form. RVing is more expensive than I thought. $4,500/month is about our average monthly expense here in Portland. I thought living in an RV would be cheaper, but I guess it’s not due to gas, food, and tourist attractions.
I’d love to do this someday, but my wife doesn’t like the sound of it. We’ll probably just take smaller road trips instead.
It’s pretty crazy that you couldn’t sell the RV at a fair price. I agree that a new engine should be a positive.
What a great synopsis! Did you ever read “Blue Highways” by William Least Heat Moon? Great travelogue. Book came out 40 years ago or so. Great read.
My wife and I do the same trips by car. We prefer AIrB&Bs but enjoy keeping costs low. Have stayed in some dumps and some palaces. Used to travel @$100/day (gas/room/food). Nowadays we try to keep it @130/day. Also, we are older- me 76 she 66. So we travel slower but more scenically. NEVER Interstates. Always the Blue Highways ala WLH Moon. ( Hwy 1, 17, 221, etcetcetc. Hillandale roads.
Best fact! You are right. Never met an asshole in our travels. Whenever we had issues with something someone was always there to help if we just asked.
America is a great country traveling at ground level.
My parents loaded up the mini motor home with three kids, two cats, and a Golden Retriever and hit the road for 4 weeks. In 1975. We saw an awful lot of the country, as well as some rarely seen relatives. My dad mentioned that Debbie Reynolds had done something similar with her kids, Carrie and Todd Fisher.
This was the best account of RV-travel that I’ve read, and there are many online these days, but none of them give the honest details of costs. As a retirement present to himself, my dad bought himself an RV in 1976 and spent his last two decades exploring the open roads of the West. He loved meeting and talking to people. I did a few trips with him through CA, CO and AZ back in the day and we had adventures I’ll always remember.
The most important statement in this article: “The best side effect of all? Realizing just how awesome everybody is. I’m not joking. The media has whipped us into a state of hysteria in this country. The Left hates the Right. The Right hates the Left. Nobody talks or takes time to understand the other side. That’s bullshit, to be honest.”
Not everybody has to or can make an extended journey like this. But there are many ways of travel that open the mind. Those in the U.S. who stay home or live in their comfortable mental bubble of “what they KNOW and BELIEVE” become calcified, scared of anything new, and especially terrified of strangers–because they never meet any. It’s almost a disease in our country.
J.D., kudos to you and Kim for living your dream of exploration and especially for giving a roadmap about how others might do the same. One of your best posts ever.
Being a numbers guy that’s the area I thought I would gain the most knowledge in from this article. Wrong! Here are the takeaways I got the most from (in no particular order):
1) About 6 months of travel before burnout. Probably less if you are doing it without luxury.
2) Avoid buying RV (unless you have money to burn). If after trip you wouldn’t drive the vehicle you used to go and buy milk….Don’t buy vehicle to begin with!
3) Being in the NOW and being just as content with less! PRICELESS!
4) Mother Nature has definitely blessed the US with her beauty. It is however the people that make any journey AMAZING!
I found the article inspirational beyond the finances. Thanks for sharing JD!
This is a super inspiring post, makes me want to leave the Shire and go on my own adventure.
I am so happy to read this one JD! I avidly followed Faraway Places, and your trip was a big catalyst to inspiring all sorts of change in our life. I was always a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a post to wrap it all up. Thank you for writing it now!
Great write up of an epic trip.
We keep talking about doing something like this. You definitely inspired me with our discussions during the run.
Great to see it laid out like that. Thanks!
Maybe we’ll see you on the road!
Great write-up. Loved everything about it, especially your evaluation about Asheville (our daughter lives there and we consider retiring there), and the photos. It all made sense ’til you decided to take $28K for the RV on Saturday, instead of $30K on Monday. I tried to put the numbers into my compound calculator, but I can’t get a gain of $2K in 2 days, no matter how I twist it.
I would have sent the dude to the nearest ATM and told him to bring me a $500 NON-refundable cash deposit and would have waited 48 hours (or less) for the conclusion of the transaction. But, hey, that’s just me . . .
Haha. This is a good point. But from our perspective, it was “a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush”. Sure, the guy SAID he’d give us $30k on Monday, but there was no guarantee. The couple from Sandpoint had $28,000 in cash with them right then. (As a side note, if any email subscribers remember my counterfeit money story, this is the source. The bank was very worried that this $28,000 in cash was counterfeit!)
Thanks for sharing! We’re still in debt with 2 small children, but would love to spend summers traveling in a camper van in the future. He is off summers (teacher), and I could video in part-time to my job. Just gotta keep getting our finances in order while our kids keep growing to a better travel age, and this gives us a good ballpark to aim for.
Meanwhile, there is always weekend camping! It is a lot of work getting everybody packed up and it all organized, but it is great for kids and if you start them early with one overnight in the family tent, they get the hang of it and become campers—and adventurers— for life!
I’m flabbergasted that a new engine is a red flag. If it’s a new engine then the likelihood of it going again should be lower, not higher!
This post was great. Lengthy, but well worth the read. RVing across the US just went up several spots on the bucket list
I would guess that it’s a combination of people’s general ignorance of cars and thr fact that often car issues seem to cascade. I dont know if it’s statistically true, but transmission problems, etc often seem to follow such a big repair.
Pretty soon you are going to be able to get a solid day’s driving range into a next-generation, non-lithium battery and electric motor(s), and grid electricity will probably cost a fourth as much as diesel or gas. If you stop a day or a few in each place, and carry a stack of fold-out solar panels (5 or more kW?) and a frame to hold them, you might cut that way down after you pay for the solar with savings.
If everyone used an air suspension, the cost might go down.
What a great adventure! I’ve always dreamed of doing something similar, but by sailboat and going around the world. Due to the fact that I get seasick and you run into an occasional hurricane at sea, I think that RV’ing may be a better idea. Thanks for sharing so much detail, it’s actually more expensive than I thought it would be.
Research ‘the Great Loop’ if you’re interested in an eastern US boating trip (WAY less seasick than across a few ponds). Wife and I plan to begin our journey in 2021. Good blogs out there too- ‘What Yaught To Do’ is a good one on you tube, though I’m sure there are sailboat blogs covering their journey too. Check out http://www.greatloop.org
Did your housesitters pay your condo expenses while you were travelling?
Yes. Our HOA prevented us from renting, so we just had them pay the monthly expenses. Worked well for them, worked well for us. (The housesitters are good friends. I just had beers with Tyler yesterday, in fact.)
