Rockport Musings

written Monday, December 22, 2008
Rockport, TX

I'm in one of those unproductive periods that pop up every once in a while. Writing in the blog is easy when we're out exploring historic places, national parks, dramatic terrain, and the like. But often, when we park in one spot for an extended period of time, my mind takes a break and my writing muscles start to atrophy. A friend of mine claims there is no such thing as writer's block -- only laziness. That may be. But whatever the reason there's been a paucity of posts to the Sabbatical blog this month.

I thought it might be interesting to recount a few statistics about our lifestyle in 2008. These all relate to where we park the bus-house -- campgrounds, RV Parks, and boondocking -- and some statistics about the bus-house itself. And these are all for the year 2008:

Number of Camps/Moves:  59
Average Stay: 6.2 days
Longest Stay: 44 days (In Wisconsin for Wedding)
Total Cost of Camping: $4,911.10
Average Cost Per Day: $13.42
Most Costly Per Day: $31.00 (California -- where else?)

Bus-House Miles Driven: 9,941
Gallons of Diesel: 1,310
Miles per Gallon: 7.72 mpg
Cost of Fuel: $4,953.35
Average Gallon: $3.78/gal
Cost per Mile: 0.50/mile

Considering that my last property tax bill for one year in the western suburbs of Chicago was almost $8,000, spending $10,000 for camping and fuel, two of our largest expense categories, isn't too bad.

T