How much $$$ for approx year long trip around the US?

[victor441]

Originally Posted by jackc1027

I gotta say, that is a pretty amazing story. It's pretty much exactly what I want to do, only solo, on two wheels.

The last part is probably some of the best advice I have gotten.

$1,800 in just over a month!! That amount would put me at flat broke in about two months! However, if you had hotel's, tires, expenses I am hoping to avoid, hopefully I can do it on quite a bit less. I have never WWOOF'd before, however I did just setup a profile on a helpxchange website only for WWOOFing. Even thing's like the $10 shower, I will be trying to avoid. I will really be relying on Couchsurfing and other's whenever possible for things like showering and whatever else is offered while on the road.

so you have about $3600 then?? that would only allow $10/day, hard to figure how you would fuel yourself and your bike on that amount even with no other expenses....though as was said many have hit the road and made it work somehow with what they had. Since you have a year it might be worth thinking about touring on a bicycle rather than a motorcycle, much less expensive and equally enjoyable in my experience (have done a LOT of bicycle touring)

[Mr_Gone]

Originally Posted by BrianF

Lastly, don't overthink it. Wander. Soak in the culture. Stay a week in places that are wonderful, and get the hell out of dodge when they're not. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Have fun, and ride safe.

That is probably the best advice you will ever receive once you're on the road. American is a fantastic country, and huge. You should try to enjoy every square mile if you can.

[wheatwhacker]

What kind of work can you do?
Woofing is a good way to start, maybe get some seasonal work and just live for free. You can spend years drifting around the USA.
Custom cutting is another way of living cheap if you can run a combine harvester.
If your good you'll get $3K/month and all expenses paid. Starting out you might get half. You have a lot of time off and you get to see the country.

http://youtu.be/ASgAzoto3Tg

[Mr_Gone]

Originally Posted by wheatwhacker

What kind of work can you do?
Woofing is a good way to start, maybe get some seasonal work and just live for free. You can spend years drifting around the USA.
Custom cutting is another way of living cheap if you can run a combine harvester.
If your good you'll get $3K/month and all expenses paid. Starting out you might get half. You have a lot of time off and you get to see the country.

http://youtu.be/ASgAzoto3Tg

Woofing? Is there a lack of people who can bark in America? And what sort of salary can a woofer expect?

Sorry, just had to be a smartass. I'm assuming you meant "Roofing."

Just about any construction trade can land you a temp job, depending on the region of the country you're in.

[ThanatosF]

Originally Posted by Mr_Gone

Woofing? Is there a lack of people who can bark in America? And what sort of salary can a woofer expect?

Sorry, just had to be a smartass. I'm assuming you meant "Roofing."

Just about any construction trade can land you a temp job, depending on the region of the country you're in.

WWOOF: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

http://www.wwoof.org/

[Mr_Gone]

Originally Posted by ThanatosF

WWOOF: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms

http://www.wwoof.org/

Dude, I thought I was being clever with the "woofing" thing... now I just feel dumb again for the first time the second time around again.

[Flashmo]

Originally Posted by Mr_Gone

... now I just feel dumb again for the first time the second time around again.

I love it!

[Dusty Boots]

I went 'walkabout' for over 3 months, in 2011 and put on over 21,000 miles. (July 1 - Oct 6)
Out of that, I held up in a motel for a total of 5 nights. The rest of the time I camped at Forest Service campsites mostly, some A.C.E., BLM and a couple of free NP/city campgrounds, or stayed at friends places. I cooked a lot of my meals, but I also ate in restaurants at times, as well.

Total inclusive cost for the trip, including a new set of tires was < $4,000 , but I think I could have easily shaved $4 - $500 off of that if I tried

I based my initial cost calculations on a spreadsheet program I found on the site - here - Not sure if it still works or not though.
It worked out that I spent less that what it calculated, but I ended up staying at places that were free (campsites/friends places) more than what I had initially figured.It does give you a pretty good starting point on overall costs.






Dusty

[Jamie Z]

In my experience, fuel will be your biggest expense.

Also, experience helps. As does necessity. If you hit the road without a lot of money, you quickly figure out how not to spend it.

My least expensive long-term motorcycle trip was in 2007 when I traveled through parts of North and Central America for about three months. I spent just under $25 per day. At the time, gas was running about $2.50 per gallon or less, and I averaged about 270 miles per day. Fuel was more than half my daily budget.\

For what it's worth, for that trip, I had a big chunk of time and very little money. I left my house without much of a plan and $2000 in my pocket. When the money ran out, my trip was over.

More recently, my motorcycle trips through the US and Canada (again, averaging about 275 miles per day) cost me around $40 per day, again, fuel being about half my daily costs, though I've been a little less concerned with budget on those shorter trips.

My opinion is that for an experienced budget traveler on a motorcycle, $20 per day would be the very minimum. Depending on your daily mileage and ability to stick to your goal of camping for free and cooking your own ramen noodles each day, I'd plan on at least $25-$30 per day, and that'd probably be cutting it close.

What kind of bike do you have?

Jamie

[Witold]

It really depends how you travel and what you want to do during your travels.

Ultimately, there are people surviving on $0/month here, living on the street and begging for food. That's the baseline. Camping and supermarket food will be super cheap and your only expense is fuel.

But if you want a helicopter tour of the NYC skyline, raft down Colorado River, do a scenic skydive in the Rockies, take some climbing classes at Yosemite, or whatever- things can add up very fast.

[MarGyver]

Make that trip around Mexico, and you will be able to ride for 2 years with the same amount...

[thetourist]

When I did my longest ride, into Mexico, I budgeted $100 per day. That is a full day of riding and real food. I camped a lot, but was not on a ramen diet, and used motels when it got cold.

I had $3000 so figured I could stay out 30 days. I was able to save enough to extend my trip another 3 weeks, but I did dip into my reserve, from home, when I encountered very cold weather and used motels. Anyhow, I averaged about $75 a day while traveling. I had a week of sitting still or low mileage days. Sitting still lowers the average quite a bit, as does low mileage days.

The cost of gas and food has gone up quite a bit in the last few years.

[Stan Dalone]

The end of june 2013 my GF and I are hitting the road for a year also. Were not spring chickens, well, one of us isnt. I am gonna be 50, she is gonna be 30!!
We have several pre-paid planned mini vacations built into our trip, ( 10 day cruise to Alaska, 7 night stay at a time share in Cabo for Xmas 2014.
We plan on being in the $75 a day range, so it will ad up quickly. We dont plan to live large,then again, we dont want to say no to anything that arises, but fuel, sleeps, foods, entertainment, its not for nothing when your away from your regular comfort zone.
Our total budget for the year, considering we expect to have some days that cost less, and some that cost more, we have $35,000 set asise for the dream adventure of our lifetime.

[Flashmo]

Originally Posted by Fourty2ri

Were not spring chickens, well, one of us isnt. I am gonna be 50, she is gonna be 30!!

[nuttynu]

wow.... all this reading has now motivated me to save up money and travel too...arggg

hmm maybe get 10k, and ride the US for a year..?


im determined now !!

So I did some math. Would 15,000 dollars last me a cheap year riding the 50 states ?

That's be a saving of $241 biweekly until June 2015=15k ish