Your HOA prevented rentals? Wow, I didn’t know that was even possible, to be honest. I run an HOA on the other side of the country from you, and while we have to account for rentals differently, and we get to charge an investor fee if certain conditions are met, I can’t believe that any HOA would be able to prevent renting out your own property.
I know it’s different when you rent yourself and then want to sublet, etc. but I’ve never heard of an HOA having that power own property owners.
Having owned two coops in Manhattan, I can tell you that the coop rules are stringent about renting. Each coop is slightly different and writes its own guidelines, and boards have the authority to set the rules (if you don’t like it, you get yourself elected onto the board). Some coops won’t let you rent at all. My last coop had a limit (2 years out of 7), and the renters had to present their financials as well have an interview by the board. Not uncommon. We rented that one out twice over the years (once to family, once to friends) and then sold it.
Thanks for the financial realities of your journey. My husband and I are planning year on the road when he retires, we are looking at a small trailer. Have been trying to estimate costs, so all the information was so helpful.
Can’t wait to “load and go”, so much to see and enjoy ahead.
Traveling cross country is something I have often thought about. I have never been out West and would love to see the Grand Canyon! I hate driving long distances though in traffic (scenic drives are great though)! I don’t know as I’d want to spend a year or more driving around in an RV (nor could I afford to), but a road trip to some places that I have never been sound terrific!
Hi, My suggestion would be to fly to a large city and rent a car with unlimited mileage for one or two weeks and then stay at hotels along the way. For example, I lived and worked for eight months in Salt Lake City and there are many wonderful and interesting places to see…Yellowstone National Park was not that far. Just get a map of the entire USA and pick an area you might want to visit.
Enjoy your life
I think you might have talked me into doing something like this. It sounds absolutely amazing even with the unexpected expenses and couple of bad experiences. I’m so glad you shared this trip with us.
awesome…thank you
Thank you for this write-up! We are aiming for 3-6 months in 2022 when our son is about to start 4th grade and take advantage of Every Kid in a Park. This has given me some more ideas on items to budget for…and places to dream about.
Excellent post, probably my favorite one you have ever written. My husband and I dream of doing a trip like this one day. I loved how much detail you went into from both a financial and travel perspective. Loved it all-great job!
I think about a trip like this a lot. A LOT. And in my head it’s the argument of RV vs hotel/Airbnb/tent camping. I’m curious about why your upfront costs of purchasing the RV are considered overhead? Because I would think that if you want to break down what the cost is per day, isn’t the purchase cost part of that? So, the RV costs at the beginning were $40k, plus another $7k, plus camping fees (where applicable), plus insurance on both vehicles (and maintenance), I’m not sure that an RV is cheaper overall? Granted, there is the added bonus of making meals at home, having more of your stuff, etc.
And add me to the list for being glad to see this write-up. I also followed your trip very closely and was disappointed that there wasn’t a wrap-up. Thanks for posting this!
I was thinking about that same thing, Lisa. But it’s also a very different trip. Whenever people talk about buying an RV and touring the country, I always think about being stranded in a small town with mechanical issues. I think RVs are actually quite expensive and I’ve heard more than a few stories about how little value they hold. But if you like camping and spontaneity and freedom then it kind of can’t be beat. Especially since at any point on your trip you could decide to splurge for a hotel (or have to because of repairs) or an AirBnB if you needed a change of pace. But, yeah, $40,000 could buy quite a lot of rentals!
I’ve always maintained you could do it cheaper, and better, in a fuel efficient car (8mpg vs. 40+mpg), saving enough daily to stay in good motels and purchase meals.
I believe the day of the RV (or stupidly big trailer) has passed.
I’m planning a six-month international trip with my family this year. We’re leaving in September. First stop will be Italy, then France, Spain, Morocco, fly back across the Atlantic and land in the Dominican Republic, then probably Mexico after Christmas, but that far out isn’t figured out yet.
Unlike you J.D., I will not keep so detailed of records as to exactly what everything costs. 🙂 I’ve never found it to matter very much to me, or I guess to be more precise, the ROI on the record keeping never seems very high. I don’t get a lot out of it after the fact. As long as I have enough money now, it isn’t a huge deal to me how much money I spent in the past.
One thing I like to do with these bigger trips is make sure as much of the trip as possible is already paid for before we leave. We’ve already paid for the flights to Europe and back, and lodging for Italy. Next thing to pay for is the car (you can get a good deal on a short term lease of a new car in Europe for up to 6 months). After that, Spain, Morocco and DR housing. I expect that when we leave in September, our main transportation and lodging expenses will all be paid for already, which really mitigates the stress associated with paying for the trip as you go. If everything’s already paid for and you’re in a comfortable financial spot, it’s a lot harder for things to go wrong, because your expected expenses are so much lower. We won’t have a lot to pay for besides food, gasoline, and activities.
Our trip is financed a bit differently, though. We’re not paying for it out of a large savings account, but through my regular income. The idea it to neither withdraw from savings, nor accumulate any new debt on the trip. In some sense we’re “saving” for the trip now by pre-purchasing most of the big-ticket items.
Hi Tyler! My family of 3 from Seattle bought a motorhome in Utrecht, NL and travelled throughout Europe and northern Africa for 18 mo. before selling it and returning to the States to housesit full time. We’ve now been on the road for almost 4 years – who woulda thunk? If you’re interested, we have tons of stories to tell including visa stuff which we hear may be changing soon. http://www.landsremote.com
>Nor was she willing to make the trip by motorcycle despite being a die-hard Harley girl.
You should have her read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. That might change her mind about that, if you’re really keen on going on a cross country motorcycle adventure that is.
Or even if you aren’t, she should read it anyway. And so should you… and everyone else 🙂
I love Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. We actually DID listen to it on the trip, as we were driving from Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana all the way to the Dakotas. 😉
What an enjoyable post to read! My husband and I bought a 35ish foot long boat (not the most justifiable financial move, but we’re saving enough to hopefully retire early despite the expense) two summers ago. While we learn and explore up in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands on weekends and for vacations, we’re dreaming of someday upgrading to a larger, more liveaboard-realistic boat when we retire, and packing up the contents of our home for a year or two to rent the home out while we go cruising. The inside passage (between Vancouver Island and the mainland, and up north to Alaska) is one of the top cruising areas in the world. It’s fun to think of the possibilities and how to accomplish those goals, and even better to look at the experiences of others to help gauge how those dreams might compare to reality. Youtube is great for this purpose. Thanks again for sharing!
