45 Month Average of Roadrunner Expenses

We have been at this now for 45 months.  We are bonafide full-timers.  By now, we have a feel for this lifestyle and many of its associated financial costs.  We also know there are many, many ways to do this. But I wanted to be able to answer the question, "How much does it cost to do that".

One answer is, "It depends".  If we have no major repairs or don't eat out too often or no trips or events in the month our costs are low.  But that is not realistic.  I want to know the 'usual' monthly costs.  I have attempted to track our costs every month and put together a compilation.

Below I show the Monthly Budget and our average over 45 months.  The red numbers show where we are over budget.  The two largest areas where we are over is in RV & Car Maintenance and in Miscellaneous Expenses.

RV and Car Maintenance included things like new tires, a new residential refrigerator, new AGM batteries, new inverter, manifold engine and gasket repairs as well as yearly generator maintenance.  Overall, at under $4,400 per month, I am satisfied.

The item that we will have to increase is our budget for diesel fuel. We intend to leave Virginia Beach in May and spend next winter in Arizona by way of Wisconsin and Oregon.

The other comparison I wanted to see was our most recent monthly expenses.  Last month we were well under budget.  That probably will not continue long but I wanted to show that every month is not full of  bad news.

It may seem I am fixated on Finances.  On one hand I am.  On the other, I find great freedom in knowing where things are for us financially.  One great concern of getting older and retiring is wondering if we are spending our future.  At this point - we have been 'treading water' so to speak.  All in all we have not touched our savings and retirement accounts.  As long as we continue to monitor things and don't go crazy at some point, I think we will be fine.

I know life has a way of providing some challenges so we intend to take those in stride and figure it out when we need to.

For know - I feel much better being able to answer the question, "How much does it cost to live like you do?

As always, Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Saturday in Panama City

We went for a drive on Saturday to check out a couple of things and to see the beach north of Panama City.  First we located a CVS in town and checked on a prescription.  Apparently is was not in the system.  I'll have to call on Monday and see where it is.  Then we found a church we think we'd like to try later on this morning.

Then we came upon a city produce market in the St. Andrews area.

We usually find these things interesting.  I like the tables and chairs.

We settled on some tomatoes.  After the market, we ate our lunch that Pam packed for us and then we drove up the highway along the beach.

It is St. Patrick's Day weekend and Spring Break and we saw a lot of hotels and young people.  I didn't realize there were so many hotels on Panama City Beach.  But there were lots of them.  North of PCB we found some beaches that were not so crowded.

These are definitely our kind of beach.  White sand, big beaches and lots of sun.  It was a gorgeous day.

After a nice drive we made our way back to the Tyndall AFB FamCamp where we are staying.  It is a very nice campground and well maintained.  After dinner we went for a walk around the campground.  We started out on the hiking trail near our campsite.

It winds around the campground and is near the water.

The campsites are in a wooded area but we have cable TV.  And all the sites have plenty of room.  It is not crowded at all.  The people that run the campground do a great job of keeping the roads and grounds well maintained.  No potholes along any of the roads and the trees are all trimmed back

We are liking it here and will be staying a few more days.  We still want to run down to Mexico Beach and see what that looks like.  And maybe play another round of golf.  We will see.

That's it for this edition for the Roadrunner Chronicles - thanks for joining us!  It is beginning to warm up here again, hope the same is happening where ever you are.

Days in Destin

We have enjoyed our time here in Destin.  It is a very nice area and one place we come back and visit again and again.  Even though it is a bit cool, it is a great place to be.

A highlight at the Destin Army Recreation Center Campground is that it is located right on Choctawhatchee Bay in the Emerald Coast Region of Florida's Panhandle.  The campground is tight but we have a 42' pad and at $21/night, it works.

We found out the solenoid came in to Fleet Maintenance in Fort Walton Beach, so we packed up and drove over there early yesterday.

Brad jumped right on it and had it installed before 9:00 a.m.  I paid the $310.44 bill and the good news is that have no more random amperage draw or 'Low Voltage' light.  Meanwhile Pam made a quick commissary run in to Hurlburt Field.  Then we headed back to the campground in Destin.

One of the great joys of this life style is meeting new friends! Ron contacted me earlier in the week and we had lunch with him and Jana at the Shrimp Basket in Fort Walton Beach.  They are from Oklahoma and at one time had a motorhome and started following the Roadrunner Chronicles.

They felt like they knew us and brought up a lot of different episodes that we have encountered in the last four years.  It was a great time of getting to know them and hearing about how they relocated here to be near their daughter and son-in-law and grandkids.  Thanks Ron it was great meeting you two!

It was a beautiful day so we went over to Gator Lakes Golf Course on Hurlburt and played 9 holes.  We hit some good shots but then…  yeah, not enough good shots.

It was slow going for some reason.  On one hole we practiced some putting (why don't the putts drop the first time when they count?)  and had time to catch a photo of a gaggle of turtles catching some sun.

