Welcome back folks!
We know that we're posting these sporadically since we're playing catch-up on here... but better late than never! This is our fourth entry providing insights into the places we ended up sleeping, as well as any out-of-pocket expenses for overnight stays. October was the first month where we had minimal commitments allowing us additional freedom to do and travel as we please. This really was the #vanlife experience that we were looking the most forward to. In this month, we went to four National Parks which we absolutely loved, two of which we'd probably go back to if we're in the area!
All in all, on our route we ended up driving 2,924.3 miles in a span of 31 nights! This was a total of 7 states + DC (7 of which we spent a night in) and 21 different cities. Additionally, we ended up spending $34.00 for the places we slept, all of which was spent on the one night we had a campground at the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas.
We mentioned that we've been recording our places we've slept, and we've continued to do so. Here is the breakdown of the nights that we've stayed into categories:
Public parking lots - think parking lots by piers, rest stops, or $ per hour lots
Campgrounds
Business parking lots - Walmart, Cabela's, Cracker Barrel, etc.
Family and friends driveways
Harvest Hosts - a program that offers overnight stays at over 4600+ locations (including farms, wineries, museums, and more)
Street parking - city street parking, or side streets in some areas
Hotel
In the below graph, you can see a full breakdown of overnight stays in the month of October; the first number is the total number of nights stayed for that category, followed by the category percentage based on the total nights this month. As you can see, 58% (18 out of 31) of our nights were spent in Business Parking Lots... aka Walmart lots or Cracker Barrel lots. Not the most glamorous, but it did the trick as they were free and we were mostly just using the lots as a home base for exploring the national parks and working out of.
Overnight Categories
Curious on the specifics of where we have stayed?
The below table provides a dated view into the month of October and where we stayed, as well as any expenses.
Night #: Date ($ cost) | Location (linked address) | Overnight Category |
|---|---|---|
🌙 84: Oct. 1st - $0 | 🅿️ Public parking lot | |
🌙 85: Oct. 2nd - $0 | 🏙️ Street parking | |
🌙 86: Oct. 3rd - $0 | 🏙️ Street parking | |
🌙 87: Oct. 4th - $0 | 🏙️ Street parking | |
🌙 88: Oct. 5th - $0 | 🅿️ Public parking lot | |
🌙 89: Oct. 6th - $0 | 🅿️ Public parking lot | |
🌙 90: Oct. 7th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 91: Oct. 8th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 92: Oct. 9th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 93: Oct. 10th - $0 | 🅿️ Public parking lot | |
🌙 94: Oct. 11th - $0 | 🏢 Cracker Barrel | |
🌙 95: Oct. 12th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 96: Oct. 13th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 97: Oct. 14th - $0 | 🏙️ Street parking | |
🌙 98: Oct. 15th - $0 | 🏢 Cracker Barrel | |
🌙 99: Oct. 16th - $0 | 🏢 Cracker Barrel | |
🌙 100: Oct. 17th - $0 | 🏢 Cracker Barrel | |
🌙 101: Oct. 18th - $0 | 🏢 Cracker Barrel | |
🌙 102: Oct. 19th - $0 | 🌾 Harvest Hosts | |
🌙 103: Oct. 20th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 104: Oct. 21st - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 105: Oct. 22nd - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 106: Oct. 23rd - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 107: Oct. 24th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 108: Oct. 25th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 109: Oct. 26th - $0 | 🏢 Cracker Barrel | |
🌙 110: Oct. 27th - $0 | 🏢 Walmart | |
🌙 111: Oct. 28th - $0 | 🏙️ Street parking | |
🌙 112: Oct. 29th - $34 | 🏕️ Campground | |
🌙 113: Oct. 30th - $0 | 🅿️ Public parking lot | |
🌙 114: Oct. 31st - $0 | 🅿️ Public parking lot |
If you've made it this far into the post, love you 🫶🫶. For now, we're logging off - time for another little adventure!
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