Watch out for the whirlpool! When I went fishing at 19, we couldn’t handle the pounding outside, so we traded going through a 20-f00t-wide whirlpool behind the island, that threw the boat way left, then right, then left again before we got through it on the inertia of going through on the outgoing tide at full throttle for several miles before we hit it. From the bridge, I looked down into the hole at one point, and it was maybe 12 feet deep that I could see, and the steep part was around 3 feet wide near the top — amazing! I was told the fishing fleet used to lose 2 or 3 boats a year there, before they used dynamite to make the passage a lot wider. Since my skipper was 73 years old, I figured he knew what he was doing, and he did!
The pictures in the post are just gorgeous!! something like a screen saver for my computer. I would love to take a trip like this currently saving up for my first trip to Vegas. Im hoping that will lead to a snowball effect and have smaller trips to outer islands since I live in Hawaii. Also on my list would be a trip back to Louisana lived there for about 1 year as a child and maybe California. I’m fascinated by the idea of a tiny home so if I planned something like this I would either buy a tiny home or build and attach that to a truck.
We’re already doing it, man.
One word of advice: do NOT wait until you are retired to do this.
It’s NOT as easy as it looks. Lots of hard work. I would loved to have done this in my 20’s.
Kinda tough in your 60’s.
We bought a brand new 2017 Jayco Hummingbird direct from the factory which saved us a lot of money! Only paid around $14K.
We buy new because everything works and we have a 2 year warranty.
When we travel, we got it down between $40 to $50 a day and that’s for the both of us.
Food falls under our regular monthly budget as do meals out.
Insurance is $21 a month.
Gas is the biggest concern. We get around 12 MPG.
Because I’m over the age of 62 I get LOTS of freebies, especially free admittance in state parks.
I agree with you about Arizona. Spending 3 months there is priceless.
Thanks for a great post.
Is that area the Bermuda Triangle of road trips? Years ago a friend and I went on a road trip to revive my parents’ old Peugeot in Oregon and bring it back to Nebraska where we were stationed. His car died outside of Mitchell, and the trip report reads like a comedy of errors, if you’re curious:
http://www.reverendlinux.com/archive/peugeot/prtd1.html
Wow, what great timing. My wife and I are thinking of RV’ing. We have a Jeep Cherokee, so we were thinking of going the trailer route. My biggest ‘fear’ is trying to figure out where the heck to camp each night. I will have to research the Thousand Trails and State Parks passes. We would just get a lightweight trailer.
Maybe I should have addressed this in greater depth in the write-up: When Kim and I set out, we too were a little worried about finding places to camp each night. Turns out, it was a non-issue. In fact, it didn’t take long before we never worried about it. Sometimes we’d know where we were staying when we started a leg. Often, however, we’d just drive until we felt tired, then start looking for a place. We never once had an issue finding a spot. (We did have two close calls, I guess, and they were both on holiday weekends.) I highly highly recommend the “free and low-cost campsites” book I mentioned in the article. We also liked an organization called “Harvest Hosts”, which connects RVers with farms and wineries with space for drycamping.
You tried to save money buying a used RV and it didn’t work out. However, you seem to discredit an $8K engine repair like it’s nothing and doesn’t matter multiple times in the article. Is that cost included in your $150 a day?
“Our net cost for the RV was $10,000” I’d say your cost was more like 38+2+7.7-28 = ~$20K. As you found out replacing the engine added zero value to the RV so it is definitely is part of the cost.
Good catch! I did include the cost at the end of the article — but didn’t include it in the math to get the daily total. I’ll go back and make the changes. Thanks for spotting the error.
And yikes! Making that edit, I caught a paragraph that I’d left in from three years ago, when I first started drafting this piece. How embarrassing.
I was a little disappointed that you didn’t visit New England, especially Maine. Friendly people, awesome food especially seafood and some of the most magnificent scenery in the US. Next time you head East please include Maine
Fantastic! My wife and I discuss taking this type of trip regularly. Our biggest challenge is she’s disabled and uses a wheelchair full time so finding something accessible changes things dramatically. Currently we have a modified full sized van she can drive from her chair, and we’d likely buy a camper as an actual RV would limit how much we could drive into cities. With her van, we could unhook and leave the camper behind. Using an RV for towing something like your Mini wouldn’t work, as she wouldn’t be able to get in and out of a non-modified vehicle. And towing a full sized van is questionable at best.
And speaking of your Mini: OH, THE MILES! I’d never considered the (low-stress) miles tacked on via towing. That car lost some value there, but I guess a 2004 Mini is the perfect car for that task.
Great article and so interesting to learn how you planned for this and the lessons you learnt.
One question I have is how does that cost per day of travelling compare to staying at home? Some costs would be common across the two – food, entertainment etc – but at home, you’d have the addition of all your household bills etc. When you’re travelling it’d be a higher fuel cost plus the site fees you’d pay.
I’m curious to see whether that year away cost you extra than if you lived at home.
I love Savannah, Kentucky,, North and South Carolina, Nashville, Gulf Shores, and of course, Louisiana…omg the food! Loved hearing about your trip! I also love the state of Utah, but did not see it mentioned. Wyoming is also a fav.
Wow, great post, thank you! Can you say the reasons behind an RV vs a travel trailer for your purchase? And you were already a truck owner, would that have changed your decision-making? Travel trailers are so much cheaper than RV’s to buy, which is why we’ve been leaning that way. Also, I would rather not have a bathroom which would reduce the ability to boondocks for more than a day or 2 at once.
Thanks
My wife and I took a 30-day trip that started in California, went all the way to Maine and back, and had us hit 37 states and one Canadian province. We did a lot of bucket list things, like running up the “Rocky” steps in Philadelphia, riding the cogwheel train up Mount Washington in New Hampshire, visiting Washington D.C., walked around Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, hiked through Carlsbad Caverns, and riding the rides at the Mall of the Americas in Minneapolis, among a hundred other things. It was go-go-go, but we loved it and would do it all over again. Our trip cost us about $9000, although we did have the benefit of driving a Prius and stayed in motels and some friends’ places along the way.