Back at the campground, I took some photos of the evening sun going down.

And caught on of Jonathan's seagull. (OK it was really a pelican but it reminded me of one.)

Another beautiful evening on the bay.

We had pork chops for dinner and watched some TV before we called it a night.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us.  Until next time...

Down the Road in Destin

We are back at the Destin Army Recreation Center Campground in a few miles east of Fort Walton Beach.  I think this is our third time here.  We didn't plan on being here but got into a jam and decided to take a campsite for the week.

We left Pensacola on Saturday morning on a beautiful day.  It was also a beautiful day for a 5K fun run and we ran into McGuires 5K.  We could have risked a detour but we saw a motorhome have to do a U-turn Sunday evening because there was a low bridge that was in the way.

So we watched the race and enjoyed the 40 minute delay.  It was fine.  

Then we moved on to the Air Force FamCamp that is right across from the main gate at Hurlburt Field. It has no reservation system and one gets a spot on a first-come basis.  We arrived about 10:30 and had a hard time finding a spot.  The campground is run down and not well taken care of.  A new one is being built but will not be open until June.  

The supervisor from the Services Flight (who runs the campground) saw us looking for a spot and offered to move a temporary trailer off a campsite for us to use.  

It worked great and we were very appreciative.  He could have just said 'We're Full'.  Instead he took another drive around the park then had two guys come over and hook up the trailer and move it to another place.  I took his card and send a note to his commander.  That is customer service!

We wanted to be near Hurlburt for a couple of reasons.  We were married her in 1979 and spent a couple of great years in Fort Walton Beach.  We also wanted to get the Roadrunner into the Freightliner shop at Fleet Maintenance in FWB.  We had a 7:00 a.m. appointment on Monday.

We were there on time at Fleet Maintenance and asked them to check out the "Low Voltage" light that has been coming on after we are parked for a while.  We dropped off the coach, then went over to Panera Bread for coffee.

I was able to check into work for an hour then we went back over to the garage.  They had a commercial vehicle come in and we got pushed back.  They didn't even start checking things out until about 11:00.  

The batteries were fine but they questioned if they were all hooked up correctly.  We got a residential refrigerator installed 18 months ago by Brannon Hutcheson at Custom RV near Red Bay.  I called him and left a message.  He called back in about five minutes and discussed things with the mechanics.  

Then we sent him some photos.  They determined it was  a bad solenoid, not faulty hookups.

This part is now on order and hopefully will be here in a couple of days.  Meanwhile we are in close quarters at Destin.

We made a rookie error in moving on the weekend.  We could have stayed in Pensacola a few more days.  But we made an appointment at the Freightliner place for Monday a.m.   We could have made it for Tuesday.

Then we stayed at a place where we could lose our spot when we moved over to the repair facility.  Our other option was that we could have stayed at the repair facility with power but no water or sewer. So we opted to make the reservation at Destin.

That's it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Please join us again...

Lunches in Alabama

One of the great things about this RV full timing lifestyle is being able to see friends and family.  Because we were in the military, we have made friends from all over the country.  And while we have been in Florida the panhandle / lower Alabama area we have been able to get together with some friends.

It has been great.

We have been friends with Bill and Linda since 1979.  They were missionaries to U.S. servicemen and women in Korea in Kunsan.  Pam and I were stationed at Kunsan AB and both on active duty at the time. Over the years we have kept up with them and have seen what a wonderful impact they have had on people's lives over the years.

They are in Pensacola for a few weeks while on furlough from Korea and we wanted to get over here to see them.  We had them over to the Roadrunner for dinner one night and then we attended the first night of their home church's Missions Conference.

They had a display set up and had a session where they presented some pictures and explained how they interact with the service men and basically what they do over there as missionaries.  Then Bill played a couple of songs on his Korean dulcimer and gave the message.  There were two other missionary families there for the conference.  One family was serving in Mexico and the other in New Zealand.

Here is a shot of us with Bill and Linda.

The next day we were invited to join the pastor and missionaries and some guests for lunch over in Foley, Alabama at Lambert's Cafe.
What a hoot!
We learned about 'roll tossin' and 'passarounds' and had some great food in a very unique atmosphere.

It is a special place with restaurants at two other locations including Branson MO.  It was fun!

A guy literally walks around with rolls and tosses them across the restaurant to you.  And the helpings of food were big.  Like take home box big! And our servers had all kinds of practical jokes they spring on you.  I jumped high out of my chair when Patti "accidentally" exploded a plastic bottle of mustard all over me.  It was foam strings---but at the time I thought I was had!

And the 'passarounds' are servers who bring: fried okra, black eyed peas, or fried onions and potatoes around and serve it up at no extra cost.  If you haven't been to Lambert's it is a short 35 minute drive from Pensacola and worth the trip.

