I keep thinking that we haven’t budgeted enough money for gas, for our road trip.
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!!!BEGIN MATH ALERT!!!
– Initial off-the-top-of-my-head budget – $450
– Round-trip miles (according to Google Maps) – 2688 – bumping up to 3000 to account for tooling around
– Conservative MPG – 18 (we’re getting a Lincoln Town Car – fuel estimates are 17 in the city and 25 on the highway, so I could conceivably estimate 20 MPG average)
– Conservative $PG – $3.00 (the national average for regular unleaded as of today is $2.50)
(3000 miles/18 MPG)*$3/gallon=$499.9999…
So. Close enough, and accommodates for any unforeseen driving. I hate second(third, million)-guessing myself.
!!!END MATH ALERT!!!
I’m quite proud of myself for saving the amount of money we needed for this road trip. NOTHING is going on credit, I am that much of a rock star. Our 1H bonus came in at less than I hoped it would be (well, me and the other 83,999 AcronymCo employees), which means we can’t go QUITE as hog-wild as I wanted us to be able to do. Still, we have a comfy cushion for the necessities (hotels, gas, food) with a good amount left over for fun.
We need that fun, and how.
Anyway, the only thing I’m concerned with about this trip is the couple of ass-hauling days we have scheduled to make some distance between destinations. The first leg to Salt Lake City will take us eleven or twelve hours. Google Maps says we can make it all the way to Jackson Hole in sixteen if we wanted to push it that far, but I don’t. Then there’s a loooooong haul from Cody to Aspen (twelve to thirteen hours), then we turn around the very next day for another loooooong haul from Aspen to the Grand Canyon (ten hours – though there is a bit of wiggle room in our schedule and we can spend an extra night in Aspen if we want). We’re spending six full days in Wyoming, which is why we can’t take the final stage of our trip in more gradual drives.
So, on those long-haul days, I figure we need to be on the road by 6:00 a.m., which, if you’ve been following along at home, is frickin’ early.
I’m thinking this road trip will open our eyes to other travel options within a day’s driving distance from our home. One of the things I liked best about living on the east coast was the proximity to so many different destinations, within a driving time of less than six hours. It kind of feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere, here in Phoenix, so driving distances to any destination of interest takes longer. But Calvin and I like weekend road trips so much that I can see us heading to different places in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico if it’s within twelve hours of home.
God knows I have enough travel guides, now.
Snerkology 