How much does a 2500 mile road trip with a travel trailer cost for two people? Knowing we were going to Quartzsite in January I chose a specific credit card that I have and only used that card for this trip - nothing else. The cost of the trip surprised me.

This was a round trip journey over 21 days in January, 2020 from Northern California’s Lake County wine country region to Quartzsite and back again.

Fuel Costs

First of all, the vehicle. We are towing a 19’ Rockwood Mini Lite trailer with a 2016 Nissan Frontier V6. Typically that truck can get up to 21 miles per gallon when completely unloaded and just cruising the freeways. When you mix in city and highway mileage, which is typical daily driving, it’s closer to 17.

When towing I have gotten as few as 9 miles per gallon in one tank with heavy headwinds and as many as 14 with a strong tailwind. Though, typically the number I see is in the high 10s so I was thrilled that, on average, we achieved 11.64 miles per gallon.

I measure it pretty accurately by monitoring what goes in and how many miles click off on the odometer. Yep, I’m one of those kinds of people. I use a phone app called Car Minder to monitor costs and maintenance on my vehicles.

In total we drove 2,502 miles on this trip and consumed $834.49 in fuel. Fuel was, by far, our single biggest cost.

Our spot on one of the nights we spent at the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA.

Camping Fees

One of our favorite ways to camp is boondocking and the majority of the nights on this trip were just that. There were plenty of nights in Quartzsite which were on public lands so no campground fees. We also stayed for five days as part of an FMCA rally which we had paid for in advance.

It’s reasonable to assume that that rally was a camping cost as part of this trip; however, so you can factor in $245 for that if you wish.

The rest was a mix of what seemed a very high priced campground on the beach in Santa Cruz which was literally nothing more than a parking lot alongside the boat harbor and came with the hefty price of $52 including full hook-ups to the $25/night we spent at an absolutely wonderful campground in Pismo Beach right on the ocean, although this had no hook-ups.

Still the Pismo Campground did have water available nearby and the price of camping included a visit to the dump station. There were also very clean shower houses and bathrooms not far from our site.

The best deal on full hookups had to be the Joshua Tree/Palm Springs KOA as it was just immaculate, had full hook-ups and even a huge swimming pool that was heated with mineral springs along with three separate hot tubs, also heated to three different temperatures with mineral springs. You’ll see this campground on the spreadsheet three separate nights as we enjoyed it so much that we kept returning. Its location, central to our other plans, allowed us to dump our tanks and recharge our water supply while also recharging ourselves in those three hot tubs.

Other Expenses

What’s not on here is the refrigerator full of food that we started the trip with. We love to prep things in advance of a trip and we did, leaving home with a full reefer of individual meals. Not only does that cut down on the travel costs, but it also means we have more control over what we eat.

But traveling also means we had opportunities to sample the local hot spots like Carlee’s, The Mad Greek and Seabright Brewery. Maya’s cafe was so good we went twice for a Mexican cream sauce that was incredible. At the same time we stoped at Cafe 245 twice - they claimed to have the world’s greatest hamburger and I went and had chili cheese fries the first time. It left me wondering.

Somehow Old West Cinnamon Rolls isn’t on the expense list and may have been one of the very few things we paid for with cash. Since I wanted to track the costs of this trip I didn’t pay cash for most things.

Also, you’ll notice our Escapees membership on the list. The reason I put that there was that we camped in Quartzsite with the Escapees Boomer group. While they told me that I didn’t have to join, I did. I’ve heard good things about Escapees and I figured it was the least I could do.

On the list is also the RV Pit Stop, which is in Quartzsite. That $24.50 got me a full tank of filtered water, a dump and a fill-up on one of our propane tanks.

Also, the $23.70 to KOA was for a propane tank exchange plus an ice cream. Hey, if I have to schlep that darned tank to the office I deserve a reward for doing so.

In Summary

When you consider that we were gone for almost three weeks and covered 2500 miles all up and down the California Coast and into Arizona, $2367.24 isn’t bad.

I wish I could coax more fuel economy out of the truck and I work to keep it at about 55 miles per hour (the legal speed limit when towing in California although you’d never know it). But pulling a huge box behind you just takes its toll when it comes to fuel economy.

Frankly I don’t think it’s the weight nearly as much as the aerodynamic drag of that big box back there.

What kind of costs are you experiencing on your trips?

Breaking it down it cost us about $113 per day for this trip or you could also figure it at just under $1.06 per mile. Of course that’s not taking into account vehicle costs other than just fuel.

What would reduce our costs? More boondocking and less eating in restaurants. However I like getting the local taste and culture so that’s not likely for me.

Notice, also, that there are no costs for destination attractions at all. In this trip everything we visited either had no cost, such as touring the Anza Borrego desert, or was included in the price of the campground such as Calico Ghost Town.

The biggest way to reduce the cost of a journey is not to buy gasoline in California. The same brand of gas just on the other side of the California/Arizona border was quite literally over a dollar a gallon cheaper.

What’s not included

Cost Breakdown Spreadsheet

The thing you can’t calculate is meeting cool people, catching up with your oldest friend while camped in his driveway, seeing incredible geology and landmarks and visiting wonderful places. The value of the experiences is the greatest single take away from travel.

But it’s still cool to know what it costs. I love this kind of stuff. I am a geek.