Any time is a good time to add data to a spreadsheet – even the sunny beaches of Louisiana

Don’t you love spreadsheets?  A good spreadsheet reveals all sorts of interesting information, some of it even useful, and a wealth of new knowledge that is almost always ignored or forgotten.  And when a spreadsheet can produce meaningful statistics, even better.  Well, I’m into spreadsheets, big time, and have kept a detailed spreadsheet of the first leg of our Follow the Sun journey.  Here’s a few facts and figures that might be interesting.

Endless useless data at your fingertips whenever you need it

One comment about our miles and dollars.  We probably travelled more per day and spent more per day than most overlanders.  There are many overland blogs where travellers travelled much slower and spent much less than us.  The two are linked because if your miles are lower then your fuel costs are also lower.  Our plan was always to see as much as we could in our limited time rather than take the approach of going slow and easy such as camping out on a quiet beach for a week and doing nothing (although that would be nice).  Both strategies are valid but I think we got the mix right for our particular style of travel.

Our maintenance costs on the trip were much higher than expected

We had a target (rather than a strict budget) on what to spend per day which we exceeded if you include all our maintenance costs, scenic flights and other big splurges.  But we chose not to stress too much about our day to day costs so sometimes had nice cheeses for cocktail hour or even – occasionally – bottled wine with dinner.  We tried to be thrifty and economical and as low cost as possible but we weren’t manic about it.

Anyway, in no particular order here’s a few bits of information from our travel through North America this year.

• Julie and I were travelling for 210 continuous days or the equivalent of 7 months
• In that time we travelled 34,573 miles (56,008 kms) which is 165 miles (268 kms) per day
• Of those miles, 58% were in America and 42% in Canada
• Of those total miles, 16% were in Alaska (and 24% of our total nights!)
• Our longest driving day was 348 miles (563 kms) and we also had 20 days where Tramp did not move an inch
• We bought gas 130 times at an overall average cost of $2.94 per gallon (Aussie$1.03 per litre)
• Gas in America averaged US$2.71 per gallon while in Canada it was US$3.32 per gallon
• The cheapest gas was in Sumter South Carolina at $1.99 per gallon
• The most expensive gas was in Deadhorse Alaska at $4.77 per gallon (ouch!)
• I never got used to calling it gas – to me it was always fuel or petrol
• Gas/fuel/petrol was our biggest expense, making up 19.8% of our costs
• Our Colorado got about 15.5 miles per gallon (15 litres/100kms), not too bad considering its heavy load
• Our average daily running costs (not including big maintenance/fix jobs or big splurges like scenic flights) was US$112 per day
• Our average daily total costs, counting every single cent, was $157 but this was blown out by our large unplanned vehicle maintenance costs
• We put our accommodation into four categories:
  • Free Camp (In the wild at no cost) – 42% of the nights
  • Paid Camp (usually national parks, state or provincial parks) – 43% of the nights
  • RV Park (usually used in large towns or for showers/laundry) – 7% of the nights
  • Not in Tramp (2 motels, 3 overnight ferries, otherwise with friends/family) – 9% of the nights
• We had fires on 69% of our camping nights, only being denied because of wet weather or local rules
• We visited 29 US states (out of 50) and all of Canada’s provinces and territories (except for the roadless northern territory of Nunavut)
• Our highest point on the map was Prudhoe Bay with a latitude of 70.25 degrees north
• We visited 25 of the 59 national parks in the US, adding to the other 13 parks we had previously seen
• In total we visited 89 US nationally managed sites, be they parks, forests, monuments, historic sites, national scenic areas or wildlife refuges
• Our highest point was Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado at 10,870 feet (3,300 metres)
• Our highest camp was at Zapata Falls, Colorado at 9,000 feet, (2,727 metres)
• We entered Canada six times, four of which were from Alaska, and we entered British Colombia an astonishing 11 times
• In Alaska we travelled an amazing 5,418 miles (8,670 kms), almost covering every road between communities in Alaska
• In the great game of sighting Bears vs. Moose, the Bears won 55 to 50
• We didn’t put a single scratch or dent on our beloved Colorado and only one small tree branch scratch on the camper
• We took 9,500 photos, not all of them worthy of National Geographic
• We sat in so many Canadian red chairs commemorating the nation’s 150th birthday we lost count
• We had three flat tires, one fused rear differential and one speed trap speeding ticket in Manitoba (boo hiss on the sneaky policeman)
• And most importantly, Julie and I talked to each other every day, never wore each other out and worked as a great team – a major claim when you are together in close quarters 24/7

Julie was always conscious of the budget – here she is saving money by toasting yesterday’s bread for breakfast