In 18 states and two territories (one American and one British), I stayed in 73 different places:
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25 state parks
13 driveways
12 Thousand Trails campgrounds
4 independent campgrounds
4 Passport America campgrounds
2 KOA campgrounds
2 Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds
2 parking lots
2 hotels
2 houses
1 Lower Colorado River Authority Park
1 USDA Forest Service campground
1 county park
1 Harvest Hosts site
… and one sailboat
I definitely got my money’s worth from my Thousand Trails membership. I think my total spent is currently about $550 for about 80 days, so roughly $7/night. But I’m not going to be renewing it when it expires next year: those campgrounds seem like good places for families with small kids and people who are looking for stable bases for extended periods, but that’s not how I want to travel or live.
My KOA membership was not worth the money. Again, great for families with kids and I definitely enjoyed my really nice showers at the KOA in Bellefonte, PA, but I don’t need the amenities they offer and even with the reduced membership rate, they were some of the most expensive places I stayed.
My one night at a Harvest Host site was lovely and I remember it fondly. But I don’t tend to want to drop in to places for a single night. If that changes in the future, I might think about trying out Harvest Hosts again, but for the moment, I’ll let that membership lapse.
Passport America costs around $45/year and I bought a three-year membership, so I’ve got plenty of time for it to pay off. In fact, the park at which I’m currently staying is both a state park and a Passport America park, and I saved $14 on an upcoming night’s stay because of my PA membership, so yay. But I’ve got a pretty long way to go before that membership pays for itself and two of the parks on the PA list were among my least favorite of the places I’ve stayed so I don’t seek out the PA parks. I should check out more of them, though, because it’s a nice discount when the park is okay.
Generally speaking, the only worthwhile memberships for me were the state parks. I’ve got a Texas State Park pass and a Georgia State Park pass and they were very much worth the money, might even be more so, since I’ve got months left on both. Live and learn, right?
I can’t believe I haven’t stayed in a single national park — what kind of camper am I??? — but they’re typically more restrictive about dogs than state parks, and I’ve really quite enjoyed discovering the state parks. Still, that might be a goal for Year Two. 🙂
I budgeted $900/month for campground charges, figuring an average of $30/night. If I stayed at KOAs and independent campgrounds or even some of the more expensive state parks, I’d be breaking that budget on a regular basis. As it is, however, my blend of campgrounds and driveways kept me under budget every month. The closest I came was $826 in April, from paying for my two week stay at Cedar Key in May.
I budgeted $400/month for gas and fuel (propane, too) and I came in under budget on that, as well. My grocery budget, though… yeah, not so good. Eating the way I eat — heavy on vegetables and protein, almost non-existent on breads, pasta, grains — is not cheap. Now that I can’t buy in bulk and store leftovers in my freezer, I’m spending more on food than I want to.
The dogs were also way over budget. No surprise, there, but ouch. Having two aging dogs is not the kind of thing where you want to look at the dollars. Even hiding some of their food costs in my grocery budget, I spent over $300/month on the dogs. I’d budgeted $90. Yep, the dogs cost $10/day.
Health insurance and care, internet, auto and RV insurance, the storage unit, taxes… none of those were surprising numbers to me, although they do add up. Life in the van is definitely less expensive than it was in my house, but I really had hoped I’d have a book or two released by now, though, so that’s not so good.
But there, another goal for Year Two — publish books! And visit national parks. And continue spending ridiculous amounts of money on the dogs, because really, the only way that number goes down is bad, so the positive side of breaking my budget on pet care is definitely that I have two dogs that I adore still and that’s good news.
Speaking of which, I am out of dog food, so need to make a run to a grocery store, unfortunately half an hour away. Time to get going!
Wow I wonder if I can do a year review like that. Truly impressive how many places you’ve been.
Do you write better moving a lot or sitting stll for a while?
Sitting still, definitely. I imagined myself writing during long drives, mentally plotting, working my way through scenes, etc., but that doesn’t seem to happen. I don’t know why because I used to write a lot when I was behind the wheel — it was terrific plotting time. Maybe I’ll get it back!
It was a busy year, that’s for sure. And yet I feel like I spent too much time waiting for the next thing to happen. Got to fix that this year!
Personally, I have a mild obsession with State Parks and so it pleases me to hear about all your state park stays. There are some very cool National Parks out there, but from what I’ve seen, they’re also a lot more touristy and busy. State Parks often are somewhat empty winters (at least in the states I frequent that have cold winters) and week days and the crowds they do draw tend to be more local.
I imagine that if I was living the van life, I’d want to see some of the National Parks, but I’d want to spend a whole lot more time ‘living’ at the State Parks.
There’s nothing I love more than wandering around an empty state park on a winter weekday and imagining how much fun people must have there at other times. Being there when there are actually lots of people there having fun… not so much my thing though.
I enjoy them when they’re full, but only for a little while. In general, the peace and quiet of the semi-empty ones is nice. After driveways, though, state parks are definitely my favorite places to stay. Generally speaking, they’re so much nicer than RV parks, except for the RV parks that are really expensive. Interesting how that works!
What a year… there’s trade-offs in everything in life — having your fur babies still alive and kicking is worth every penny spent! I agree about the KOA’s — nice, but too pricey,and especially if you don’t have kids and don’t use/need all of the amenities. I don’t remember you saying anything about Good Sam. Have you tried their parks?? Let me know… Hugs and thanks for sharing this. It’s good to know!