RVing America: Month 3 Expenses & Updates
I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop in Twin Falls, Idaho – a place that was never on my radar, but also a place I find so charming and kind of don’t want to leave. We just hit our 3-month mark on this road trip and its funny that its the small-town America kind of places that seem to leave a lasting impression on us. This is really the entire reason for this trip – to discover these gems throughout the US that we would have never considered visiting or got on a plane to go see. Of course, we want to see all of the National Parks and monuments that make every top 10 travel list, but we always seem to get more out of the places that we can slow down and just live our day-to-day life. And this has been one of those places.
But I’ll pick up in Idaho in month 4. Right now I’m sifting through credit card statements and reflecting on where month 3 took us. It flew by so fast and its kind of hard to believe we only visited 2 states this past month – quite the change of pace. Let’s dive into what we got up to and then I’ll go over how we fared with expenses this month.
This is what our route looked like, starting things off in Seattle.
Washington State Fairgrounds, Seattle
Finding a place to camp near Seattle was almost impossible, but I finally managed to find availability at the Washington State Fairgrounds RV park. It wasn’t an ideal place to stay, but convenient to the city and only $30/night for full hookups. When we arrived, the camp host informed us that I-5 into Seattle would be shutting down for the weekend (construction) and getting into the city would be nearly impossible. Fortunately, we decided not to let that scare us away – instead, we woke up at 6am and headed into the city managing to breeze right through with zero traffic.
Arriving in Seattle at 7am on a Saturday was a little sketchy as it was pretty much just us and the homeless people and junkies (a lot of them) shouting in the streets. But the good thing about it was hitting Pike Place Market early and not waiting in line at Piroshky Piroshky for a delicious breakfast treat. WORTH IT.
Campground cost: $30/night
Lodgepole Campground, Mt Rainier National Park
A few days in the city was all we needed and we were excited to get back to the mountains. We dry camped at Lodgepole Campground, which is a National Forest campground near Mt. Rainier. It was a nice campground and great base for exploring the National Park. The downside was that it was 45 minutes from any cell reception, which meant we had to start and end each day with a drive into the nearest town (Packwood or Greenwater) to check in on work.
Mt Rainier National Park blew us away though! Everywhere you turn, there is Mt Rainier looking back at you in all its glory. The wildflowers were in full bloom and the weather was simply perfect.
Campground cost: $18
Minnie Peterson Campground, Olympic Peninsula
Minnie Peterson was a free campground on the Olympic Peninsula near the town of Forks (hello, Twilight fans).
Yes, I geeked out a bit over all of the quirky Twilight references and filming locations while Charlie made fun of me. But we also got to explore the Hoh Rainforest, Rialto Beach, Port Angeles, Hurricane Ridge and Lake Crescent. All beautiful places and completely different from the rest of Washington we had seen.
Campground Cost: Free (with Discovery Pass)
L.L. Stub Stewart State Park, Portland
After over 3 weeks in Washington, the longest we’ve stayed in any state yet, it was time to head south into Oregon. LL Stub Stewart State Park was just 40 minutes outside of Portland and reported to have excellent cell signal, so we figured it would be a good place to base ourselves for a few days to catch up on work and check out Portland (and it was). The park was nice enough, but not much to do or see unless you are into mountain biking (what most people were there for).
Campground cost: $33/night
Seaside RV Resort, Cannon Beach
With a heat wave hitting Oregon and temperatures creeping up in the high 90’s, we were excited to be heading to the coast where highs were only in the upper 60’s. The Oregon coast was exactly what we imagined it to be: chilly, gray and dreary but still stunningly beautiful. It never really rained but it kind of just misted the whole time – like we were always in a cloud. On days like this, we headed to a coffee shop and and knocked out some hours on the laptops.
We did get a few days where the sun came out and we took advantage of them as much as possible. We took a drive to visit the charming Astoria and also Cannon Beach. Our favorite thing to do, however, was indulge in some seafood. We ate out a little too much while on the coast, but we just couldn’t help ourselves.
