In the middle of 2024 I wrote a post covering the numbers behind our first year on the road, which covered April 29, 2023, through April 28, 2024. But I’d much rather make annual recaps based on each calendar year, so this post is intended to make that change. Some of the miles, routes, stops, costs, and details in this recap overlap a bit with the previous one but this will make it much easier (for me) moving forward…

Above is a map of our travels during 2024. We had originally intended to do either a West Coast or Midwest loop in 2024, but after having success finding a property in Texas (which is a great place to stay for the winter but not so great in the summertime) we decided to spend 2024 looking for a “mountain” property we could use as a summer resting spot. Unfortunately that meant we didn’t have a lot of time for sight-seeing and only visited one national park in 2024, just Big Bend NP in January while we were in Terlingua. But we did visit three national monuments: Craters of the Moon (Idaho), Little Bighorn Battlefield (Montana), and Devils Tower (Wyoming).
Our 2024 travels started in early May, leaving our Texas property for a stop in Tucson to get some repairs and upgrades and then we continued north looking at properties in Utah, Idaho, and Montana. We didn’t find any that we wanted to make an offer on, but we really liked the area up near Missoula and we decided that was an area (including Coeur d’Alene and Spokane) we would like to explore more. Unfortunately it was getting too late in the summer to spend any more time property hunting so by August we started heading south through Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico on our way back into West Texas.
All told, we traveled a 4,155 miles and spent time in 8 states during 2024. Combined with our travels in 2023 that brings us up to 9,674 miles traveled and 11 states visited. Below is a map of our full travels since day one.

Repairs & Maintenance
Outside of routine oil changes and maintenance, the truck only needed two major repairs in 2024. We had the exhaust system cleaned and replaced the hubs and disc brakes in March and we replaced both batteries (I had no idea our truck has two!) and paid the deductible to start the hail damage repairs in October. In total we spent $7,066 on truck maintenance in 2024.
The biggest expense for the 5th wheel in 2024 was replacing the old absorption-style fridge with a much more efficient compressor-style fridge, which was not cheap (over $6,000!!) but has been worth every penny. We had a few other minor odds and ends taken care of and ended up spending $7,295 on 5th wheel upkeep, bringing our total 2024 maintenance costs for both the truck and the 5th wheel to $14,361.
Gas (Diesel)
During 2024 we spent a total of $4,054.52 on diesel for the truck. That bought us 1,062.1 gallons of fuel with an average price of $3.82 per gallon. The most we spent on gas, per gallon, was $4.99 while the cheapest price we paid was $2.82.
Propane
Since we were in (very) warm weather for most of 2024, and replaced the old fridge, our propane costs in 2024 were very minimal. We only had to get our 30lb tanks refilled four times (all in Terlingua, with 3 in the winter before our summer travels and the 4th refill after we got back to Texas in December). The total spent on propane in 2024 was just $120.
Lodging
During 2024 we spent a total of $11,418.13 on campground and RV park fees. We had 235 nights in campgrounds and RV parks and 131 nights boondocking (including time spent on our property).
Year by Year Comparison

Our 2024 costs were higher but it was also a full year (plus leap day!) on the road, while only the final 8 months of 2023 were spent on the road. If you factor that in, our daily cost rate in 2023 was $87 and in 2024 it was $82 (the cost rate for both years combined comes to $84 per day).
Below is a more detailed breakdown of our lodging costs over both years.

The full price rates at most of the campgrounds and RV parks we stay at are usually between $50 and $75 per night but, when you factor in the discounts we get from our memberships and the nights we spend boondocking for free, we’ve been able to keep our average nightly cost in the $32 range. Before we started off on this adventure I thought for sure this would be our biggest expense but, at least over the first two years, we’ve spent almost $4,000 more on repairs and maintenance than we have on lodging.

Overall, I’d say 2024 felt very different from 2023. In our first year on the road, which again was really only 8 months since we didn’t leave Portland until the end of April, it seemed like we were moving to a new spot almost every week and we visited so many national parks. It kind of felt like one long vacation, which was both exciting and a little exhausting. 2024 was much less frantic (except for that one evening at Devils Tower) and much more focused on work (property hunting) than fun. I think we’re both hoping our travels in 2025 will be a better balance between the two.
Nice that you keep track and quantify expenses and trends. I would say if you consider normal house rental and or mortgage costs you came out better. You have a capital expense in both the truck and trailer that depending on how you do your federal taxes can be considered your office and depreciated over time. Hopefully the fun you’ve experienced and educational aspects of living on the road – you’re way ahead of the curve. Anyway nice update – keep the updates coming on a regular frequency. They are quite entertaining for us!