Then yesterday I was sitting here in the Roadrunner doing some monthly financials when Darrell came up on Facebook and said he and Judy were near by in Summerdale, AL.  I found Darrell's website back in 2008 when I was first researching and learning about RVing.  But we had never met and this was our chance!  It was about 45 minutes from Pensacola so we hopped in the car and went to see them at their place at the Escapees RV park.

We went out to eat at Big Daddy's Grill in nearby Fairhope, AL.  It was another great place to eat.

After lunch we toured the Escapees park and found out Jim and Ellie were there.  We first me them in Red Bay about 18 months ago while we were getting work done on our Tiffin motor homes.  We chatted for a while and took a group shot.

It was great to see friends and meet new ones.  In fact this winter we have seen more friends while we have been in Florida than we expected.  It has really been great!  And there is a bonus, unplanned get together like yesterday.  You never know how the days will turn out some times.

That's it for another edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us.  Until next time...

Roadrunner Financials - February 2013

Roadrunner Recap
February was one of our more active months in terms of moving around to different campsites.  We stayed in the following Florida campgrounds:

• Ortona South COE Park (near La Belle, FL)
• Sun-N-Shade RV Resort (Punta Gorda, FL) 
• The Resort - Escapees SKP Campground (Zolfo Springs, FL)
• Cloverleaf 4H Campground (near Lake Placid, FL)
• Lake Louise State Park (near Clermont, FL)
• Lake Griffin State Park (near Chipley, FL)

It has been a great time of seeing lots of friends and some family here in Florida, plus checking out some great Florida State Parks.

Good News Areas We Are Under Budget
With a month budget at $4,110, we were almost $900 under.  We were almost $500 under in RV maintenance, $400 under in groceries and over $200 under in campground fees.  We were pleased with the nightly campground fee average of $18.82.

Despite moving around the state, we didn't go very far and were under budget in our diesel and gas (for the car) budget.

Biggest Expenses
Between our big day at Spring Training to see the Brave vs Nationals, a new watch and two pairs of new shoes we spent $313 for some of our biggest spending during the month.   

Monthly Average
Anytime we can get almost $900 under budget, we are pleased.  It helps so we can pad the 'unexpected RV maintenance repair' fund.



That's it for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us! Until next time...

Florida Campsites

We have had a wonderful time in Florida this winter.  We have gotten an appreciation for some of the National and State parks/campgrounds. After our Habitat for Humanity gig in Macon Georgia last November we came to Florida. We have been here over three months.

Here's a look at the places we have camped since then:

A. Sumter Oaks, Escapees Park, Bushnell, FL
B. Bowling Green HFH, FL
C. Big Cypress National Preserve
D. Everglades National Park, Flamingo, FL
E.  Sigsbee Campground, Key West Naval Air Station, FL
F. Mikasukee Casino parking lot
G. MacDill AFB FamCamp, FL
H. Gulf Waters RV Resort, Ft Myers Beach, FL
I.  Sun-N-Shade RV Resort, Punta Gorda, FL
J.  The Resort Escapees SKP Park, Zolfo Springs, FL
K. Cloverleaf 4H Campground, Lake Placid, FL
L. Lake Louisa State Park, Clermont, FL
M. Lake Griffin State Park, Fruitland Park, FL
N. Falling Waters State Park, Chipley, FL
O. Oak Grove Campground, Pensacola Naval Air Station, FL

Our favorites:

Sigsbee Campground Key West

Gulf Waters RV Park - Ft Meyers Beach

Lake Louisa State Park, Clermont

Our average cost for campground sites was $22.46 per night.

How about you?  What are your favorite campgrounds in Florida?

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Spring Training!

Pam is an avid baseball fan.  She loves it.  Especially when we go to a Major League Baseball spring training game.  So we celebrated our anniversary by attending the Braves vs. the Nationals.  And we got great seats.  Maybe the best ever.  It was touch and go though because the weather report called for a 50% chance of rain.

We were staying at Lake Louisa State Park and it is about 30 minutes to ESPN Wide World of Sports/Disney Park where the Braves hold their spring training.  It did not look promising when we started out.

The rain was coming down lightly but steadily when we arrived.

 It let up for a few minutes.

 And there were plenty of empty seats.

 And then it really started coming down.

 And folks hung out under the stands for a while.

A big cheer went up when the finally pulled off the tarps around home base and the pitchers mound.

While we waited for the first pitch, I saw the General Manager of the Braves, Frank Wren walk by.  He was nice enough to stop, shake hands and let us get a photo.

And we had time for a shot of us

And talk with some of the vendors like

Like Jamey who is a college student and part of the Disney University college session.  He works a Disney for a semester and gets full college credit and gets to learn how they run their business.  Nice young man from Georgia.

The game got underway about an hour late, but the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon!

And we got to see some players we recognized.

And the managers.

Another great day at the old ball game.

Who is your favorite MLB team?

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Thanks for joining us.  Until next time...