Campground Cost: Free (with Thousand Trails camping pass)
Whaler’s Rest RV Park, Newport
We headed further south along the coast to another Thousand Trails campground, trying to take advantage of our camping pass as much as possible. Oregon is the last state that we can really use it since we will be heading into Idaho and Colorado next (no TT there). We had no idea what the attraction to Newport was before we went but we ended up loving that part of the Oregon coast.
We got to visit the Rogue Brewery Headquarters, watch the gray whales in Depoe Bay, see the sea lions at Newport’s Historic Bayfront, witness the crashing waves at Thor’s Well, watch the surfers at Devil’s Punchbowl and so much more.
Campground cost: Free (Thousand Trails)
Columbia River Gorge, Hood River
Charlie’s parents flew into Portland to spend 5 days exploring with us, so we wanted to save the best of Oregon for them and I think we succeeded. The number one thing everyone recommended to us for Oregon was the Columbia River Gorge, and it did not disappoint. We camped at Viento State Park (which was not the nicest of parks) while his parents stayed at a hotel nearby in the charming Hood River.
We drove the scenic highway making lots of stops along the way. Then we took a drive up to the Timberline Lodge at Mt Hood, stopping at the Gorge White House along the way – definitely one of the coolest places we visited. Hood River is a place we absolutely fell in love with.
Its super quaint and charming and we loved sitting at the park along the river just watching the kiteboarders, windsurfers, and paddle boarders. This is one of those places that was never on the map for us, but will definitely be one of the most memorable places we’ve visited.
Campground Cost: $24/night
Bend-Sunriver RV Campground
This was, by far, the best Thousand Trails campground we’ve stayed at and would have loved to stay longer. Bend was also one of the coolest cities we’ve visited on this trip and we would love to go back and spend a few weeks or even months there. Bend is kind of what I thought Portland would be. It has such a cool outdoors-y vibe with lots of shops, cafes, good food and, of course, a huge craft beer scene.
From here, we also made the journey to Crater Lake along the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. Unfortunately, due to the wildfires, it was extremely hazy and not a great day for viewing. It was still really impressive though and we will definitely have to give it a go another time.
Campground cost: Free (Thousand Trails)
Oregon was such an incredible state with so many different landscapes and climates. We were there over 3 weeks and it definitely didn’t feel like long enough. This is just another place we’ll have to come back to in the future. My parents will be flying into Denver in less than a week to explore some of Colorado with us so we are now making our way back east.
So how did we fare with expenses this month?
Full-Time RVing Expenses: Month 3
| Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | |
| Fuel | 1095.79 | 815.73 | 753 |
| Groceries | 1023.99 | 814.82 | 839.70 |
| Dining Out | 495.11 | 470.24 | 489.41 |
| Campgrounds | 749.57 | 523.70 | 469 |
| Coffee/Beer Runs | 93.57 | 192.88 | 132.53 |
| Insurance (Auto, Health) | 714.8 | 714.80 | 703.80 |
| Cell/Internet | 225 | 225 | 225 |
| Tolls | 80.02 | 0 | 0 |
| Entrance/Parking Fees | 115.25 | 79.10 | 35 |
| Misc | 129.86 | 199.49 | 480.35 |
| Truck/Trailer Service | 0 | 435.69 | 0 |
| Total | 4722.96 | 4471.45 | 4127.79 |
We did a little better this month, mostly because we used our Thousand Trails camping pass as much as possible. Everything else, however, remained close to the same. After 3 months on the road, we seem to be averaging over $4,000/month in expenses. In the coming months, we won’t be getting as much free camping (unless we boondock more) so if anything, I’ll bet this number goes up. You can read more from our first month RVing here and our second month here.
While living on the road full time is much more expensive than we ever imagined it would be, the places we’ve been, the things we’ve seen and experiences we’ve had so far are completely priceless.
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About the Author Charlie and Brittany
We are Brittany and Charlie - we traded the 9 to 5 and the so-called "American dream" to live our own dream and see the world. We sold all of our belongings and left the US in August 2013. For 5 years, we lived primarily in Thailand and built our online business and location independent lifestyle while we traveled to over 30 countries. We’ve had house sitting gigs on 3 different continents and we’ve even appeared on HGTV’s House Hunters International.
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