Budget Wrap Up - WINTER GETAWAY 2026

(I HAD WRITTEN THIS ALMOST 2 WEEKS AGO, BUT FORGOT TO POST IT)

Now that we've been home for a couple of weeks, we've been catching everything up around the house. I thought it's about time that I do a budget wrap up for the entire trip. 

Total miles that we traveled: 2,536

Total days that we were gone: 44

Here's a map of our route. It sure doesn't look like we went very far when you look at the scope of the vastness of the United States. But I would rather take smaller loops like this and explore one region of the country than make a full loop around the entire United States.

Longest drive day was our last day heading home: 513 miles. But it was mostly tail winds. There weren't any campgrounds open to stop at between Northern Missouri and Wisconsin. So we just decided to keep on going and get home.

Now people ask us questions about how much it costs to travel. Of course everybody's traveling style varies. So I'm going to give you the numbers that we actually had over our 44-day trip.

FUEL: 

$611.16 

We started with a full tank and ended with the almost full tank. So our actual diesel fuel costs are pretty close considering that reserve.

Our Winnebago View has a Sprinter chassis with a Mercedes engine. It requires DEF, diesel exhaust fluid. About every 2,000 miles we need to toss in a jug.

DEF $17.43

Average. 12.58 MPG

This is with pulling our little cargo trailer that weighs about 650 lb. We have probably 300 to 500 lb of cargo inside of it. We are able to pull up to 5,000 pounds with our motorhome. When we do not pull the cargo trailer we average about 14.5 MPG. 

So our overall cost of fuel per day is $13.88.

CAMPING FEES:

Now this is another one that really can differ depending on your camping preferences. 

Campground total $629.00

44 nights total.  41 nights we paid for camping.    3 nights boondocking in our friends driveway (also known as mooch-docking)

Average $15.34

We try to camp at rustic National Forest Campgrounds or camping at the Army Corps of Engineer Parks where we can use our America the Beautiful Senior Access Pass. This grants us half price on our camping fees at Federal campgrounds. It also gives a free entrance to all national parks and monuments.

We did do State Park camping in Missouri, and one fee type camping at the gas station in Wenona, Illinois. We also did one KOA in Missouri on our way home.  The rest of the time we were at Army Corps of Engineers and paid on the average $8 to $9 per night for electric and water hookups.

Now, on the other hand, if you are used to full hookups with sewer and water and electric and cable, you could be paying $40 to $60 a night on average. So figure that into your budget appropriately.

PROPANE:

We started with a full tank and only filled once for $19.57.

Our motorhome uses propane for:

the cooking stove and oven, 

the refrigerator, 

the water heater,

and the furnace as needed. 

But if we happen to be at the Corps of Engineer Parks with electrical hookups, the refrigerator switches over automatically to electric. We have an electric version mode on our water heater. And if we are hooked up to electric we can run the heat pump from the roof air conditioner or an electric space heater to warm us instead of the propane furnace. All of those things save on our propane consumption if we happen to have electric hookups.

This next category is also kind of subject to your own personal preferences. Some people like to cook all of their meals in their camper, like us.

Of course if you are the type of people that like to go to restaurants all of the time, your grocery totals will be a lot less.

GROCERIES:

7 weeks $518.86

Started with a lot of groceries on hand from our house, and we came home with other groceries bought along the way to carry back in.

Some of this is also odds and ends like cleaning supplies or tin foil or laundry soap, etc but I just lump them all into the grocery category because we bought them all at the same time. I wasn't going to get that particular on separating the items.

We left with an ample supply of Nicholas's specific brand of dog food. While we were traveling we were getting a little nervous about running out at the end and decided to stop and buy one more bag. Tractor Supply carries his brand so we knew we could get it wherever we were traveling.

Dog food $23.08

It's not good to swap brands on a dog, especially during traveling. Especially a long haired butt dog, if you get my drift... Ewwww!

MISCELLANEOUS:

Now we had a couple extra things in our category of "miscellaneous":

Beer $33.99 

Twice Steve stopped and bought some of his favorite brand of beer. And after 44 days, we actually came home with 4 beers left over.

I brought my own supply of wine bottles from home of "Two Buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's (Charles Shaw White Zinfandel wine).

