Here’s What We Spent
During our First Month of Full-Time Travel
There’s a reason I’m starting this article off with a picture of food…
While we saved A LOT of money by car camping, we also spent more than a small chunk of change on delicious food (& we don’t regret it at all!). Here’s the breakdown by category of all of the costs we incurred during our first month on the road!
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Lodging: $510.33
For lodging we camped at the following places:
State Parks
KOAs
Private Campgrounds
Friends/Family Homes (we definitely mooch-docked for a few nights!)
Our intention was to stay at a short-term rental once per week to do laundry/cook a warm meal/spread out a bit. We ended up forgoing this option for three reasons: 1.) We like our bed & think it’s actually more comfortable than a new bed!, 2.) KOAs have laundry facilities that were just as convenient, & 3.) We decided we would rather spend the money on FOOD
* As a note, we also spent $36 to enroll in the KOA membership, which saves us 10% on each booking AND allows us to build up points (we just cashed in on these points for our last booking!). This expense is included below.
Gas: $662.09
We drove from central Kentucky to the following destinations:
New Orleans (752 miles)
Big Bend National Park, TX (909 miles)
Phoenix, AZ (721 miles)
Lake Perris SRA, CA (311 miles)
Pasadena, CA (69 miles)
Yosemite National Park, CA (280 miles)
Twin Falls, ID (656 miles)
Yellowstone National Park, MT (266 miles)
Rapid City, SD (429 miles)
Omaha, NE (523 miles)
Bowling Green, KY (705 miles)
Home (167 miles)
Total Mileage: 5,788 miles
We did have a generous friend who gave us a $50 gas card as a parting gift for our journey (thanks Jessica!).
As it turns out, gas prices are expensive on the West Coast, which we expected after past trips to Arizona and California. Gas prices were around $3.30 in the midwest, $4.00 in Phoenix, & $5.00 in California. Overall, our average gas cost was around $3.75 per gallon.
Food: $869.07
What can we say? We like food!
Phil & I made the decision early on to either eat meals that were REALLY cheap (under $5 for the 2 of us) or splurge on local cuisine.
For picnic meals, we typically ate the following items:
Homemade Granola & Yogurt
Tuna To-Go Packs
Bagged Salads
Deli cheese, avocado, bun (Pro-tip: You can actually just get a few slices of cheese or meat from a deli counter!)
Tangerines/granola bars/snack items
We started our journey with homemade granola, which I highly recommend if you make this journey! We ate granola with yogurt on the road for a quick & healthy breakfast, or as a road trip snack. Plus, since it is shelf-stable for up to 2 weeks, it’s perfect for keeping in the car while camping!
Because I can’t help myself, here were our favorite restaurant meals on our journey:
Bokujo Ramen/Rapid City, SD - OMG. Bison bone broth, bison bao, & oxtail gyoza? I never would have guessed that a ramen restaurant in Rapid City would be my favorite meal, but here I am to tell the tale.
Urth Cafe/Pasadena, CA - Pistachio Waffle
Sonora Grill/Moreno Valley, CA - Chipotle Mexican Pizza
Elevation 486/Twin Falls, ID - Huckleberry Salad & Fish & Chips
Spitz/Billings, MT - Loaded Mediterranean Sweet Potato Fries
Cornish Pasty/Phoenix, AZ - Literally anything.
Diego Pops/Phoenix, AZ - Braised Green Chile Tacos & Margaritas.
Other: $459.88
Here’s the expense round-up of the miscellaneous category:
$36 in KOA Rewards Program (to save 10% per booking & collect rewards) - this had paid for itself by our 7th booking.
Parking Costs
Souvenirs
Car Wash after our car was sprayed by a chemical dust suppressant at a campground (we were a bit annoyed on this one)
As a Note…
This list only covers our expenses on the road & does not take into account our regular monthly bills that we also budgeted for! Since these will vary widely person to person, we elected not to include these in this breakdown.
We also did spent money on new tires during this month, but we knew that this expense was likely to occur since our tires were nearing the end of their lifespan going into this journey. We decided to replace all four tires at once to save $100 when we would need to replace the others at the end of our road trip anyway.
Ready for your trip? Check out our top 10 favorite items for SUV camping to ensure you’re geared up & ready to hit the road!
Dev + Phil, Creatives En Route
We are two creatives who have used our side hustles to help fund our passion for travel. Through travel, we have found connections with people & places all over the world. Through a combination of SUV Camping and air travel, we have visited 47 US states and 11 countries.