2011 Recap

I have blogged about the details of 2011. What does it look like overall? We volunteered for over six months of the year, 185 days to be exact. We were at Casa Grande Ruins in Coolidge, AZ, during January, February and March. From mid-May through Labor Day, we were at Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg, CO. That really saves on the campground fees.

We had 185 days free “camping.” In addition, volunteers for Colorado state parks receive a volunteer pass that allows us to get into all of the state’s parks for free for a year. That meant we didn’t pay the daily entry fees at Chatfield State Park and Cherry Creek State Park in September. As senior volunteers, we also get $3 a day off the camping fee Sunday through Thursday. During September that saved us $284.

Our total campground expense in 2011 was $3319.62, which works out to $9.09 a day for the year or $18.44 for the 180 days we weren’t volunteering. In addition, we spent $526.16 on electricity, sewer, trash removal, and propane during the year. Most of that expense was during the three months we spent at Valle del Oro in the fall.

We spent $3215.55 on diesel fuel. Given the cost of diesel (and gasoline) during the year, you can see we didn’t drive very much. We spent time in only three states with our RV—Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. We also spent two days in Blythe, CA, while we checked out Quartzsite in January and 10 days in New Hampshire on a visit to our son and his family there.

All in all, with the exception of two 50-year high school reunions and a trip to be with our son when he had surgery for cancer, it was a very quiet year.

We intend to change that in 2012. Who knows how many states we will visit as we drive to Alaska? And we will be in two Canadian provinces. This year will be different. All years are good, no even great.