Restaurant or fast food: 

We did splurge on our absolute favorite Godfather's Pizza in Lebanon, Missouri. $26 but a large pizza like this is actually three meals, sometimes four. We repackage it two slices per Ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. We reheat the slices in our air fryer which tastes almost as good as when it first comes out of the box.

If you've ever had

 Godfather's Classic Combo, 

then you know!

REPAIRS: 

We add into our budget little things such as maintenance and repairs while we are traveling. Of course, the cost of replacing something or fixing something is absorbed into future use down the road. But it is a category we keep track of while we are traveling. 

The first night in the RV parking slot at the Burger King / Shell in Wenona Illinois the winds were very, very strong! The door whipped out of our hands, and when it slammed back shut it actually broke this little plastic lever that is attached to our screen door. It allows the screen door to open simultaneously with the big door. And the lever of the laughing system got smacked right off! 

We ordered a replacement latch system from Amazon and picked it up when we were in Arkansas from a counter-ship location. It wasn't quite the right replacement, but it was good enough to finish the rest of the trip. The doors would still work, but not in combination together. We did find the exact matching one later and had it shipped to our next location on the way home in Oklahoma. So both latches together cost:

Repairs door locks $80.04

That is our budget for fuel, camping, groceries and all of our miscellaneous categories.

OVERALL TRAVELING AVERAGE

$1,277 TOTAL FOR 44 DAYS

$29.02 PER DAY

While we were gone, the huge Blizzard Elsa, also known as Snowmageddon, hit Wisconsin and most of the Midwest. Our driveway was filled up with over 3 ft of snow. We hadn't planned to get home until after it all melted. But, plans changed and we decided to get home when we did during the end of March. We knew there was still a good 2 to 3 ft in the driveway and it was solid and crunchy and heavy wet snow. 

Our wonderful neighbor Adam has a tractor with a big back blade. He is also young and strong, and does snow removal and lawn work on the side, in addition to his regular job.

We asked him to come over and at least yank out enough snow that we could pull in the 25-ft motorhome and the little 6 ft cargo trailer. He cleared more than enough so we could get in the driveway upon our arrival. Then he decided to keep on going for a couple hours and completely remove all of our snow from the driveway and the sidewalks and doorways etc. 

He had set a price, and we insisted that we double it! So that was part of our budget, and it was well worth paying our neighbor to move our snow! $100

On our video, in the link below, we talked about some of the highlights of our trip. We each decided to post our "FAVORITES"

Best campground choice:

Karen - Buckhorn Creek Corps of Engineers Campground on Lake of the Pines, Texas. 

This was hands down my favorite campground. We were in a perfect location with tall trees to the south of us to protect us from the winds. We could see the sun rising from the East and setting in the West and we had a perfect wide open view out our patio side to the North.

This place was peaceful and quiet. Serene and relaxing. We enjoyed it so much the first week we actually renewed our campsite for a second week. That is the limit of 14 days with the Corps of Engineer Parks. We enjoyed every minute of it!!! 

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232536

Steve - Pat Mayse Lake West Campground. This was also a Corps of Engineers Park in Texas. Steve loved that our campsite was out on a peninsula. It had a cement parking pad and 360° view just about in every direction of the water.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233579

This is not a crazy stretched photo from a digital camera. Notice the straight horizon in the background. This is literally how the shoreline swept around us in a big arc, with a sandy beach all around us.

We literally sat here, day after day, watching the waves on the water, huge flocks of pelicans fly by, and enjoying the peacefulness of not having anybody else around us. 

A few huge storms started up while we were here. We had to vacate the site one night to go up and park near the dump station by the shower building for safety. Another night we moved to a campsite over the hill that was less exposed to the heavy winds.  In spite of the crazy weather, we really enjoyed this campground.

Our cheapest campground was $8 a night using our Senior Access Pass at Platter Flats in Oklahoma.

Most expensive campground we stayed at was a KOA Lebenon, Missouri $56 a night!!! This was a "Steve Splurge" because we were going to boondock in a Walmart overnight. The weather was very uncomfortable with high heat radiating off the pavement. The crazy "Heat Dome" that was descending on the Southwest was catching up to us. He opted to go to the KOA where we could have full hookups and operate the air conditioner all night long in comfort.

