Roadrunner Financials - September 2013

September was a great month to see northern California and connect with friends and family.
Roadrunner Recap

We only had three stops during September:

• A - Travis AFB (Fairfield, CA) - 17 days
• B - Trailer Villa RV Campground (Redwood City, CA) - 5 days
• C - Monterey Pines Navy Campground (Monterey, CA) - 8 days

While at Travis AFB, we took day trips to Napa Valley and Sacramento.  We also went up to the Sierras three times to see my brother at his cabin in Arnold, CA.  

We moved on to Redwood City to be near where my nephew was getting married (Burlingame, CA). In addition to the wedding at the Kohl Mansion and an associated golf outing in San Jose, we also ventured in to San Francisco and saw Alcatraz Island and some of the city.

After the wedding, we traveled south to Monterey CA.  While there, we enjoyed the area and took day trips to Carmel, the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course and 17 Mile Drive.  We also spent some time in 

Good News Areas Under Budget

This shows our RV insurance budget over what we need.  It will be under budget every month.  I made the budget before we found the lower carrier.
The major difference this month is in Diesel fuel.  We did not travel very far and were $$232 under budget. Another bright spot was in maintenance.  We did get our oil changed and tires rotated on the car, but nothing major.
I called DirecTV and cut down our viewing packages and saved over $50 and will be under budget for the rest of the year in that area also.
Biggest Expenses
We went over in gas but only $46.30 and we did a lot of day trips and 3+ hour drives to Marty's cabin in the Sierras.
The biggest overage was in Campgrounds.  We averaged $30 a night.  We saw our largest price we have ever paid at $64/night in Redwood City.  We wanted to be at Sierra and Matt's and would do it again.
The other two categories that took the biggest bite was in Eating Out and Misc which includes Gifts and Entertainment.  We saw lots of family and friends during the month so we were not surprised.  You  do those things when you get the chance to get together with family.
Large One-Time Cost Items
There were no big one-time expenses to speak of this month.
Monthly Average
I am pretty excited to see how things have averaged out to where we are only $5 over our new and lower $4000/month budget.
The chart below shows Actual Expenses for the first four months of our fifth year, with the average in the right column.

We are thoroughly enjoying our time in California and will are pleased with our expenses after four months into Year 5 on the road.