5 Months on the Road: What it Costs, How Far We’ve Driven

Lake Powell, Arizona

It was April 26, 2011 when we left Homer, Alaska to begin our Epic Expedition – a road trip from Alaska to Argentina.

It’s been just about five months on the road. So how is it going?

How much has it cost us and how far have we driven?

Here’s the breakdown:

Previous Month(s) Expenses

Total Miles Driven:

  • Mileage 4/26/11 – 98,475
  • Mileage 5/27/11 – 104,345
  • Mileage 6/29/11 – 106,404
  • Mileage 8/3/11 – 109,286
  • Mileage 9/1/11 – 110,955
  • Mileage 10/4/11 – 113,663
  • Miles this month – 2,708
  • Total Miles Driven – 15,188

We’ve done over 15,000 miles for almost FREE, thanks to GoldenFuelSystems.com!

Locations Visited This Month:

Locations Visited (Total):

Expenses:

  • Groceries  $353.39 – I tried to focus more this month with buying locally grown food. We also we invited over for a lot of meals.
  • Savings $300
  • Truck Parts $197.06  – We’re still buying lots of stuff to make improvements on our ‘home’.
  • Charity $130.00
  • Education $92.06 – Books – about the people/areas we visited
  • Personal $112.45 – Clothes, toiletries, propane, showers, launry
  • Vehicle Insurance $75.00
  • Business Expenses $59.95  – Vimeo Plus membership
  • Trip Prep Expenses $54.41 - This includes supplies for my organizational system.
  • Dining Out $39.04 – Includes Navajo flatbread and mutton :)
  • Diesel Fuel $15.00
  • Diapers $13.97
  • Souvenirs – $2.34

Total Monthly Expenses – $1,514.50 (This includes $300 in savings and $197.06 in truck parts)

We really focused on reducing our food bill this month. I started tracking how much we spend per meal and per day (averaging between $20-$30 per day). We ate less (in generally I think we snack way too often), and ate healthier, local, simpler foods. It really worked!

Wait a minute, where’s your fuel expense?

Maybe you noticed? During the last month we only put in about $15 in diesel.

That’s because we don’t use diesel when we drive. Our vehicle runs on waste vegetable oil (veggie) thanks to Golden Fuel Systems.

Most of our trip has been done on FREE waste veggie that we collect from restaurants along our way.

What about your ‘accommodations’ expense?

We were generously sponsored by Cascadia Vehicle Tents, so most of the time we sleep in our very comfy roof top tent. This month, CVT upgraded us to the family size Mt. Rainier tent with annex room. Thanks CVT!! – Watch the video by clicking here. Otherwise we stay with family or friends who invite us along the way.

Reflections:

This past month we finally launched our course – 24 Simple Steps to the Lifestyle of Your Dreams (now Living Deliberately: How to Create a Ridiculously Awesome Life). We’re really excited about it.

We also have some other products and business ideas we’ve been working on, so stay in touch to hear about them when they’re announced.

We’ve been having a lot of adventures and experiencing some wonderful personal growth through them. The quality family time and connection with nature has been incredible.

We have also been meeting some fantastic people who have invited us to stay with them. Thanks!!

Make sure to check out our itinerary to see if we’ll be passing through your city/state. We’d love to meet you!  

About Rachel Denning

Mother of five amazing kids, author, family travel expert and full-time traveler. Besides writing about their family travel adventures, Rachel also shares information on The Art of Family Travel, how to Fund Your Lifestyle, and is co-author of the popular book, Living Deliberately: How to Create a Ridiculously Awesome Life.


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On October 7, 2011   /   Alaska to Argentina, Financing   /   9 Comments
9 comments
  Livefyre
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Sparky
Sparky

Whats up Guys. I have been living in Costa Rica for the last year and traveling around a bit. Been thinking about doing a Trip similar to yours. Good stuff. Keep it up.

Rachel
Rachel

Sweet! Sounds awesome.

LynB
LynB

What an amazing adventure you have had and what a beautiful family.How do you keep up with all the bookkeeping and keeping tabs on the kids? All the best for your next trip! I will look forward to reading about it.

Rachel
Rachel

I just do it as we go, every time we spend money I write it down (and convert it to dollars) :)

Heather
Heather

I love reading about your adventures! I'd love to see a post on how the inside of the rooftop tent looks and is set up to you all fit! Tell the family hi. We love you guys! (-Dickson & Heather-)

Rachel
Rachel

We did a video about the roof top tent - it's on YouTube. (Sorry, I would add a link, but I can't access YouTube right now, weird). We miss you guys!

Michael
Michael

I love the truck, veggie power and tent. Eventually I will do this! Starting next year I'm going to be living in Chinook Concourse. We'll see how that goes. : )

Cindi
Cindi

When you buy books to study the areas you are in, do you donate them somewhere when you are done studying or are you keeping them? I love books. I have a huge library, but I'm in the midst of donating most of my books because I want to cut back on my number of things I have and because I can get most of the books at the library. I always wanted a big library so my kids could just browse and pick something out. Turns out I only have one kid who does that and she can do that at the library too. Interested in your thoughts on books since I know you saved many of yours in Alaska. I'm having major anxiety as I'm trying to downsize. In case I forget to check back here, would you email me your response as well?