Going on a month-long trip, you don't want to run out of gas...ever. Since we are going on this trip as cheap as possible with all the people involved, planning this carefully is really important.
Our church sells scrip gift cards to raise money for youth to go to camp. The gift card savings plan works well for us. Since I'm not working as much now that I'm caring for my grandmother, we have decided to spend most of my last big paycheck on the scrip for gas. I don't want to overspend too much on gas, so it was time for some math.
First I had to figure out how many miles were in the trip. I checked my Furkot map and found that the trip, just getting from one place to another, is 6,549 miles. I decided to add on several miles to make up for any time that we will be spending in different locations. I rounded up to 6,800 miles just to be safe.
I know that my van gets anywhere from 15-26 miles per gallon depending on the type of driving. I decided to do the math at 18 miles per gallon, just to be safe. So at 18 miles per gallon, a 20 gallon tank, and a cost of about $50 per tank of gas in California (probably close to the most expensive place on the trip to get gas if not the most expensive), I figured it at around $950 for gas.
So, if I'm getting scrip and not just paying for the gas in cash, I need to figure out what gas stations there are along the way. I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. I want to make sure that I can get gas everywhere, so I am getting gas cards for the companies that are actually there. Furkot has an option to look along the route for the gas stations and prices, so I looked all along my route to see which companies and which ones are the least expensive along the way. Pilot and Flying J are all along major interstates. I get a good amount of scrip for them. Fortunately, the card works for both places. Other than those, I got a variety of other companies that are along the route.
As far as food, we are staying at several different places and therefore there will be a variety of cooking abilities depending on the stop. For example, where we are camping, our options differ from when we are in a hotel room. However, the condos we are renting in various locations along the way will have multiple options for cooking. There will also be times when we will need to get out and just go to a restaurant, especially where we find a place that we are excited to try.
My girls are major Food Network Nuts. Seriously, they yell at the television like a football game when a cooking competition is on. So when I tell them that we are going on a cross country road trip, you'd better believe they are doing their own research. Becca is the most involved in this process. Her birthday will be during the trip, so she especially wants to make sure she gets to go somewhere special that evening. Fortunately, we will be hitting Denver that day, so she has several options that are right up her culinary alley. I'm excited to see what she chooses.
All that being said, I'm still working with a budget and we have to be able to eat for the whole trip. Planning is essential so that I can make sure everyone can eat.
On top of this, my mom is diabetic, my grandma has a few dietary limitations that come with her medications, and my son is gluten free and casien free. We never let the dietary restrictions stop us from experiences, planning solves most problems, but they are factors to take into account.
I was thinking about doing something like I had done with the gas, but I am worried that we may need a bit more flexibility when it comes to food, so I am going to limit that option a bit. I'm still getting a few cards for some places to get groceries, but not as many, as I want to be able to taste local flavors. One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to go to farmer's markets and local places to get ingredients. It is a great way to experience the location where you are visiting using another of your senses and support the local small businesses. I can't do that with scrip, so flexibility requires more savings and more planning. It also means that I have to make sure that I have a bit more money available than what we would normally spend on food in a regular month. It's going to be a bit more difficult since I can't work as many hours as I would have before I had to care for my grandmother all the time, but I think we can still pull it off.
Snacks and stuff like that is for a whole other blog, so I think I'll touch on food again later. Stay tuned!
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