These are a breakdown of our costs. These costs are for two people travelling without children.
Days on the road: 63 days
Mileage: 13,798 miles (avg. 220 a day, we tried to go no more than 300 to 400 miles a day on the road). See Day-by-day Itinerary
Food: $4,464.85 ($71 a day). Our food costs were fairly high because we figured we would do this only once and we did not want to miss out on the best the Grand Lodges had to offer. We ate out often. The few times we cooked in the hotel or had home made meals--which we so totally appreciated--we usually splurged by treating our hosts to a meal out, so that averaged out. Cost includes dining tips.
Lodging: $3,961.82. ($63 a day). Our lodging averaged less per day than our food, and is probably the item that will be the least easy to duplicate. We only had to pay for 21 nights out of our 63 days. Over the previous years we had put everything--food, oil, conferences, etc. onto our Marriott credit card, which helped us build up a nice cache of points. Every city hotel and most of the trip back we used points. On the trip, we paid for the less expensive hotels, like the Fairfield Inns to rack up more nights. We also paid for all of the NPS grand lodges--which were well worth the price. We took advantage of some time shares, and were thrilled to stay with family for some of our stay. We never camped. Cost includes $231.00 (avg $3.61 a day) for tips to maids, bellboys, valet parking attendants, etc. See Day-by-day Itinerary .
Gas: $1817.29 (61 Gas stops, avg $29.00 a day). Our automobile (a 2008 Toyota Highlander) averaged around 22 MPG. Gas prices were from $2.57 in WV to the highest of $3.59 in CA. Most of the time gas was around $2.79 to $2.89. Oh...in the West, the middle pump with higher octane is often cheaper than the lower octane choice...sometimes by almost twenty cents. So be vigilant! Also... try to fill your tank before it hits 1/2 full. Some areas go hundreds of mile without a station.
Oil Changes: We had to get three oil changes which cost us around $40.00 each. Don't forget to budget time to do this every 3000 or so miles!
Park admissions: $80 plus other misc. admissions. Total: $150. We purchased the $80 annual pass available to US citizens which allows up to four adults traveling with one of the two people named on the pass into any National Park, National Monument, National Historic Site, or National Recreational Area, but not the state parks. We tallied what our admission would have cost and we would have paid $290.00 without the annual pass, so it was well worth the $80 cost (Yellowstone would have been $25.00. Glacier, Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, and other major National Parks are also $20.00 or $25.00. Smaller National parks: $10 or $15.) Navajo lands are not included, so we had to pay some fees, like $3.00 to enter Four Corners. Private tourist sites also must be added ($5.00 for Chandlier Tree, $6.95 each for Roadside America, etc.).
Total Cost, not including souvenirs: $10,514.00 ($167.00 a day)