All in all, during the first month, we enjoyed the weather. We had many days in the '70s and comfortable evenings in the 50s.

But ... We spent a lot of the second month dodging storms!!! Between the ferocious winds and the large amount of thunderstorms passing over us, we were dodging either the Heat when we were parked or the Wind when we were driving. It seemed like band after band of storms were passing over us during the month of March. Many times they were compounded with heat fronts and then cold fronts, fluctuating the temperatures. We had days forecasted getting up to the '90s and we decided it was time to escape and get North faster than we had planned. The weather was exceptionally strange for that time of year in that area of the United States.

WHAT WE ENJOYED MOST WHILE CAMPING:

Relaxing- this was really one of our main goals during this getaway. We weren't up to running around doing a bunch of touristy things, touring a bunch of historical sites or fancy attractions. We just wanted to get somewhere warm and to relax.

What did we do the most? Bike riding, especially around Jonesboro Craigshead Forest. Some of the Corps of Engineer Campgrounds had a large network of trails and roads to pedal around on. Other times we actually left the campgrounds and pedaled in outside areas.  

Taking along our e-bikes instead of a towed vehicle, is a real bonus for us. We get outside and get fresh air and exercise.  We don't just twist and go with the throttle, we actually pedal and use the pedal assist mode to help us on hills and long distances.  They have really added to our enjoyment as well as our health.

We love using our e-bikes, and we take our little trailer behind for Nick to ride with us.  He gets so excited when we set it up, and he jumps in before we are even ready to go.

So what else do we enjoy while traveling?? We try to mostly avoid the interstates if we can. Back roads, which we call "red roads" on the map, driving at 55 mph or even less. We enjoy the scenery and the terrain, as well as the small towns and interesting architecture. 

(From the interstate you only see the same chain store businesses and hotels and billboards)

WHAT ARE WE ENJOYING NOW AT HOME:

Unlimited water for showers & dishes & laundry... Not having to carefully monitor the usage or plan ahead if we are going to be somewhere without additional water access.

Now having a dishwasher again!

After being home now for a week, not raising my foot for imaginary pedal to flush toilet. 

Having the big fenced in potty yard just outside the open door for letting Nick out to do his thing. 

Nick says he enjoyed having snow when we got home! He was pretty tickled that he could roll around and play in it and eat it.

Want to hear something funny? Right before we left, Steve bought a DJI Neo2 drone. We brought it along, but never tried it out. 

I guess we just never had the time nor the inclination to learn some new technology while we were out and about. So once we got home, Steve got it out and we tried it in our own backyard.

I told him it's specifically "his toy" and all I wanted was some aerial footage to add to my videos. He never felt like doing it I guess until now. It can be controlled by a controller, a cell phone, or just by hand movements! Here he is telling it what to do:

We actually got home just in time to celebrate our youngest daughter's birthday. We were able to gather with everyone at a favorite Mexican restaurant and enjoy a celebration for her as well as the welcome home for us.

What a beautiful girl, our youngest, Heather. 

A mere 5 days after we got home, our oldest daughter and son-in-law and three children hopped in their motorhome to go.... to Texas and Oklahoma!  Right where we had left!

While they were gone, we had the task of babysitting the two grandpuppies and a hedgehog....  It's much easier to travel with the rambunctious family in a 25 ft motor home without two dogs under feet or a hedgehog in a cage.  Plus, with many of the places they wanted to go, the animals would be left unattended in the motorhome. That cannot be risked in the heat due to the rising temperatures down there. Even with the generator running with the air conditioning, bad things could happen. 

BISCUIT

EWOK

and KIWI the hedgehog

We took care of them for 10 days to make the children and grandchildren's vacation easier all around. Making memories is what it's all about.

Here's the video that goes along with this blog: 

Thank you for traveling along with us! 

In the past we have done loops---

Down into the Southwest a few times, 

Many times to Florida and back, 

We have done a loop out to Maine and back, 

and a loop out West as far as Montana and back.

 Of course, our HUGE journey last summer up to Alaska and back was our biggest "loop"! 

