Total mileage (8,000 when we arrived) 35,000 now 27.2 MPG - 2.3 9 Speed Auto ECO selected 95% of the time.
Putting socks onto the plastic arm rests tops arm sweating.
It has been sunny virtually the whole time we've been here, the odd thunderstorm and with 27,000 miles covered the Leisure and Starter batteries have
been 100% charged all the time.
Average diesel price $4.25 (3.79 litre US Gallon) = $1.12 per litre @ 1.23 USD to GBP £0.91 per Litre
The REAL saving though is FREE overnight parking stores/blm/USfs/Harvesthosts Boondockers:/Truck stops - N.B. We always ask permission
even if app says not required.
We've paid for 15 nights in RV parks due to either suitable free location or needing multiple nights, leaving the van unoccupied to visit a city.
That means 131 FREE nights, if paid @ £45 per night as an avg UK price
that is a saving of £5,895 in UK cost so far. US RV Parks are more expensive than we've paid in UK/Europe.
By the end of the year we'll have save far more than the cost to ship the van over to USA and back and had a very fun year.
We always
Using Apps to find free overnight parking is working well.
https://www.ioverlander.com - Free
https://maps.overnightrvparking.com - $59.99 That's basically a night in an RV park in USA
https://membership.harvesthosts.com - $99 gets you list of wineries/breweries/restaurant etc but your expected to make a purchase. Add on of $49
for Boondockers which give you list of people who'll let you park on their land overnight, many 2+ nights no charge. So offer free/charge for electrical
hook-up but with such low power usage we only us if free.
https://www.blm.gov/ - Bureau of Land Management - This has been a little hit and miss. They are listed on ioverlander.com of via the blm site but
of the 8 sites we've used 2 were signed as site closed.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/ - US Forestry Service provide some "developed sites" long drop toilets/water for $20 or less and "undeveloped sites" that are free.
So far New Mexico has had the worst condition "motorways", picked our daughter up from Albuquerque airport @ 23:30 and a 100 mile drive to overnight stop.
There was a stop listed at the airport but is was just an area where a building had been demolished and there was no one to confirm it was OK to park overninght.
Driving out I put myself 100' behind a truck and trailer, if he swerved I followed, also by watching the trailer I could see if it hit any potholes and there where many.
Just after one there where 2 cars and a lorry on the hard shoulder with flats.
Adblue consumption has reduced as the temperatures came down, getting back to nearly 1000 miles per 5 litres rather than 1/2 that @ over 40C
Rear tyres are hanging in there, replacement fronts (Cooper Tires HT Discovery) I'm guessing have another 10,000 in them give the wear so far (30,000 total)
I did an interview with a Youtuber who is planning a nomad lifestyle and thought our van was "cool"
You can follow our misadventures and keeping everyone up to date if we go missing @: https://www.polarsteps.com/JezAng/7186963-late-gap-year
Putting socks onto the plastic arm rests tops arm sweating.
It has been sunny virtually the whole time we've been here, the odd thunderstorm and with 27,000 miles covered the Leisure and Starter batteries have
been 100% charged all the time.
Average diesel price $4.25 (3.79 litre US Gallon) = $1.12 per litre @ 1.23 USD to GBP £0.91 per Litre
The REAL saving though is FREE overnight parking stores/blm/USfs/Harvesthosts Boondockers:/Truck stops - N.B. We always ask permission
even if app says not required.
We've paid for 15 nights in RV parks due to either suitable free location or needing multiple nights, leaving the van unoccupied to visit a city.
That means 131 FREE nights, if paid @ £45 per night as an avg UK price
that is a saving of £5,895 in UK cost so far. US RV Parks are more expensive than we've paid in UK/Europe.
By the end of the year we'll have save far more than the cost to ship the van over to USA and back and had a very fun year.
We always
Using Apps to find free overnight parking is working well.
https://www.ioverlander.com - Free
https://maps.overnightrvparking.com - $59.99 That's basically a night in an RV park in USA
https://membership.harvesthosts.com - $99 gets you list of wineries/breweries/restaurant etc but your expected to make a purchase. Add on of $49
for Boondockers which give you list of people who'll let you park on their land overnight, many 2+ nights no charge. So offer free/charge for electrical
hook-up but with such low power usage we only us if free.
https://www.blm.gov/ - Bureau of Land Management - This has been a little hit and miss. They are listed on ioverlander.com of via the blm site but
of the 8 sites we've used 2 were signed as site closed.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/ - US Forestry Service provide some "developed sites" long drop toilets/water for $20 or less and "undeveloped sites" that are free.
So far New Mexico has had the worst condition "motorways", picked our daughter up from Albuquerque airport @ 23:30 and a 100 mile drive to overnight stop.
There was a stop listed at the airport but is was just an area where a building had been demolished and there was no one to confirm it was OK to park overninght.
Driving out I put myself 100' behind a truck and trailer, if he swerved I followed, also by watching the trailer I could see if it hit any potholes and there where many.
Just after one there where 2 cars and a lorry on the hard shoulder with flats.
Adblue consumption has reduced as the temperatures came down, getting back to nearly 1000 miles per 5 litres rather than 1/2 that @ over 40C
Rear tyres are hanging in there, replacement fronts (Cooper Tires HT Discovery) I'm guessing have another 10,000 in them give the wear so far (30,000 total)
I did an interview with a Youtuber who is planning a nomad lifestyle and thought our van was "cool"
You can follow our misadventures and keeping everyone up to date if we go missing @: https://www.polarsteps.com/JezAng/7186963-late-gap-year
