Budgets

It's only money, right?  The stuff that makes the world go round.  Never enough.  Income on the road, work camping, campground hosting.  Pensions, 401K's, CDs, being independently wealthy (wouldn't that be nice!), a lifetime of savings.  Full time or part time, traveling on the road in a RV takes money.

Marti and I have been wrestling with what we'll need to travel on our full time adventure.  I've been researching the websites of those full time RV folks that are willing to share what they spend.  I've looked at simple lifestyles with limited travel to exorbitant champagne and caviar, oysters on a silver platter travel to only the best, five star lifestyles in the multi million dollars rigs.

We don't want to live eating dog food and staying in the most run down of trailer parks or staying on city streets one step ahead of the local police trying to run you out of town.  On the other hand, we're not to fond of caviar and champagne, well, don't hate me but I'd probably use it for carburetor cleaner. ;c)

We want to be middle of the road, able to go where we want, when we want and have the ability to spoil the grandkids along the way.  Fancy vacations are not necessary, but an occasional trip to Disney World, okay, an annual visit to Disney World would be nice.

I'm fortunate that I've had tremendous experience in mechanical and electrical fields, thanks to my Coast Guard training and hands-on work.  I can fix a lot of issues and I'm limited only by not having a big enough place to work on our Journey or the large tools I'd need to perform the required repairs because there is only so much room in a motorhome to carry things.  I'll do what I can do, this will be a big plus to our budget.

We're not drinkers, so we will realize a cost savings there.  The big Kahuna benny for us will be retiring from the military, which will provide a pretty good income from my pension, cover our medical insurance costs with Tricare, (the military health care provider) and we'll be able to use commissaries for food shopping.  Also, many military bases around the country have very nice campgrounds that are available to retirees at almost unbelievable rates as compared to private, county, state or federal campgrounds, a huge savings.

We don't really want to be in a position where we need to workcamp on the road, maybe someday we'll volunteer somewhere to be in an area where we want to stay for an extended time.  That we'll play by ear.

So it boils down to our first draft of a monthly full timing budget.  We'd appreciate your comments, feedback and suggestions!

Fuel (diesel) - $750 (estimating $3.00/gal.  Our Journey averages 7-8 mpg, so based on 7 mpg, that would give us a range of  about 1750 miles/month.  This is a padded figure, giving us a "slush fund")

Fuel (gas) - $100 (estimating $3.00/gal.  Our Honda Element averages 21-24 mpg, so using 21 mpg, we'll have a range of  about 693 miles/month.)  We may use some of this gas for the scooters which get 95 mpg.)

Campgrounds - $750 (based on $25/night)

Food -$400

Insurance (vehicles) - $100

Cell phone - $60

Internet - $70

TV (DirecTV) - $75

Mail - $50 +/-

Vehicle registrations - $15

Maintenance - $50

Hair care - $25

Clothing - $25

Entertainment - $100

Gifts/tithes/donations - $300

Emergency fund - $200

Misc - $300 (Club memberships, subscriptions, Disney trips, air fare, etc)

Total: $3370 per month or $40440 per year

Again, this is a draft, we will adjust things based on more input and once on the road, the real world "Beta-Test".  I've built in large amounts in the fuel and campground categories that will be flexible based on our travels. Use of military campgrounds, boondocking and reduced camping fees from Passport America type clubs will also hold down camping costs.

We are looking forward to being able to travel and not have Marti getting tracked down by the latest crisis at her job because we'll be RETIRED!

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.

A Really Cool Hot Thing.

Campfires, the quintessential element of camping.  The smell of burning wood, the warmth, the Smores!

And the Emerald Ash Borer, the bug that's mission in life is to end campfires once and for all.

The Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive, non-native species is sweeping across North America, killing off trees by the hundreds of thousands.  There is no known way to stop it, and it hitch hikes around in wood, like pallets and firewood.  Many campgrounds have prohibitions in place against bringing in firewood, effectively snuffing out campfires.

So what is a camper to do?  We found a solution at the RV-Dreams Rally, a portable campfire.

It is fueled by a 1 pound propane bottle.

The bottle screws in underneath.

Once the propane bottle is in place, you can put the lava rocks on top of the burner.

One simple knob lights and adjusts the flame.

It is small, easy to carry and store away.  It's about the size of a small waste basket.

It is available at Walmart for about $25.  It even comes with a plastic storage cover.

On top of the plastic cover is printed this warning.  Please tell me there really are not people out there that need to be told this!

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.

Escape from Winter!

(To our faithful readers, followers and new follower Julie, thanks for your patience.  Blogger and I have been wrestling a bit tonight.  Here goes try number THREE!)


This is a picture of our house.  We like it when it looks like this:

Unfortunately, sometimes it looks like this and we really don't like it that way:

So, when we can, we hop in the motorhome and head South to somewhere warm and sunny!

Getting warmer!

The water and skies are looking better and better...

Where did we go?  Here's a hint:

Still not sure?  How about now?

Yep!  Key West!  PS:  We don't know the little boy in the picture, but there were so many people here it was the only shot we could get without tons of people in it! :c)

We are fortunate that being in the military, we are able to camp right in downtown Key West at the Navy Base campground, they have some FHU sites and a bunch of boondocking sites.  In the winter they rotate the campers between the FHU sites and the boondock sites on a 14 day cycle.  Either way, you have downtown Key West right out the back gate and the cost is incredibly reasonable.

First thing we did was take a tour of Key West on the Conch Train.

It takes you on a guided tour of all the sights in Key West.

It winds through the streets, including the famous Duval Street.

Past the Key West Lighthouse...

Along the beautiful beaches...

And to Mallory Square, where street performers put on shows each evening and the chickens run wild.

The next day we went out on the scooters.

Here is Marti doing her best "Born-to-be-Wild" imitation.

We rode all around and ended up enjoying an evening sunset from the beach.

Before we knew it, our time was up and all the fun was over, the shopping, dining and sight seeing.  So we had to head back to the land of the ice and snow.  On the way back we took a ride through the Everglades. 

 Marti wanted to see an alligator.  We found lots, including this guy.  He was a BIG one. 

I told Marti not to get too close, he was looking her over and it wasn't to flirt!

Thanks for visiting and please feel free to leave a comment.