Stay tuned for our next adventures, we are planning where we're going to go next.

WINTER GETAWAY 2026 - THE HEAT DOME Forced Us Home

Yep, this is our "Turnaround Day" that's definitely time to head north. The temperatures are creeping up closer and closer to the predicted "Heat Dome" that is going to hover over Texas and Oklahoma as well as the rest of the South for a week or more. We just can't take that kind of heat. 

We left Platter Flats Corps of Engineers Park in Oklahoma with a pretty strong wind blowing at our backside.  We were traveling in a Northeast direction and the wind was blasting us from the southwest. It made for some pretty good fuel mileage, we did 14.4 miles per gallon in this stretch!

The scenery was pretty but everything was stormy and turbulent as we were driving along.

With such unsettling weather, it's hard to know for sure if we should keep going or batten the hatches and hide out for the night?

Back home, our kids security camera at their cabin in Northeast Wisconsin was showing the extent of Blizzard Elsa wreaking havoc in just 24 short hours. That rectangle is their picnic table, and that string of lights is at head height. 

Records were broken all over Northeast Wisconsin...

We saw this cute graphic online. It really makes sense with what's happening across the country.

We decided to pull off at Belle Starr Corps of Engineers Park on Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma.  

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233424

We were able to get a site up in the trees and away from the blasting winds. We were somewhat protected as the winds raged throughout the day and night.

All of the sites that were open were pretty level and concrete pull throughs. Large portions of the park were closed and it was too windy to explore anywhere else. We got set up on our site and enjoyed seeing some deer prance through the park at sunset through the trees in the distance.

We know the storm front was going to be blowing in the beginning of the "Heat Dome" that was forecast to envelope the entire Southwest. Our brother is camping over in northern Arizona and already suffering with over 100° Heat. 

We were going to go to Enid, Oklahoma to visit with our son-in-law's parents. But the temperatures there were just going to be unbearable. We just can't handle this type of heat, nor can the motorhome stay cool enough with the roof air conditioning on full blast. It's definitely time to move north.

We stayed at Belle Star overnight and then took off in the morning to make tracks North.  We made it up as far as Lebanon, Missouri and decided to take a break for the evening. It was already getting hot and I didn't feel like cooking. Steve suggested we Google around and check if there is a Godfather's Pizza nearby. Yesss!!! We found one. Easy peasy cooking supper plus enough left over to put in the freezer.

We love Godfather's Pizza, and it's a chain in the midwest that has somewhat disappeared. We do have a new Godfathers Express one that recently opened up about 50 miles from our home in Wisconsin.

We were planning on boondocking in the Walmart parking lot. Although there were not any signs prohibiting it, some of the reviews on our RV parking app said that RVs have been asked to move next door to the Lowe's parking lot. So we moved over there after picking up a few groceries and eating our pizza.

We sat there for a little while but it was quite warm and uncomfortable on the blacktop pavement. The heat just radiates upwards. Since we were boondocking we weren't running the air conditioner, and we would have to fire up the generator to get cool.

Steve decided since it was probably our last night of camping that we would really be extravagant and treat ourselves to a KOA campground! We NEVER stay at a KOA, we find them quite expensive.  But he said let's splurge and do it...  We got the directions to the one just out of Lebanon a few miles from town. It was $56 for the night! Oh my! We never pay that much money for a campsite...

We found our way there for the night and the host had pre-registered us and left the tag hanging in a yellow box. All we had to do was submit our cash back in the envelope and it was all taken care of. We got the very last site in a row of other rvs. We were right next door to their on-site bar and grill! This time of year it was not open, nor was the pool.  I bet during the seasonal summer months this is a busy place. 

The sites were really nice and some were set up for longer-term rentals. The KOA was neat and clean, but we never did go into the office or the little camp store to check them out. 

Steve chatted with the next door neighbors in the morning and then we all hooked up and headed on out again. Back on the road...  So much for $56. 

Driving now into the middle of Missouri, we were enjoying the scenery and change of terrain. Gone were the wide open stretches of Texas and Oklahoma. Gone were the flat grassy fields. Now we were seeing hills and rocks and hardwood trees. Things were getting to look more familiar and "Midwester-y" to our eyes.

