By the Numbers: Trip Statistics
There are countless useless things we tracked over the course of our trip. Here are a few:
Number of miles traveled: 37,894
RV: 20,037
Car: 17,857
Number of photos taken: 18,453
Number of those photos that appear on this site: approx. 1000
Number of National Parks visited: 46 (51 as of 2021)
Number of states visited: 39 (41 as of 2021)
Number of other countries visited: 1
Names of the states (contiguous) not visited: Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island. (Missouri and West Virginia were added in 2021).
Number of days on the road: 434
Number of those days that Jeff and Susan spent apart: 3
Number of books read: Jeff: 27, Susan: 37
Number of rejections by magazines and literary agents (so far): 26
Number of road atlases destroyed by overuse: 3
Number of awnings lost to windstorms: 1
Number of deer hit: 1
Number of turtles run over: 1
Number of times someone asked if that’s a baby in the rebozo: too many to count
Number of times someone asked if that’s a cat in the rebozo: 1
Number of times Jeff cooked dinner: 3
Number of time Susan emptied the holding tanks: 3
Traveling by RV for a year, at least the way we did it, is not an inexpensive proposition. We were woefully over-budget for the trip. We knew early on that we were in trouble, but decided that since we were on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, we should just continue on and deal with the consequences later. There are many other costs (RV payments, vehicle insurance, storage, etc.) related to this trip that are not represented here.
Total spent on gas: $9788
RV: $7955
Car: $1833
Gas prices ($ per gallon):
High: 3.80
Ave: 2.84
Low: 1.97
Average RV fill-up cost $91.44
Average RV gas mileage: 7.1 mpg
Total spent on groceries: $9352
Total spent on campgrounds: $7545
Total spent on health insurance premiums: $4500
Total spent on vehicle repair, maintenance, and add-ons (i.e., extra batteries): $4071
Total spent on meals in restaurants: $2848
Total spent on laundry: $499
Total spent on haircuts: $460
Total spent on hotel rooms: $970
Total spent on clothing: $966
Total spent on souvenirs: $651
Total spent on “miscellaneous”, a category that we didn’t budget for: $7842
Total spent on out-of-pocket expenses related to Susan’s pregnancy and Zane’s birth; again, a category not budgeted for: $13,474.
Cost of going on a trip for 15 months, seeing the great things this country has to offer, and experiencing things that no one else we know will ever experience: priceless.