Road trip - budget

[minkydog]

Due you know when you would like to do this? Summer time or more in the spring or fall?

I agree that a large RV would be the best way to go. I checked on the above mentioned website and for 6 weeks the RV that would sleep 7 people would run $6678 plus what looks like 32 cents a mile.

With an RV you could cook meals yourself, saving money on eating out, and you would not have to worry about the cost of hotels and rental cars. I figured that on average you would be paying $150 per night for 2 hotel rooms. The cost of the RV would run you $159 a night. Not sure how much the rental car would run, but it seems like an RV would be a savings.

You can stay in Walmart parking lots for free, all though you would want to stay in an RV campground every few days or so in order to dump your waste water.

Of course, the gas would cost you a bit more since it would not get great gas mileage but I still think you would come out ahead on it and you would not have to worry about checking in and out of hotels for almost 2 months, living out of a suitcase. I would think that doing that would get old really fast.

I would love to do this and maybe some day we will get to. My father and stepmother are both retired and own and RV. They are always running off for a couple of weeks or months, driiving all other the US and Canada and they love it.

Given that most RVs get about 6-9mpg, at at least $300/gallon,you need to figure out how much you're gonna spend. You will easily spend $150/day on gas--those tanks are enormous, BTW. It is not uncommon to drop over $100 at a gas station once or twice a day. Diesels get slightly better mileage.

It is true that some Walmarts will let you stay overnight. Many municipalities have laws against boondocking, as it's called. You can check with truck stops; Flying J and Love's often lets RVers stay over night. My only reservation about truck stops is that there is no place for the kids to run around. It's good for strictly getting off the road and sleeping. I, personally, would not stay at a truck stop with young children on board. Some states will let you overnight at rest areas, but be sure it's legal. You don't want a visit from a state trooper at 1am. State parks will run you about $20-25/night. Private campgrounds, like KOA, will cost you much more, upwards of $30-50/night. They will likely have swimming pools and laundry facilities.

All that said, I would heartily recommend an RV trip. It's a great way to see the country. as a PP said, there's no packing and unpacking. You must be VERY comfortable with being together. Even a big RV will feel small with 7 people in it. You might want to try living/sleeping/cooking together in your bedroom for a week to see how you make out. We took our two younger kids on a 2 month cross-country trip in 2007 and we had a blast. But let's just say, we got to know each others habits VERY well. There is no privacy in an RV.