We did travel through some agricultural areas and saw some interesting terrain and farmlands. Clustered around some areas were grain bins and railroad tracks to ship their products to other parts of the country.

Our sights were set on a tiny colony town called Bethel, Missouri. 

https://historicbethel.org/

Bethel, Missouri, is a small village in Shelby County, founded in 1844 as a utopian religious communal colony by German-American preacher Wilhelm Keil, known for its shared property and labor, handicrafts, and music. Though Keil led many followers to Oregon in 1855, the community continued, and today it preserves its unique history through events, a museum, and historic buildings, many on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our dear friend Rosie has a cute little farmette on the edge of town. She has beautiful pastures that up until recently housed her beloved llamas and alpacas. She graciously let us "mooch-dock" in her driveway for a few days.  We got all settled in after big hugs all around and joined her in the pleasant sunshine out on her deck. I have been daydreaming for months of getting back to visit with her and sitting on her deck.

The hours fly by and we always pick up right where we left off. We have online daily hours-long conversations that go back and forth with our third dear friend Linda in Tennessee. We keep a running Facebook Messenger chat box going. We check in with each other every morning and we chat on and off throughout the day until bedtime when we sign off.  We post whenever we have a thought to share, project to photograph, or just chatting with each other. We three together are pretty important friends to each other and rely on our caring and thoughtful and loving messages. All three of us are weavers and that's how we met. And now we are all best of friends.

I love this dear lady with all my heart. She is facing a major surgery next week in the big city of St Louis. A nearby neighbor is bringing her who is so kind and thoughtful to accompany her and stay there with a nearby relative until Rosie is released. We will gladly accept any thoughtful prayers for her healthy outcome and healing afterwards.

While we women yak and yak and yak, Steve gets to work finding a few projects around the house that Rosie could use a hand with. She had expressed a desire for some water barrels at the end of two of her rain gutter downspouts. She had all the materials ready, she just needed someone to get up on the roof and make sure the gutters were cleared out and free-flowing. Steve is her man for the job!

Once he got the downspouts and rain gutters figured out, Rosie located the spigots and fittings for him to create her two beautiful blue rain barrels. This will make it a lot easier to water her flowers and plants. Wrestling with a hose is one thing, but putting City treated water on her plants is also undesirable. Now she will have fresh clear rainwater for all of her blossoms. 

Another thing that needed a little attention was replacing her shower hose with a new sturdier detachable metal one. Rosie is very capable and sensible and wanted to do it herself. But the previous one was on just way too tight. For Steve, it was only a 10-minute job because he had the strength in his hands to take care of it.  Now she can enjoy her new shower hose with various settings and a shut off knob.

Rosie's property is located on the edge of a beautiful pond right behind her barn. Each morning we were waking up to the sounds of birds and seeing flocks of geese stop by the pond on their trek back North.  

Many years ago, 16 to be exact, Steve had made up some bottles of cherry wine from his cherry tree when we lived out on the Oconto River. He had gifted Rosie with a bottle back then. She had set it aside in her refrigerator all of these years. She was waiting for a perfect occasion to pop the cork! Over the years, my computer printed label for his bottle was a little worse for the wear. But the cork was sealed tight. Rosie suggested that we share a glass of wine together.

How fitting that Steve was able to pop the cork on the last remaining bottle from that batch of wine he had made. He was quite honored. We only wanted little samples, so Rosie broke out her fine crystal stemware!  LOL!

WE LET STEVE BE THE GUINEA PIG!!! He took the first sip and said it was quite good. Then we each took our samples and it really was good! I laughingly told him it tasted like Cherry NyQuil. But I was teasing. It was very good. It was also very strong. So we only each had a little bit or else we would be tipsy --- right off the end of that deck...

The next morning we awoke to the beautiful songs of the birds, singing like a cacophony of a symphony in the trees. None of us were hungover from the wine, so I guess it was pretty good.

This beautiful little colony town has a lot of brick buildings. Rosie's home is located next to the old school. Somebody has purchased it now and has stacks of bricks staged and doing some of the repair work. It will be interesting to see what they do with the building once it is reconstructed.

