October Travel and Spending
As I am writing this on the last day of October, I can’t believe another month has gone by! We took the time to enjoy Fall, cooler weather, and the changing leaves in New England–something very new for us. As I reflect, I am still amazed at all we saw and did this month.
We celebrated BJ’s birthday, saw friends and history, as well as an amazing display of the aurora borealis and the comet while in dark sky area on the East Coast.
We added 7 state stickers to places we’ve stayed as full timers (New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina), bringing our total states RV’d to 32! We drove through 4 additional states (Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maryland) but will have to come back and catch those for stops to count them! We drove a total of 2,369 miles and spent $704 on fuel and DEF.
We stayed in 8 different locations. We stayed in two Thousand Trails parks and two Encore parks (Pinehirst Campground in Maine, Gateway to Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Gettysburg Farms in Pennsylvania, and Twin Lakes Campground in North Carolina). We stayed in 1 job location in Connecticut on the customer’s property, as well as 3 Harvest Host overnight locations (Sabatini’s Pizzeria and South County Brewing in Pennsylvania, and Port City Brewing in Virginia). Since our overnight locations were dining/beverage options and no hookup fees and our memberships are paid for the year, that means we spent $0 out of pocket on camping for the month!
Our groceries, dining out and household supplies were our biggest expense this month at $1,236. We were in some pricier areas, so groceries were higher, and we went out to eat several times while out and about, and to try new places, like a sandwich at a sandwichery in Sandwich, Massachusetts!
We enjoyed several outings during the month!
We enjoyed LL Bean in Maine and got new sheets from my birthday wish list (back in JULY!) and a new winter coat for our ever-growing teenager.
We explored the coastline, seeing a few different lighthouses.
We also caught up with a friend from home that spent the summer up in Maine. We explored Boothbay Harbor together and enjoyed delicious seafood on the wharf one day. We caught up another day had a family day on the obstacle course Monkey C, Monkey Do. We had a blast walking obstacles, ziplining and trying the rope swing, all while she was there to supervise us…and thanks for saving my life on that rope swing, Courtney!
Luther and I took a trip to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut while BJ was working on a solar install.
We all went to Plymouth and Pilgrim Hall and museum in Massachusetts.
We got a sugar high at The Hershey experience in Pennsylvania.
We did an auto tour through Gettysburg, perfect timing as Luther is learning about the Civil War in history class.
Rounding out the entertainment/other category, were some donations to a couple of fundraisers and a book for a bible study that started this month. That brings our grand total for other expenses to $594.
In the maintenance category, we were busy! We were due for an oil change on the truck, had to replace a broken wire for our Starlink, fix an outlet in the RV, do a couple of dump station fees, so had $140 in repairs. One of the garage door hinges broke, but we will fix that when we get home. We also had to refill propane tanks a few times since it was cold and we were off grid, so spent $85 on propane this month. We also had to hit the laundromat since we didn’t have hook ups, so spent $43 on laundry–definitely adding a washer/dryer combo to the winter projects list!
We got health insurance lined up for BJ, so that will be a new recurring expense of $68 a month, now just have to find something for the kiddo! Luckily, no other medical or health related expenses this month.
RV, truck and life insurance was all the same, but we did have to pay the annual premium on a policy, so that was up for the month at $773. Prescription dog food at $49, technology for cell phones and subscriptions was $437 (Starlink went up by $15 this month), and we have our monthly RV loan payment of $939 to round out our expenses for a grand total this month of…$5200!
We are working our way slowly home in November for some appointments and to see family that we have missed. That means that fuel, propane, and laundry will be much lower in November. With the travel season winding down, we are excited to see what the “snowbird” life will be like as winter residents since neither of us have full time jobs for the first time since high school. We are working on some local travel and excursions, as well as maintenance and upgrade projects to complete over winter, so we will keep you posted on those on social media or in future monthly blogs.
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