By reading of your Motor Home adventure, my husband and I can truly relate! We did an ” Around North America ” trip in our 2nd Motor Home,( towing a small car ) which was a 34 ft. Class A, for a year, in 2006-07! It was a fantastic experience and even great experience to meet people in many different places. Because we are retired and don’t have a lot of money, we had to be conscious of our spending as well! We started in British Columbia ( home ) and circumnavigated the US via west coast, the south and over to Louisiana, the state we fell in love with while visiting some of the smaller centers eg. Breau Bridge, Lafaette etc. We spent the Winter in Florida and in the Spring worked out way up the eastern seaboard to Newfoundland in Canada. We covered most of the Maritime provinces, Quebec and Ontario and then ducked back into the US to return home! We can relate to the fact that you don’t have as much stuff and you don’t miss it if you don’t have it! Also if two people can get along in that small space, 24 hours a day for that long, you probably be fine together! We are now on our 3rd Motor Home, a 38 ft. Diesel Pusher with 3 slides and spend the Winters in it at Whistler/Blackcomb, BC skiing! We plan to drive it and travel as much as we can as long as we can!
My wife an I owned a 2000 Tioga 29 foot motor home for six years that we bought in 2009 for $9,000. put about $5,000 in repairs an sold it for $5,000. Your correct that fuel cost is high. We averaged around six miles a gallon.We take about 3 trips a year. Between fuel an maintenance it was expensive. I always owned a full size pick up truck because of my business. So after the six years we sold the motor home and bought brand new 2015 30 foot Puma travel trailer that’s fully self contained for $20,000. Pulling it with my dodge ram pick up fuel miles was the same as the motor home. I traded in the dodge and bought a 2017 GMC canyon 4 cylinder diesel long bed pick up capable of towing 7700 pounds.The travel trailer is about 6700 pounds. My fuel miles average about 12 miles to the gallon pulling the travel trailer an about 25 combined city / highway without it. So i doubled my fuel miles on the road. I use my pick up for about 80 per cent business an 2o percent personal. In 4 years when I turn 70 an retire we plan on taking a 1 year road trip of the US. Also we will be doing lots of traveling after wards. My point is there’s way less cost to own a travel trailer than motor home an I cut my fuel costs in half. Alos there’s a lot less maintenance on a diesel than a gas engine an if you adhere to the manufactures maintenance guide lines they can get as high as 500,000 miles on the engine. We love the RV life style an plan to do a lot of traveling when I retire. The best about it is there’s no set schedule. You can make plans as you go along. An being that I was a long haul trucker for 20 years I have no problem with the driving. An driving down th e road in the diesel pick up with the trailer is very comfortable. RVing is not for every one. But for us we love it. I highly suggest that anyone that,s never tryed RVing but wants to, rent a motor home or travel trailer and take a trip. You never know you just may fall in love with it.
Thanks for the article. We’ve been thinking of doing a trip like that now that our 2 girls are on to their own lives. We do have a lot of stuff to consider selling and storing. I thought I had downsized into our 888 sq ft. apt and 7×8 storage. But maybe there is more work to do there. I like 2 Class B models w/rear bathrooms. Just trying to figure out how to store what we need in them as the closets are small.
Thanks for the informative post JD. You guys covered a lot of distance but I did get the impression that perhaps you began to tire of it? It sounds fun but I know from experience that it can be hard work. We’ve done a lot of traveling in a 34 foot trailer pulled by a Chevy Suburban and it was a lot of fun. Our kids will always remember those days. We are retiring early and bought a new Toyota Tundra last week. We plan to tent camp/stay in motels because I really don’t want to tow a monster trailer around again but I might consider towing a much smaller light weight trailer, haven’t decided yet. I like one of the comments above because that was what I told my husband: If we can’t use the vehicle to go to the grocery store, we shouldn’t buy the vehicle. We also didn’t want to travel in a gas efficient car (although we have a new Honda Civic) because we like to see the road before us and the Tundra fits that requirement, plus it’s safer on the road over constant long distances IMO. Not too sure about night after night tent camping but I’m game for adventure.
A very interesting story! GREAT that you realized your life long adventure of a roadtrip!!! Sometimes, monetary costs, even if it requires sacrifices, is not the primary concern!
My husband and I lived (fulltime) in our RV on the road for 13 years and we wouldn’t trade those amazing experiences for anything! We matured together, learned to be self sufficient, made amazing friends, learned to trust ourselves and our instincts, developed a confidence that served us well, and which continues to do so, today. We learned all about tight spots, both figurative ones and literal ones.
We set out in our 20’s, adventurous, excited by the idea of “living life our way” on our own terms, and seeing the rest of our great land in the USA, and the world, at our leisure. We worked periodically, as we traveled and back in the day, (mid-70’s) the RV Parks were, over all, quite reasonable. Even the pricier ones weren’t bad really. We purchased a brand new pick up and a new 32′ travel trailer, with a mated hitch set up, which for us, was perfect. For just the 2 of us it had quite enough for room, including storage space. Was self-contained, so no issues when we boondocked, which was seldom.
We left a traditional home, sold our furnishings and most everything we didn’t need. We stored a couple of boxes of things special to us, at a relatives home for safekeeping and off we went into the wild blue yonder.
Our first stop, leaving our home in the Southeast, was Colorado. Of course, we fell in love with not only the people, but the geography and diverse scenery. Our first trip there, we stayed 8 months. We returned to CO, 4 times over the course of our traveling years. It never got old and it was always like “coming home” to something we both felt connected to in a special way.
Oregon, Washington State, New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas, California, Kansas, the deeper South of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, all interesting and special in their own way. The mid-West never particularly grabbed us as the overall West grabbed us. Not sure why. It was as interesting to us as any other section of our country, but didn’t fascinate us as much and we spent less time in that part of the country and the scenery there, was no less spectacular. We saw Old Faithful, and lesser known eye candy. We hiked a LOT in many varied terrains. We spent time getting to know the locals, in addition to our fellow campers. We enjoyed getting to know the “flavor” of an area. What the people were like. What their lifestyles were like. Their concerns.
Of course, the foods and flavors were forever interesting and for myself, a vegetarian, I sometimes had difficulty finding foods when dining out, that appealed, I never once had a restaurant experience that left me hungry or found the food lacking. We cooked and ate in, more often than we ate out. We found that many of our fellow campers enjoyed getting together for dinners and everyone made a dish to bring. Always great food and great company. Often, especially on weekends, we’d have travelers in a park, who were into music, and there’d be a jam session and singalongs, that were fun and would often go on till the wee hours for those who wished to remain that long.
Overall, as I read through some of the posts here, I see a few similarities to RVing back then, to RVing now:
DEFINITELY do it when you’re young, if possible. Satisfying that urge for adventure and travel combined, can be equally satisfying, I believe, either when one is young or post raising a family, post retirement, assuming ones health is overall good. Only difference really, is that tough hikes, the exploring, the climbing and other excursions, may find us lacking, in advancing years. Also, any issues on the road, feel a bit more of a challenge in our later years.
