Rather than list all of our expenses, I will describe the differences between what it cost to stay at home and what it cost to be on the road. Many of our expense did not change just because we were on the road. We continued to dine out more often than our budget allowed.

Total fuel cost was $2,329.50 for 1,280 gallons of diesel fuel at an average price of $1.819 and an average of 12.7 MPG. I got about 11 MPG towing and a little over 16 MPG running around town without the RV. When we left Virgina, diesel prices were $1.529 and stayed close to that until we got to west Texas. Then the price began a steady climb as we approached the coast where the price averaged slightly more than $2.05. In Temecula, CA, we paid $2.299.

Prior to our trip, typical automobile fuel costs were about $100 per month for two cars. This amount should be deducted from our fuel cost while we were on our trip.

Total campground cost was $1,740.91 for an average of $14.88. This included 4 free nights parked in relatives' driveways and one night at Wal-Mart. We planned our route to include many of the Escapee's parks and, being retired military, we stayed at campgrounds on military bases whenever one was along our route. Seasoned boondockers can camp much cheaper than this, but we prefer to stay in campgrounds for now. I am considering joining Passport America to bring down my cost for private campgrounds. Click here to see a breakdown on the types of campgrounds we stayed at and their average fees.

Some of our expenses related to home ownership declined. Our electricity bill was about $25 each month instead of the usual $150. This was primarily because we set the thermostat for A/C and set the temperature to 80 degrees. This didn't let the house get too hot while we were gone. We also turned off the hot water heater.

We had the phone company swich our service to the least expensive plan which cut our phone bill in half. We couldn't terminate phone service because our security system uses the phone line. But we did terminate our cable TV which saved us $160 and we paid a $35 reconnection fee when we returned.