We spent 101 days on the road, starting in Philadelphia, PA and eventually ending in Denver, CO. See our map for all of the locations we made it to! Our goal was to maintain a budget of $100/day. As you can see, we kept track of every single cent we spent during our time traveling. And we kept track in real time so as to make sure we could stay relatively within budget. I’ve expanded on a couple items below to provide a bit more context. Let us know if you have any questions!
Accomodations
We stayed in AirBnBs in Quebec City and Montreal and one hotel in Washington when we ran out of daylight and campsites were fully booked. There were also a few friends and family stops along the way, which we got to utilize for free (thank you to those that hosted us!). Typically campsites cost us $20-40 per night within the National Parks – sometimes it was better/easier to just stay in the park for good access to hikes. Outside of the National Parks, we tried to find free campsites or campsites with fewer amenities (i.e., pit toilet) for cheaper.
Adventure
While we tried not to splurge on too many paid adventure activities, we did have a few. These included a round of golf in Banff (totally worth the price), a few state park entrance fees, and an ATV tour in Moab.
Food
Relatively straightforward category – we ate at restaurants in the few cities that we visited. Most of our restaurant budget was spent in Quebec City and Montreal because we had a few restaurant recommendations that we didn’t want to pass up. Walmart and Aldi were our favorite grocery shops because food was considerably cheaper here. Street food consisted of lobster rolls in Maine and crepes in Quebec City. Ice was a constant cost as this was necessary for our cooler. Two bags would usually last us about a week or so, unless it was particularly hot.
Miscellaneous
Can’t go camping with out firewood! Supplies included bear spray, bug spray, tent tape (when we had a rip), mouse traps, a mallet and hatchet (for firewood), and fishing gear.
Transportation
The car was our main mode of transportation, so a good bit of money went towards gas. Fortunately, we only had one break down incident when our batter died, but AAA came to our rescue. Boat included a canoe rental to get to our campsite in the Adirondacks, and a car ferry to and from the San Juan Islands. Bus was one trip to Lake Louise in Banff. Parkin was typically street parking in the few cities we visited. We avoided tolls as much as possible, but it made sense on a few occasions.