It's time to recap our 2020 trip. This is a good way for us to analyze our spending and might be helpful to anyone out there who wants to plan their own extended trip. If you like numbers, you'll love this!
During this trip, we traveled 4772 miles during 127 hours of driving. We used 379 gallons of gas and averaged around 12.6 MPG. Which means we got less miles per gallon when we were towing, and much more when the trailer was left behind. Our average price for gas seemed to be around $2.60/gallon. The most we spent was $3.35/gallon in Lost Hills, CA; and the least we spent was $1.99/gallon at Seven Feathers Casino, which is just South of Roseburg, OR. We also got our worst mileage on the Seven Feathers gas, so H said he's not going to gas up there anymore.
When you compare our fuel bill from this trip to last year's trip, we only spent around $36 for 14 more gallons of gas used on 357 more miles. The average price/gallon was about the same. This tells me we drove a lot more miles in a lot less time last year.
We spent 52 nights away from home on this trip, of which only 19 were spent in campgrounds for which we had to pay. The average price for our campgrounds seemed to be around $35/night. We have also learned that many RV parks will give you a break on the cost per night if you commit to staying for a week, which we did in Cottonwood, AZ. The least we paid was $10 at a Corp of Engineer park near Orland, CA. The highest charge was $49 for our campground in Stockton, CA; but under the circumstances, we were just happy to have a place to stay for our last night on the road.
When you do the math, you find that we boon-docked for 33 nights. (Our entire 2019 trip was 33 nights!) We're very comfortable when we boon-dock. Our trailer is spacious and, including a good bed, we have most of the amenities of home. I can cook just about anything I want without having electricity. In fact I even made cookies from scratch while out in the boonies. Twice. It takes forever with a small oven, but it's so worth it!
Groceries seemed expensive to me on this trip. I think part of that is due to the panic grocery shopping that was occurring during March. We could not comparison-shop and just had to take what we could get. And what we could get was usually the most expensive brand. I'm also used to shopping for certain items at Costco where I can get things in bulk and I have a place to store them at home. It doesn't work that way when you're living in a trailer.
We spent almost $150 on museums and attractions this year, which I think is important to do. I call it "Entertainment" in my accounting software, but it really counts as "Education" because we are learning things about the area, and doing that will broaden our horizons as well as our minds.
Our dining-out expense was almost double that of last year. But I'm also okay with that. I was sorry we didn't try out more local cuisine while we were traveling last year, so I was eager to do it this year. Had we not been forced to shelter-in-place, our dining and entertainment expenses might have been even higher.
Our total 2020 trip cost came to almost $3200. The "other" expenses covered things like laundry, souvenirs, trinkets, and miscellaneous items for the trailer. If you're interested, and for comparison purposes, you can see the 2019 trip recap here.
It was a good trip. Relaxing in the sunshine and warm weather was wonderful. But I will say it's great to be home, even with all the challenges facing us at this moment. If we're ever able to venture out again this year, I'll report back.
When you compare our fuel bill from this trip to last year's trip, we only spent around $36 for 14 more gallons of gas used on 357 more miles. The average price/gallon was about the same. This tells me we drove a lot more miles in a lot less time last year.
Groceries seemed expensive to me on this trip. I think part of that is due to the panic grocery shopping that was occurring during March. We could not comparison-shop and just had to take what we could get. And what we could get was usually the most expensive brand. I'm also used to shopping for certain items at Costco where I can get things in bulk and I have a place to store them at home. It doesn't work that way when you're living in a trailer.
Our dining-out expense was almost double that of last year. But I'm also okay with that. I was sorry we didn't try out more local cuisine while we were traveling last year, so I was eager to do it this year. Had we not been forced to shelter-in-place, our dining and entertainment expenses might have been even higher.
It was a good trip. Relaxing in the sunshine and warm weather was wonderful. But I will say it's great to be home, even with all the challenges facing us at this moment. If we're ever able to venture out again this year, I'll report back.
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