What's Your Annual Rv Usage/mileage?

A very easy way to cut the cost of campgrounds in half is to stay at Wal-Mart every other night. If you have good AGM batteries, you can cut them in thirds by staying there twice and once in a campground. Phone app help also. We love Pass Port America's 50% discount.

 

QUOTE(GaryWT @ Aug 26 2013, 12:24 PM) [snapback]34557[/snapback]

New trailer this year, we are shooting for 40 nights but since it is all in New England the miles do not add up that much, trips are anywhere from 50 - 240 miles round trip for the most part.


That's great idea. Another way is to stay in one of the travel centers that some gas stations provide. This cuts down the driving time so one can get some rest. You will have to deal with the noise coming from the trunks that seem to run their engines nonstop. We always slept through the noise and constant movements of the big rigs and still wake up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the day.

 

Another 2 month summer trip is in the books. Chicago to the Pacific Northwest and back - just about 7,600 miles. Fortunately, we never paid $4/gal. or more. We did, however, pay $3.99 a couple times: once in Belfield, ND and a couple times in WA and on the OR coast. Except for that one charge in ND, the prices east of the Rockies weren't too bad ($3.40s to $3.70) but ID, WA, and OR were mostly between $3.80 and $4. I did see a few above $4. Now that I am home, I was able to find gas for under $4 in the nearby suburbs.

I got under 10 mpg for much of the trip because of all the ups and downs of mountain driving. So, I probably used over 800 gallons of gas at a cost of around $3,000 for a 2 month trip. Not great, but it could have been worse. Now, how far do we go in the fall?

 

Well, our travels are over for the year. We got back just ahead of the earlier than usual cold weather in the Midwest. We had just enough time (about a week) to winterize the RV before the first hard freeze in our immediate area. After leaving Chicago at the end of September, we paid about $3.20/gal. in central IL and prices stayed at least that low as we traveled south and west. Our itinerary on this trip was somewhat convoluted due to family considerations, so we ended up traveling an additional 1,000+ miles. The entire trip was over 4,000 miles. Fortunately, the gas prices in October were not what they were during the summer. By the time we were headed home in early November, we paid under $3 at several places in MS and MO. Even 50 miles south of Chicago our last day, we only paid about $3.30 the first weekend of November. I paid $3.45 locally last week to fill the car, but even that has dropped since then. Maybe next year won't be as bad this year was during my travel season. It would be nice to not have to worry about $4/gal. gas in the summer when I usually drive up to 10,000 miles.

 

We did our 40 nights last year and this year we are shooting for more. If we lived someplace were we did not have to put it away from Nov to April we would do more. Hopefully this year will get up about 45 nights. Since it is $100 to fill the truck, we have been doing more 3 day weekends or taking Fridays off so we can check in at check in time rather than 7 at night.

 

For the last 5 years we have tried camping at least 1 weekend a month and take the grandkids on a 2-3 week trip from Florida to Upstate NY, Alabama, or anywhere in between. We budget the trips based on the high end of price and the low end of MPG so we always spend less on the trips. Even with that budgeting trick fuel still relates to about 75% of the overall costs. But the memories are worth ever dime.

 

Well I'm back on the road for the start of my 2015 travel season. I can't remember the last time gas was this cheap in May. I'm guessing that the last time gas in most areas was under $2.50/gal. was 2002 or 2003.