The Northeast WAS more expensive back then, as it is today. For camp fees, groceries, fuel, restaurants…you name it. Not much seems to have changed. LOL My comparison today, is that we settled in the Northeast some years ago and I can attest to the expense of living in the Northeast today, firsthand.
You can certainly still strike out today on such an adventure, and find that most people are friendly and helpful, on the road, and in the RV Parks. However, RV Parks, have become more profit driven today, than they perhaps were in the 1970’s and early 80’s. And fees are higher, in relations to general cost of living, today. My “guess” on the why of that is the fact that more people are RVing today than ever before, as families, weekenders, summer vacationers, and/or snowbirds and a large number of those folks ARE retirees. Need I say more? LOL We have friends who RV half of each year, and they manage to do it on about $6,000/month, quite comfortably. All inclusive. Cost seems about the same, whether it’s in a motorhome or a trailer w/truck.
We were fortunate, in that we could find work, when we needed or wanted, fairly easily and the money was good back in the day, relative to the cost of living, particularly while living fulltime in an RV. We spent 10 months in Corpus Christi, TX, through a Winter which brought us freezing temps AND sleet which was amazing. But not to fear, when the temps dropped, we had our trusty “heat tape” with us! Of course, we loved the gulf beaches there and enjoyed exploring Padre and North Padre Islands, collecting some interesting shells through varying seasons. (some of which we still have today!) Galveston was also a must see as well, and the RV Park there was literally, right on the beach. Of course, Houston and environs were also a must-experience. Whatever struck our fancy next, was where we went. How long we remained depended on how interesting we found the area to be and the time of year we were there.
We had friends in Scottsdale, AZ, as well as N.M., so those two States were also on our list of places to remain for at least a month or more.
It really just depends on what you set out to experience in your travels. If you’d just like to sno-bird it, that’s a great way to get there and back, comfortably, at a leisurely pace and you may stop, see and do, as much or as little as you like, on the way there and/or back. And/or take side trips to neighboring States and areas of interest, while living in a particular area for the term of your chosen season to be there.
If you want to RV full time for a year, or two, that’s great as well. Just pace yourself to what’s comfortable for you and try to be sure that the trip fulfills your expectations and that you can afford to see what you most want to see and do what you most want to do, and in the places you most want to do it.
Ideally, you will have arranged to have your mail sent to a stationary place, for convenience while traveling and have someone bundle it and forward it to you. Also, ideally, you shouldn’t be expecting too many recurring invoices, which can be time sensitive in order to pay on time. OR, choose electronic payments for anything you maintain, which is recurring and regular. No worries!
Arrange for any payments to yourself to also be managed electronically via direct deposit. That way, what you may need, will always be there, on time, in the correct amounts. A quick check of your online banking will alert you to any issues that need addressing. If you really have an affinity for boondocking, maybe invest in a satellite phone, if that makes you more comfortable.
Be sure to keep up your health and other important insurances and keep a copy with you of any particular health issues/concerns, including details of any meds you regularly take, which any medical personnel may need to know about in the event of an accident or illness. Anyone can become injured when exploring, climbing, hiking or just going up or down ordinary steps! Haven’t we all sprained an ankle or worse, broken one, when traversing steps!
And, of course, make sure that family or good friends know your general whereabouts, periodically. In our 20’s that’s sound advice we did not exactly follow regularly, but as we became 30-somethings, it made more sense to us. Our travels were by road map navigation only, as there were no GPS’s in those days and we DID take a wrong turn or two, but surprisingly they were few. Specifically in Oregon, California and Texas, which lead us out into the boonies, and concerned about enough fuel to find our way back out. Tight turnarounds are demanding in rough terrain, bad weather or just very tight parameters. I mean, Sasquatch COULD be real, for all we knew, and those dense forests of Oregon could make a believer of a person! LOL
We finally hung up our RV wheels and yes, sold the RV we had at the time, and bought a house and began to travel to other countries, for about 4 years around our 9th year of RVing fulltime. Our budget then, locked us into no more than 4 trips abroad per year, and had to be managed with our work schedules as well.
We had our first child, 5 years after settling into one place, after 16 years of marriage. We initially felt a bit odd, staying in one location, but began to settle into it and appreciate the finer points of it. The first 2 years, of living in a traditional home, we occasionally found ourselves longing for the “road”, but the longer we remained, the weaker the longings became. We were ok with schedules that were not entirely made by us. We needed to pay attention to the time by the ole clock on the wall more than ever before. We needed to do certain errands and chores, attend meetings, concern ourselves with grass and landscaping things, home maintenance (which BTW, was a lot more expensive and frequent, overall, than the RV’s had been) Too, our biological clock was ticking and although we’d not wanted children, at the outset of our travels, we felt differently knowing we didn’t have many years left to leap from “couple” to “family”. But, it all worked out beautifully. Parenting was as much fun, adventurous, and rewarding, as anything else we’d ever done!
I soundly urge anyone thinking of traveling in an RV, to do so. Regardless of whether it’s for vacations only, or for making it a way of life for a period of time, just do it, IF you have the curiosity, the financial wherewithal and the URGE. I doubt you’ll regret it. It can enrich your life and expand your horizons in a way little else can or will. You can come to understand so much more of life and perhaps become more of your “best”. And the real treat, is in coming to understand both yourself and your travel partner in a whole new way! Not everyone is suited to that lifestyle, but for those who think they are; check it out with a few local trips, of long enough duration to get your teeth into it and get to know your rig and become adept at handling it under varying conditions and see what you think. No need to jump in with both feet. Just ease into it by perhaps renting an RV at the outset and go from there if it truly appeals to you.
We’re both so glad that we had the ability to live as we did, those many years ago, starting out our lives together and fulfilling our dreams together. My health is such today, that we just couldn’t do it, but we certainly gave it some thought, several years before retiring, when I was healthy. Things change. Sometimes sooner than one is prepared for, but that’s no different from life in an RV, really. Each day is something new and different. The key, in any life well lived, I think, is living it your way as much as possible, realizing your dreams, and having no regrets in those beautiful golden years to come, or at any life stage you choose!
Someone very wise once said: “The ony Zen you’ll find on the mountain top, is the Zen you take up there with you”. I believe that! So, may as well take your dream of RVing up whatever mountain (desert, valley or seaside) appeals to YOU, and while it may be the same Zen, experience it, perhaps, just a bit more fully, while you’re up there!
