· We spent
278 nights on the road, including the twenty nights on the road before Tim
joined me in Maine.
· We spent 247
nights in the RV in a wide variety of public and private campgrounds, family
and friends’ driveways (or homes), and a few miscellaneous locations. These include the following:
o
16 nights
in federal campgrounds, including National Park, National Forest and Corps of
Engineers campgrounds
o
33 nights
in state campgrounds (we were not in the RV for 2 of those nights when both Tim
and I were in Fort Morgan for Tim’s mother’s funeral)
o
14 nights
in city/county campgrounds
o
160 nights
in private campgrounds (32 of those nights were in KOA campgrounds)
o
19 nights in
family or friends’ homes or driveways
o
3 nights
in Wal-Mart parking lots
o
2 nights
in repair shops
o
2 nights
in boondock sites
National Park Campground in Maine |
State Campground in New York |
County Campground in Georgia |
Private Campground in Rhode Island |
· We spent
31 nights in hotels. This included two
nights in Fort Morgan during Tim’s mother’s funeral when we also paid
campground fees for the RV.
o
After
staying at an assortment of chain hotels the first two months, we discovered
Drury Inns, which welcome pets. On the
west coast where there are no Drury Inns, we stayed at a newly remodeled La
Quinta Inn.
o
We stayed
at the Miami River Inn, which my friend Jane manages, while we were in Miami.
o
We splurged
on two-night stays at two different hotels, The Inn at Middleton Place in
Charleston, South Carolina, and Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park,
Washington, for Christmas and my birthday.
o
Nine of
our hotel nights were prompted by a need to escape severe weather.
· We spent a
total of $10,622.41 on lodging, including $6,767.28 on campgrounds and
$3,855.13 on hotels. We had anticipated
that we would stay in hotels twice a week, and had budgeted $5,349 for
campgrounds and $9,800 for hotels. We soon
discovered that we rarely needed a break from the RV and did not need to spend nearly
as many nights in hotels. Had it not
been for so many instances of severe weather, we likely would have stayed even
fewer nights in hotels. Thus, we ended up
spending more on campgrounds, but much less on hotels. We came in under budget for lodging by a
whopping $4,527.
o
Our most
expensive campground was the French Quarter RV Resort in New Orleans,
Louisiana, at $73.23 per night for two nights.
Being in walking distance of the French Quarter made this rate bearable.
o
Our least
expensive campground was the Lincoln Park Campground in Medicine Bow National
Forest, Wyoming, at $5.00 per night. We
used my newly-acquired Senior Pass which knocked 50 percent off the campground
fee.
o
If we had
waited one year to begin our trip, we would have saved 50 percent on most of
our 16 nights in federal campgrounds using my Senior Pass. I’m glad we decided not to wait, however.
o
Our
average rate per night for lodging was $38.
Our average rate per night for camping was $27, and the average for
hotels was $124. We had budgeted $25 per
night for campgrounds. Thanks to the
generosity of family and friends, and a few free camping spots, we were able to
come close to that figure. We had
actually budgeted $125 per night for hotels.
o
Although I
didn’t qualify for a Senior Pass until the last month of the trip (I was able
to use it to save $35 over three nights), we did have several memberships that provided
considerable savings. Our favorite was
Passport America, a membership that costs $44 per year but offers a 50 percent
discount at over 1,800 campgrounds, although with certain restrictions. We saved approximately $650 in 31 nights over
the course of our trip. That was a great
deal. AAA and Good Sam Club, a
membership that costs $19 per year, were widely accepted at many private
campgrounds, saving us 10 percent on numerous occasions. Membership in KOA, at $24 per year, saved us
10 percent at all KOA campgrounds and offered points toward future discounts,
which we were able to use.
Membership Programs Are a Great Way to Save Money on Campgrounds |
· We had
anticipated spending the majority of nights in federal, state or county
campgrounds, as opposed to private campgrounds, but that didn’t happen. The public campgrounds where we did stay were
some of our favorites, especially the ones that provided hookups. Public campgrounds are typically in a much
more natural setting and have greater space between RVs. However, we ended up staying in more private
campgrounds since most public campgrounds do not provide hookups. Although some private campgrounds resemble
parking lots, we did find quite a few in beautiful settings. We wrote about our growing need for hookups and
our evolving campground preferences here.
o
Much of
our trip took place in late fall, winter and spring, so evenings were chilly,
and we found that we needed heat most nights.
Our little electric heater turned out to be our best heat source, but
that required electrical hookups.
Although we could have used our propane heater without hookups, it was a
bit noisy and would virtually drain our batteries with just one night of use as
we found out a few times. We did love
the propane heater for heating the RV in the mornings, however, since we could
turn it on with a remote control without getting out of bed. We did not stop using the heater until the
first of June.
o
We also
needed electrical hookups to charge our considerable assortment of electronics each
night. Although we could have turned on our
generator for this purpose, we rarely used it because of the noise, vibration
and exhaust fumes. Many public
campgrounds also prohibit or restrict generator use.
o
We stayed
in more KOA campgrounds than we ever anticipated. Generally these were nice, convenient
campgrounds and had all of the amenities we needed, especially clean laundry
facilities. I’m not sure we would like
KOAs during the summer, however, because they cater to families with children. In fact, we would likely try to avoid any
campground with pools and other child-friendly facilities in the summer
months. Our experience in the off-season
was much more peaceful.
Many KOA Campgrounds Have Nice Settings |
If we had made more of an effort, we could
have saved more money on campgrounds by seeking out ones affiliated with
Passport America or looking for less expensive campgrounds. However, at the end of a long day of touring, we
found that convenience was sometimes more important than the few extra dollars we
might spend.
From time to time, we did enjoy staying
in hotels, particularly on special occasions and after many days of very dusty
campgrounds in the southwest. We found
that it was not worth the effort to stay just one night in a hotel, however. Hauling all of our things, and Kitty’s, into a
hotel was much more of an effort than simply pulling into a campground and hooking
up.
We Enjoyed Staying in Hotels on Special Occasions |
Again very interesting. It would be interesting to know about food. I love all of your numbers. Sounds like you probably came in under budget for the trip. Love A
ReplyDeleteA, I'll be analyzing our food costs on tomorrow's post. That should be an interesting, and expensive, item! Early indications are that we did come in under budget. We wanted to be conservative in developing our budget to make sure we wouldn't get a nasty surprise during the trip. Sarah
DeleteYes, I see you don't have a picture of my driveway... ha ha I was thinking the repair shop overnighters were probably your most expensive stays. This is a lot of good info you've compiled! LV
ReplyDeleteLV, I realized when I was looking through photos yesterday that I never photographed any of our "driveway" campsites. We loved staying in your driveway, especially being greated by your dog! You do have a point about repair shop overnighters. Now that I think about it, those two nights were our most expensive stays of the trip! Ouch! Sarah
Delete