Around the US in 40 Days

[DonnaR57]

Here is a link to the field report for this trip undertaken by Donna and her husband in Summer of 2014

Stats and reflections:

Mileage: 8,866 miles driveway to driveway
Overnight: $1965 (avg $85)
Fuel (diesel): $1921 (18 mpg, $3.49-4.15/gal)
Meals: $1731.
Admissions (museums, parks): $177
Parking (JSC, Mt Rushmore): $17
Tolls: $50.55
Ice: $15
Laundry: $8 (plus I did a lot at family member's homes)
Snacks: $31 (mostly ice cream)
Misc: $105.
Souvenirs: $226

Reflections:

* We think this will be the last trip using a AAA TripTik. It is redundant for the other reference tools we take with us, such as "The Next Exit", smart phone apps, and GPS. This year, AAA ignored my routing in several places and gave us the routing that they liked instead.

* We are going to need to up the food budget. Dinners were constantly costing us more even at family places, than I had budgeted. We still came in right at budget, but only because we realized it and took other measures.

* I need to add "electrical strip" to our packing list. So many motels were short on electrical plugs. Considering how many things have to be charged, we found ourselves buying one about halfway through the trip.

* When reserving motel rooms, we need to figure out a way to look into room sizes. We had quite a few rooms that were barely big enough to turn around in, much less put 2 suitcases out and a few electronics.

* We are going to avoid cabins from now on. We had two places that were cabin-ish, and we had NO space nor was the bathroom big enough to turn around in either.


Anyway, this concludes our Summer 2014 trip -- now to start planning the next one!


Donna