Elle
Great story and detail. A couple of questions. Do you have information regarding the places where you were able to stay for free with your camper and as a boondocker? Is this information contained in some sort of concise package? Your comment about Midwestern food was curious to me. I have lived in Charleston, SC and California, many other locations around the country and the world and of course currently in the Mid-west (Illinois). Hands down after having lived all across the nation the best food I have found anywhere in the USA is in the Midwest in particular my current location Rockford, Illinois and Chicago. (The best food I have ever had anywhere is in Greece).
It brings me to the comment about West Virginia being one of the most beautiful places. I am a little suspect about this comment since you have it so wrong about the food in the Midwest, but I would love to know what it was you saw that made W. Virgina so amazing. I have driven through there and didn’t see anything quite as spectacular as California, Arizona or Jackson, WY. Nonetheless this was a terrific story. I was riveted by it which was rare for me and I appreciate your retelling of the tale. Glad you shared with the world.
As an Army widow and retired executive in the hospitality/travel industry and living in East Tennessee, I must say this was especially interesting to me. I literally LAUGHED out loud when you commented on the “worst drivers” were experienced in Nashville, TN. Oh, so True ! I lived there for a few yrs, as well as LA and ATL, both of which seemed easy …. to this sales & marketing person … and in field sales, I had a 5 state territory; Ga, Al, TN, NC & SC. 55 inns, hotels, resorts which I visited quarterly. With military posts from coast to coast, USA, my career Army husband & I had the opportunity to know many areas. Especially enjoyed Monterey Peninsula, CA; Tidewater VA; Texas {which I usually place in the foreign catagory !} Northern Va & D.C. We were both kids from military families; have friends all over the states and knew NOT to “invest” in a motor home, learned from parents 40 ft. Executive/Dodge engine avg. 8 miles per gallon … so glad we did all this as younger adults. Now I am in my 70’s, prefer to cruise when possible & enjoy the ports of call. Well written … and very informative. Thanks so much. Bonnie K.
In the spirit of “cheapness” …there’s this website that shows cheap and free campgrounds: https://freecampsites.net/
You could knock off the price of the $15 campground book by looking up campgrounds on your planned route (and perhaps slightly off your planned route, just in case) and print them all out at home.
I liked and enjoyed reading your article. I took a motorcycle trip through Alaska in 2009, a trip I will remember forever. One thing I can recommend is planning. I met lots of great people who were also traveling through Alaska and was amazed at how most were totally unprepared for such a trip, especially on a M/C. I plan on doing this trip again in a small truck with a small camper. It will be better than sleeping in a tent. I was prepared, even practiced changing M/C tires before the trip. I had no issues on the road but assisted many travelers that did. I was also prepared for the cost, saved and paid in cash for everything on the trip, got back home with money still in my pocket. Like I said, really enjoyed your account of your trip, maybe your a better travel writer then a financial writer?. Thanks.
I would set out today, but alas, the bonus kid. She graduates from HS in 5 years. And then we are outa here! We plan to have a home base and “work” camp through America. This is in the retirement spreadsheet. We waffle back n forth over a 5er or a pusher. Regardless, America we are coming for you. I have an extensive list of all the sights I want to see and we plan to hit all 50 states.
I love this blog! So often RV blogging and vlogging are a little “pie-in-the-sky”. No real mention of costs of fuel and maintenance for instance. My husband trained as an RV inspector and, after passing all his tests, we decided to continue tent camping. There was too much in the mechanics of an rv for us to worry about.
So……We leave for our cross-country mega-tent-trip in late August. PA to AL (for a wedding); northwest across the country to WA, stopping in the Badlands, Custer State Park, Devils Tower, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons (boondocking), Coulee Dam, and spending a month in my youngest son’s yard near the Cascades. We’ll leave and mozey down the west coast with stops in WA, OR and many stops in CA. Thanksgiving in the national forests outside of San Diego. Some time at Joshua Tree. Petroglyphs National Monument. And, for a touch of insanity, some time camping at the ranch of a former Merry Prankster. (If you’re too young to remember them, look them up. They had a psychedelic-painted bus named Further that they took to Woodstock.) After Christmas in Fort Worth, we have absolutely NO idea where we’ll go or what we’ll do. We’ll complete the circle back in PA for the summer.
All of this in a 12×20′ tent and gear which is stowed in a tiny cargo trailer being towed by a customized Jetta TDI (diesel) with 300k miles on it…but that gets 36mph towing.
BTW – we’re 65 and 72.
Great blog on your RV adventure. The engine failure was unfortunate but possibly inevitable given the overheating issue. My experience with similar Ford V10 gas powered RVs is these engines are generally reliable unless there are maintenance shortfalls and/or a system failure. Your 2005 Ford V10 gas powered engine includes upgrades that makes it quite reliable. Revised aluminum cylinder heads with more spark plug threads eliminated the dreaded spark plug blowout issue of prior year versions. The 5 speed torque shift transmission is one of the finest smooth shifting heavy duty automatics produced by Ford at that time. In your case you mentioned the engine started to overheat so you stopped, let it cool, and checked the oil. You didn’t go into more detail of the failure diagnosis but my hunch is the overheating caused the bearing failure – a stuck or partially stuck closed thermostat, loss of coolant, a failed cooling fan clutch, and/or lack of cooling system maintenance. RV engines produce a tremendous amount of heat given they are tucked under the front cab. So there is little room for error. Overheated coolant allows engine oil temperature to increase to dangerous levels. Oil not only lubricates the engine internals but also cools the engine bearings. When the bearings are overheated they can fail. The overheated bearing material layers peel away and create increased bearing clearance. The pressurized oil cannot fill the increased bearing clearance so the connecting rod begins hammering the crank shaft bearing journal. Metal to metal contact. It’s sounds like a loud knock. At that point the damage is done and the engine is usually toast. Unfortunate but possibly preventable with regular maintenance. Oil oxidizes and breaks down from heat and must be changed at regular intervals. Coolant thermostats, hoses, water pumps, and seals fail, particularly on vehicles like RVs that are stored for extended periods of time. I could go on but you get the point. All that said, I loved the way you handled the setback with the side adventure while waiting for the repair. Often we forget it’s just a thing. And sometimes things need fixing. Sometimes expensive fixing. That’s all part of the adventure. You handled it like a champ. Thanks for the reminder.
I did a cross-country trip in 2013, but it only lasted two weeks. This post is motivating me to do another one. I went to college in Savannah, so I’d love to hear more about your time there. It’s one of my favorite cities in the country.
