Travel Budget

In case anyone was wondering….

I have not made a detailed budget for my road trip. My life’s experience with budgets has been that once I put the numbers down on paper it looks like there is never enough money on hand, nor income, to cover anticipated expenses. So I am afraid that if I were to make a detailed travel budget, I’d get nervous and anxious and resort to Sausage McMuffins for breakfast and Big Macs for dinner while spending every night at the Econolodge or local campground. (I am sure some of my girlfriends are nodding their heads as they read this, saying to themselves, how true this is.) I am by nature reasonably frugal, and I have never actually run out of money. But, I find budgets scary and unnecessary.

Besides, I want to take chances, travel on a wing and a prayer, set out for adventure while I have the eyes, ears, and legs for it, although, possibly, not the money. I am sure I’ll manage.

I did buy a little tent at Walmart, and a sleeping pad. More for fun than economy, however. Our family used to camp a lot. I have never done it by myself, but I think it could be a pleasant experience. Campgrounds are a good way to meet people and most campers are quite friendly. And really, campgrounds seem like a pretty safe place. If a bear, be it in animal or human form, were to growl beside my tent in the dead of night, surely my screams would awaken the other campers in their thin nylon tents nearby, all of whom would immediately exit their tents, flashlights in hand, to see what was going on. (Mental note to myself; pack a flashlight.)

And anyway, I have three credit cards. I won’t starve or sleep in the backseat at a truckstop until I have spent (or charged), I think, it’s about $21,000, and with a simple call to raise the limit, who knows what the possibilities are. Payback could be hell, but then, what the hell! (I'm joking, I am pretty sure that I have squirreled away enough to manage without resorting to high debt….I hope! ACKKkkkk!)

Right now I would like to believe that it is our time, not our money, that we should spend wisely.