As with any tiny community, everyone is looking out for Rosie during this time of needing her surgery. Friends stopped by, and others were calling on and off all day wishing her the very best.

I took care of all of our meals and made extra portions for her to set aside in the freezer. That way she has a few extra treats for when she gets back home from the hospital.

One of her kitties, YB, which is Yellow Bee, commands all of the attention on her lap and holds reign over the deck conversations.

He was willing to let Nicholas sniff him carefully, but I know the claws would have come out if Nick made any rapid moves. Nick was very careful. He learned respect of cats 2 years ago. While he was on the run (right before we rescued him), he was trying to snitch food from the feral cat feeding station in our town. He had to do battle several times with big mean tom cats. We saw him on surveillance cameras. So he learned his lesson and decided to be curious and careful and very, very slow moving to get in a sniff of YB.

Such a gracious hostess, we enjoyed our time while parked in Rosie's driveway. Steve got the rainbarrels assembled and into place, while we were enjoying our visiting every single day.

But soon our eyes turned to the weather forecast. By Friday it was getting so hot in the driveway, that even running the generator for hours on end to keep the air conditioner going, we could not get the motor home below 84°. It was becoming unbearable. The next few days it was going to be into the 90s! 

So we cut our visit a little shorter than we had planned. Besides, Rosie needed a few days to gather her things and get arrangements made for her pets, etc before leaving for St Louis. With hugs all around and a few tears, we hit the road early in the morning before it got too hot.

We headed north of Missouri, up through Iowa. There aren't any campgrounds that are open that are readily accessible for us. It would still be too hot to boondock at a Walmart. We decided to keep on going the entire 500 Miles back HOME to Northeast Wisconsin.  Yup, 500 MILES IN ONE DAY!!! 

(We usually don't do over 200 a day)

We saw such pretty scenery, and quite a few red barns were coming to view. We knew we were getting closer and closer to Wisconsin.

Just before Madison, this Mustang passed us with the top down. Oh my, both young ladies inside were wearing thin strapped tank tops with bare shoulders and hair flying in the wind. What fun. But I can just imagine the sunburns they are both going to have by evening.

They must have stopped somewhere along the way because within an hour or so, they passed us again! Still with the top down in their hair flying in the wind. Looks like fun...

Since we were coming home earlier than planned, we contacted our neighbor to possibly remove some of the snow from our driveway. Remember? We had about 3 ft of snow sitting there. We were hoping maybe he could get over there and pull some out so we could at least get into the end of the driveway for the night. 

It turns out that he himself had been snowed in up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and had just gotten home himself. He was working hard to get the snow out of his own driveway. What a wonderful guy, he dropped everything and went over with a tractor and a back blade to push the snow out of the way enough so we would have access.  We could see him quickly working on our surveillance camera as we were nearing closer and closer to our home.

He had pushed enough out of the way, by the time we pulled into the yard. What a guy! Then he decided to finish doing more snow plowing and shoveling for us rather than finish his own.

There was quite a bit of snow drifted up here and we worked our way across the plowed out area to reach our own door. It felt so good to be HOME!!!!

He and Steve both pushed their way into the backyard. They tried using the snowblower to reach our basement entrance. We needed to get in there to turn on our water in the house. The snowblower just could not chew through the 3 ft of solid snow. So both of them had to grab shovels and work their way down through the layers, until they could actually open up the doors.  Now we could turn on our water.

The top surface of the snow was crusty and hard. Because it had blown so much during the blizzard it was very solid. This wasn't the soft fluffy snow that you see in movies. Nope. This was solid and hard and very very heavy. The guys worked mightily just to get that area cleared.  Our neighbor worked for 2-3 hours on our yard, them back to work on his own after dark. 

Nick seemed quite surprised that we had white stuff again. Just the day before, he was laying up in the shade and panting with all of his heavy fur in 90° heat.

It sure felt good. 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Here is the You Tube that goes along with those blog post: 

129 miles traveled to Belle Star, Eufaula, Oklahoma 

then 299 miles traveled to Lebanon, Missouri

Then 189 miles traveled to Bethel, Missouri 

Then 512 miles traveled to HOME!!  

2,536 miles traveled in total for the entire Winter Getaway 2026!