Why are you including food as a cost of the trip? Were you not planning on eating if you had stayed home? : ) Or am I misunderstanding your analysis?
The way I see it, there are two different kinds of accounting needed for travel. There is making sure you have the cash flow needed for expenses during the trip … making sure you have enough money on hand (or credit limit on your cards) to pay for your food (or other expenses) while you roam.
And then there is the accounting of expenses incurred by that travel. From my point of view, that would be what you pay in excess of staying home, above your baseline expenses. If when home you eat out twice a week and cook groceries rest of the time, that would be your baseline food cost. If that is what you do in your RV as well, then food expenses for the trip are the same as at home, and thus the trip has cost you nothing in EXTRA food expenses. Similar with transportation costs, and so forth. It seems to me that in figuring out how much taking that wonderful trip cost you, you need to explicitly consider the comparison of what your costs would have been if you had just stayed home.
BTW, I really enjoyed reading your account. We have found RVing so much fun, that it made me very sad that we had not found some frugal diy way to make it happen when our kids were small. (Our adult kids both spontaneously offered the sentiment that it was OK, they probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway….) Our life has recently been full of externally-applied hassles (family etc.) and we were losing the energy for the added hassles of setting up and breaking down a campsite — we really needed something like RVing to give us some sanity breaks. The ease and spur-of-the-moment mobility of a small boondockable Class-B has been what we needed.
It is always interesting to see what topic you are going to post about next.
Thanks for sharing this great synopsis of your trip! This is something I’ve always wanted to do as well. With a wife who is still enjoying working and a daughter under 1, it may be something to put on the back burner for now, but perhaps someday in the next few years we’ll do it.
One of the best travel experiences I ever had was as a college student travelling through Croatia and Italy with my girlfriend. We would spend some time in a place, then look at the map to see where we wanted to go next, and then stay there if we liked it, and if not, we’d move on. Sounds like you did the same thing and it reminds me of how enjoyable this type of travel can be.
I retn’d from a 12 month roadtrip(single woman and my Labradoodle) in a 20’ 2002 Roadtrek….around the perimeter of No America… Oregon to Alaska. NWT, YUKON, CANADA, LABRADOR, NEWFOUNDLAND, NOVA SCOTIA, NEW BRUNSWICK..MAINE TO FL., ALONG THE GULF AND BACK TO NM… most awesome trip of my life..Leaving again in 2019–so go for it..don’t wait! Boondocking, Harvest hosts stays, casinos, Walmarts, road construction sites, free camping apps—- the way to go!
u did not mention truck stops to park . secure food showers some really good and great locations. reno nv, Nashville, Portland, or, new Orleans, Denver, ogden, Utah. how about going in a refitted van, better gas mileage, easy to park. do you really need a toilet? NEVADA GREAT STATE low cost hotels at casinos and free parking. VAN good way if you mix it with hotel stays and airbnbs and some camping. Once took year off work took trip around world: NY ROME ISTANBUL GREECE CAIRO NAIROBI, KENYA INDIA NEPAL THAILAND BALI CA. Met wife in Bangkok.
This was a great American adventure story, Thank you. We have a new motorhome with ideas of touring the world, but probably wont happen, however we will tour our besutiful Ozark area based out of Hot Springs, AR and would appreciate the writer visit a 2nd time and call/email us so we can change his written imagery of this wonderful place. BTW, we, too love the gulf coast for the beautifully WHITE sand beaches; and Charleston/Savannah for fun & food, but no one does food better than Louisiana, esp The Big Easy. Good trip write up, but give Hot Springs a 2nd chance.
Thanks,
Calvin Porter
What a fun travelogue to read… and educational as well as I have no knowledge in RV traveling. I love your great eye for catching the images with the camera.
Great article. My husband and I became full-time Rv’rs last fall. We travel with our 29′ pull behind a bit different from the way you traveled. We find places to stay for a whole month, then venture out to see sights with our truck on day trips. Renting from a campground monthly is much cheaper than daily or weekly. We shoot for places to stay for between $350.00 to $375.00 a month. After doing much research we purchased a 2018 Grand Design Imagine, 29′ pull behind a love it. Grand Design has the best service for Rv’rs in the industry. A fact we learned from talking to several sales people and many other Grand Design RV owners while we have been on the road. I am aware that this article of yours is a few years old, but if you haven’t, I encourage you to hit the road again- but this time a bit smarter at it. We are never experts, just experienced and everyone has great stories and learning experiences to tell. If you wish to, you have my permission to email me with the email I have given, if you have any questions.
Jd and Kim, what a wounderful experience! What a great out come, to be close (knit together) to another person like that! Jd your article is fantastic! My precious husband of 29 yrs and I will be leaving our life, home, business, 3 children, three grandbabies and family in Orange County California to travel the USA in March 2020. We live in our RV now in Newport Beach, CA (for a good dose of reality) till March 2020. We sold the home we lived in and everything that filled the 3330 squ foot home. Moved into our RV in February 2019. It been really good. So looking forward to the experience!! Thank you so much for sharing your own experience and money matters!
I too have dreamed of RVing around the US…I loved this article. Thank you for such a great description, it was fun to read. I hope someday to be able to do the same!
We are 47 weeks away from full time retirement at 55…bought the RV (travel trailer) and traded in our van for a truck in 2017…so far we’ve had one long weekend in Duluth, a 12-day trip to SW Utah. LOVED LOVED LOVED it – learned a ton even in that short time. Otherwise she’s been an extra bedroom at our lake place. We hope the winter of 2019 to be our last full one in MN. I’ve been reading up on RV travel for quite some time – your article had some great ideas, especially tracking expenses…I have already made an attempt to replicate your spreadsheet – would love to see some of the formulas especially how you’re tracking totals…would you be willing to send? P.S. bought The Power of Now TODAY.
Great read and terrific adventure. Back in the late ’60’s I spent three summers working for a neighbor who had started a”camp” where we would take teenagers (60 or so the first year up to 200 or more by the third) camping for 8 weeks in National & State parks etc. Best summers if my life. I drove the provisions truck and usually slept on top of it. I’ve always hoped to RV around the US in retirement, even bought a used RV, but wife is disabled and feels she cannot do it. I just keep the RV in storage for who knows when. If she’d say yes I’d be ready to go in a week since I already have a mental itinerary. Your article just reinforced my desire. Well done.
If I would have read this article nine years ago before I started full-time RV-ing, I never would have bought one! We spend much less money and have three times more fun!!
