Out of the 124 days we were gone, six nights were not spent in our trailer. That is a lot of time in 90 square feet and a lot of different experiences in overnight stops. We actually stayed in 80 different locations. 20 were free when we stayed at friends or places like Cracker Barrel, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer and Cabelas. There were 6 Harvest Hosts nights that we pay an annual fee to belong, these were no charge nights along the way at farm stands, museums and wineries. Two of our more memorable places were Harvest Host locations. There were 27 different commercial campgrounds, always the most expensive option but they offer lots of services (or most do). There we can dump tanks, fill water, charge everything and, often, use WiFi. We also camped in nice sites in 8 National Parks (1 Canadian) - very economical and 20 nights at various Forest Service, BLM, Provincial, State or City parks ranging in cost from $5 to $20. Our average weekly cost for lodging was just a bit over $150. Since the average cost of one night at a US hotel is $132 and in Alaska the average is $275 taking the trailer was a huge savings. Even figuring extra fuel costs and maintenance we were able to travel many more days than if we had to pay for hotels. I will be posting under the “camping” tab many of these sites starting on Monday. I will also post a data base of all the sites next week.
A Harvest Host night at Hansen’s Dairy in Iowa.