Last year after our travels in the USA a number of people asked me about various costs we had encountered. So this year I have decided to make a specific blog post to give any other prospective travellers an idea of what to expect. Perhaps you have thought about touring the USA at some stage - if so I hope this is helpful. We are happy to answer any specific questions someone might have. We have bought our car which is a Chev Trail Blazer from our son. We have also bought our caravan (or travel trailer, or in some states a tow behind). A good place to check out costs of a second hand caravan would be www.rvtrader.com or www.ebay.com. Dependent on which state you were to purchase would set the level of sales tax payable. We have not needed to research this as our vehicles are in our son's name. Research would need to be conducted concerning buying vehicles by foreign owners. Apparently Montana allows this. Of course, taxes come with ownership and here they include registration and property tax and then there is insurance as well. Many people choose to hire a motorhome. Check out www.cruiseamerica.com and www.roadbearrv.com which are very popular however there will be many others as well. Now for some costs: Petrol (gas). Around $2.30 per gallon and fluctuates upwards by about .50 cents dependent on which state you are in. Camp fees: Private campgrounds vary between $US35 and up to about $US70 plus state sales tax. This normally includes a full hook up which is water, electricity and sewer. Some sites there is no sewer hookup but a dump station is available for use. (Sewerage and grey water waste is actually hooked to the trailer here by means of a flexible hose - the caravan has a black water 25 gallon holding tank and a separate 25 gallon grey water holding tank so it's not a cassette for black and outlet for grey like we have been used to in Australia and New Zealand). We can hold 40 gallons of fresh water or connect a hose direct to a fresh water tap. There is also a separate hot water tank heated by gas. National and State Parks are cheaper - normally between $20-$30 per night. There is no full hook up - no electricity or sewer but water and bathroom facilities would be available. We enjoy staying in the National Parks as each site is large, normally lots of trees and privacy. Freedom camping - Walmart and the occasional other facility is the only choice of freedom camping. No free camping in rest areas, beach and river accesses, picnic grounds etc. We use an app called All Stays and find this very useful. It lists lower cost camping grounds, truck stops, and Walmarts. Camping discount cards and passes: National Park annual passes are available for $US80. This gives access to all National Parks nationwide but does not include State Parks which also have a cost. It is not possible unfortunately for overseas visitors to purchase a seniors access pass (for over 62 years) which provides access and half price camping. This year we have purchased an annual pass as we are visiting a number of national parks and at $25 - $30 (often for up to seven days) an entry it soon adds up. We also have the following camping discount cards (all require membership) Passport America - $US44 per annum. For camping grounds who have a membership with Passport America they offer a 50% discount off 2-4 nights Sunday to Thursday. Good Sam Club - $US25 per annum. Camping grounds displaying emblem offer 10% discount off every night camping. KOA - $US30 per annum. Offer 10% off every night camping. The KOA camps are often the most expensive. Dump stations and fresh water: Last year we found it very difficult to find a black and grey water dump and often booked into a camping ground mainly for this purpose. However, I have now found an app called Sanidumps which lists all facilities near you if location services are turned on. To date we have not had to pay to dump this year. Mobile telephone: We use the mobile telephone company T Mobile as this is the company our son uses. However because of their limited telephone and data connection once away from large cities we would not recommend it. Try either AT & T or Verizon. How do we get around not having access? We visit lots of McDonalds who have free WIFI nationwide, also Starbucks when available, the library and the information visitors centre. Many camping grounds say that they provide WIFI but from time to time it is very hard to access. Winterising: Because of the colder winters it is necessary to winterise your caravan, and if the car was not going to be used, possibly that too. This can be done by RV dealers for around $US130. Winterising is basically removing all water from the pipes and refilling the pipes with an anti-freeze type solution. Once winterised the facilities in the caravan cannot be used. At the beginning the new season the vehicle is de-winterised where the antifreeze is removed. This costs around $US100 but Peter did it himself. U-tube is helpful in providing how to videos. LPG gas refills: We carry two 20 lb swappable bottles for use on the van and BBQ. The last swap was at Walmart for $16.77 but this cost can vary up to around $24.00 dependent on where you swap I.e. service station, convenience store, supermarket. Storage: We choose to place our van in storage away from the forested area our son lives in. This costs around $US50 per month. This cost would vary depending how close to a major city storage is required. A hint given to us in Australia was to look in a small town that has public transport (bus or train) to a city where you can connect with outward flights etc. This would be much cheaper storage. Heating and air conditioning: The van has gas heating which is very efficient. It can be run when freedom camping. There is also a roof style air conditioning unit which runs as a fan or air conditioning. This is electric and can only be used when electricity is connected. We do have a fan which can be used with the help of an inverter which we can run overnight using battery power. Fruit and vegetable costs Granny Smith Apples $4.75 3 lb bag Bananas $0.57 lb Peaches $1.68 lb Plums $1.68 lb Pink Lady Apples $1.97 lb Strawberries $2.48 lb punnet Raspberries $2.98 6 oz punnet Blueberries $2.68 8 oz punnet Iceberg lettuce $1.48 Baby carrots $1.58 lb Broccoli $0.94 each Green beans $2.14 lb Tomatoes $1.58 lb Brown onions $0.98 lb Potatoes $1.14 lb Meat Chicken drumsticks $2.44 lb Salmon $7.86 lb Top sirloin $8.45 lb Beef mince 93% lean $4.95 lb Chicken breast $4.50 lb Pork chops $4.00 lb Groceries Milk $1.48 pint Free range eggs $1.88 dozen Special K cereal $4.48 Granola $3.56 lb Pasta dry $1.10 lb 12 grain loaf bread $2.98 Yo plait yoghurt 8 pack $3.98 Cheddar cheese $4.98 lb Butter $4.25 lb Water 35 x 500 ml $3.33 Beer 30 bottles $19.85 We mainly shop at Walmart (in support of the freedom camping). All these costs have been taken from our last shop in Wyoming however Walmart is pretty standard with it's costs nationwide. Other supermarkets will vary potentially upward on these costs. I trust you find this helpful, if not then interesting, to compare with at home costs.