My wife and I have traveled around the country several times. By car, by truck towing a trailer, three motor homes, with each other and once with a nephew (8yo). Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Black canyon, walked in wagon Ruts in WY, saw both Dakotas, crossed Lake Michigan on a old coal ship. Married 35 years and we are planing next springs trip, I’m 75, she is 68 and rearing to go. Stay mobile, take your time, keep an open mind, a see the history that is this country!
I just read your story about you big Grand Tour of the US. A great read. I could be jealous! I bought a like new twenty years old motorhomes a little over two years ago for the price of a good used car. Since then we’ve only made three or four short trips in it, all the while making it our own. I won’t retire for another three or four years but I’m getting antsy to hit the road. I have to confess that the numbers you gave are pretty scary. I am never the less undaunted in my plans to go. I’ve wanted to travel and see our beautiful country all my life. Unfortunately I haven’t always made the smartest financial decisions during my life and now it’s getting a little late in the game to do much about it. However I WILL find a way! Thanks again for a great article. It sounds like you had a great time. I have to warn you, though. Rving can be very habit forming. I predict you will own another one. Next time buy one that you REALLY like and keep it. And use it. The rush rush and go go really isn’t worth it! Have a wonderful life!
Spending our weekend in NH unplugged minus my phone and came across your Exploring the US by RV article sitting by the fire. We are 2 adults late 40’s with 2 cats, no kids and are doing our best to become debt free by 55 with a nest egg with early retirement by 59 so we can hit the road doing exactly what you and Kim did. We feel like once we hit the open road we will never want to come back! Everything you described in you return home feels how I do after leaving the rat race and returning back home again, lol! Amazing read! Loved every single part. Thank you for sharing!
Loved the story! Being money minded I appreciated how you thought things out and changed up as you went. Maybe someday my fantasy will come through, til then, sigh. Thank you again for a well written, modern day adventure. Glad you got to do it!
Rob
Josie here, your trip adventure was so enlighten, and motivated, just Love it with fullfil info. Just wondering if it’s safe Rving solo across USA. Planning to sell everything and live a moving life on a motorhome (small) with pulling small car
Your is greatly appreciated
Yes, it’s very safe to RV solo across the U.S. We met many people who were doing it. The U.S. is generally very safe, despite the fringe stories you hear in the mass media.
I’ve always thought about taking a trip like this and appreciate the calculations you made. Based on the cost of the R.V. and fuel, you paid almost 25.5 K in lodging and fuel alone (R.V. cost + fuel + maintenance – sale price) at that cost, 283 datsun the road averages ~ $90 per night for lodging. Granted, you would not be able to cook yourself which would drastically raise your food and grocery costs. Its and interesting dynamic and one you really thing about before one would embark on a trip like this. Thanks for sharing your experience, photos and knowledge.!
Thanks for an informative article. I’m in the planning stages for my own escape, having done 2 separate escapes in my past. Considering you moved to the country, which means you most probably had space on your land to store an RV, why did you end up selling it for $28,000 and not just keep it for possibly future jaunts… A trip north to BC just for starters. Was it because the Big Foot served its purpose but was not your ideal choice in the end ?
Great blog! Thank you!
My wife and I have raised our 3 kids and were fortunate enough to have been able to provide debt free university educations for them. All while having “normal” blue collar careers. Our children are now busy living their lives and raising their families.
That being said we are now in “planning” mode for our retirement. We are Canadian, and while we will explore our beautiful country we are also very much looking forward to exploring the your wonderful country as well. Parts of the US climate enjoy a climate that is most definitely more hospitable than ours during the winter. As motorcycle travelers we have visited and thoroughly enjoyed many of your western states.
Your blog has so much good info that enable us to be more confident about extended RV living. It answers many of the questions that we all have and put many fears to rest, in particular about the cost and even the safety aspect.
Also looking forward to reviewing the financial information contained in your GRS newsletter.
Thanks again for taking the time to inform and enlighten us.
Thank you your article it was very informative. We are actually in the process of buying a used motorhome at this time and are looking for a used diesel pusher we currently have four that we’re seriously considering for purchase. I retired about 6 months ago from our local school district and I’m currently bringing in $93,000 a year or a little less than 8000 a month. We budgeted 30,000 for a used motorhome Diesel Pusher but have actually seen quite a few with not that many miles on them. We have actually seen some for as low as eleven twelve thousand but they’re gasoline some have slide some don’t the diesel pushers were looking at all have at least two slides some have low mileage of 25 or 30 thousand some have 80000. I expect to get anywhere from 9 to 10 miles per gallon from diesel. Thank you for the insight, information, and for verifying through your experiences what I had hoped for which was to have fun.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write about and share your experience. My husband and I are considering a similar trip but I’m a people person and am a little worried about isolation. Did it take much effort to meet people along the way or was there natural and frequent interaction with other travelers in campgrounds, parks, etc.?
It didn’t take much effort to meet people at all. It just happened naturally. I’m not a person who typically chats with others in a day-to-day life (I’m too shy), but on the road it was different. Meeting people in parks and campgrounds was fun and just a part of everyday life. Plus, our trip served as a chatting point for folks we met in town, etc.
Thank you kindly for sharing this article. We are about to leave RSA with our two homeschooled teenagers and move to the USA. So many discussions about where to live and costs etc. One thought was purchasing a second-hand RV and driving from the East to the West to end in Redding CA.
Your article has been an enormous help.
Thank you.
I have an FAQ for you two. Hubby, two dogs and I are travelling in our RV from Florida to Yellowstone Park this summer. He wants to bring the Harley on a trailer behind us. I am thinking we won’t need it or want to be encumbered by it for 6 weeks. Your thoughts on its necessity, or not, would be helpful. Thanks for the great article and resources.
Shelley, based on our experience I’d say the bike would largely be a bother. Sure, there’d be times your husband would wish he had it. Absolutely. But mostly, it would be problematic. He’d be better of trying to rent a bike for a day or two in different places. It’d be less hassle.
Thanks!, great article! I’ve used my tiny 15′ camper quite a bit. My future plans include the desert southwest where I’ve spent very little time. I probably won’t full-time, but I love to travel!
I agree with your assessment of people. This country is not as divided as “they” say. I get along with everyone! Unless they intend on doing me harm, which is rare.
My husband and I are currently planning a US RV Tour. We live on the Oregon Coast, actually was just in Portland to catch a show yesterday! This was very helpful, thank you. We are planning on spending a week in each state….do you think that is doable? Especially in the NorthEast where the states are so small? Thanks for the tips!