On October 1st, we finally made it to our party. It was our nomad friend Holly’s 50th birthday. Four nights and three days of celebrations ensued. On the first night, Holly’s friends and family converged at Indian Cove Campground in Joshua Tree National Park. The next day, we did a big hike to a cave and canyoneered through a slot canyon from our campsite, plus a field trip into the park. We skipped the tight crawl through the canyon and left it to the younger crowd. And we were so worn out from the hike in the heat of the day that we gave the trip into the park a miss too. That night there was a build-your-own hobo dinner with potatoes, onions, parsnips, and garlic. Everyone provided their own protein, and we provided corn with elote fixings for the whole crew. And of course, there were drinks, stories, and music.
From Joshua Tree, the party moved to a giant VRBO in Palm Springs. The gang piled into Ubers that night and went to a drag show. After the drag show, we again parted ways with the younger crowd, who went out dancing and went back to the house. We had intended to sleep in Periplo on the street. But it was 108° in Palm Springs that day, and Periplo was like a cooling oven. Her floor was still hot on our feet. We dragged our mattress into the house’s living room and slept on the floor.
The next morning, there was a group brunch. That night everyone hung around the house, and since the temps had cooled slightly, we dragged the mattress back into the van and slept in our own home.
It was a great time. We enjoyed meeting Holly’s friends and family and helping her usher in a new decade of her life.
With our travels in the Pacific Northwest and Holly’s party over, it was time to decide what to do next. We had already booked a house sit to work on everything our shakedown cruise with Periplo had shaken out, but we had 6 days until it started. We considered running off and doing something fun in the desert. But something more practical won out, and we decided it was a good time to address our teeth.
I hadn’t been to the dentist in 15 years. Greg had been living with missing teeth for a while and was ready for implants. We made appointments with our dentist in Los Algodones, Mexico.
Usually, when we see our dentist, we camp in the desert near the border. But temperatures were still in the 100s. I looked at the map and found Boulder Oaks Equestrian Campground to the south, just off Highway 8, about an hour’s drive from Los Algodones. At about 3000 feet, we hoped it would be cooler.
It was a bit cooler. We made two trips to the dentist with a day off between them. The dental work was grueling. I was in the chair for over half a day. On the way back to the campground that night, we bought a big tub of ice cream.
With 3 days left before our house sit, we headed up into the San Bernardino Mountains to recuperate (and eat more ice cream) from our dentist visits. We found a free camping spot just a half hour away from our sit at Lake Arrowhead.
The house sit has been great (we have two more days left). We have truly enjoyed our charge, Gracie, a miniature Australian Shepherd. She is loving, smart, and super easy to care for. The house is beautiful and bright. There is a great view of the lake. And our hosts have been welcoming and generous. And bonus! The garage is big enough for us to drive Periplo into. This has been a big benefit for getting van projects done and staying dry (it has rained a lot). We haven’t explored the area much except to walk Gracie around the lake and go out to eat a few times.
* All pics are click to enlarge. The captions tell even more of the story. Once pics are enlarged, you can also view them in a slideshow.
A few expenses
I am not detailing every nickel and dime we spend anymore, but I thought I would write about a few expenses that relate specifically to our journeys.
Van Projects
Since we “finished” our van build in June, I have been keeping a mounting list of things to repair, change, or add. The price tag for all of this so far has come to $659.53. Here are some of our projects.
- Backdoor screen repair and improvement
Our backdoor screen stays closed with magnets. Because our backdoor is metal, whenever we close the door, the magnets fly to it and smack against it. This has caused the material surrounding the magnets to break and the magnets to fall out. We needed to replace the magnets and resew the screen, and we also needed a solution to stop the magnets from sticking to the door. So we bought a big roll of foam with a sticky back to attach to the door where the magnets usually hit it. We bought a big roll because we would be using this foam in lots of our other projects too.
Another problem with our back screen is that, as it is installed, it goes over the latches that keep the door closed when it is shut. The screen manufacturer’s solution is a little flap that can be raised over the latches when the door is open and lowered when it is shut. The problem is that we forget about it and shut the door on the flap. So I built a fabric box that goes behind the latches and can stay up permanently. I used material we already had and bought some Velcro to attach it to the screen.
Foam: $32.31, Velcro: $10.76
- Spice Rack
We have nice big pantries, but they needed space and organization. So I bought spice racks to organize the spices and get them out of the pantry. And since when we cook, the lid of our pantry is covered up by our cooktop, this upgrade also helps when we forget to pull out the spices we require before we start cooking. This project ended up being a bit expensive, but we wanted it to look good, and the space we needed to put it in was very specific and limited. We bought racks, jars, and special black tape for our label maker to label the spices. We also used some of that big roll of foam to cushion the spice jars so that they wouldn’t move around when we drove.
Spice jars: $62.48, Spice racks: $30.16, Label tape: $12.92
- Fruit Basket
We eat more fruit than we used to, so our little green fruit basket was no longer big enough. We also have less counter space, so the fruit basket ended up living in the dish drying rack, making it unusable. So I spent a lot of time researching and measuring until I found the biggest racks that would fit into the space above our fridge. We also used some of our big roll of foam to add a floor to the racks.
Fruit racks: $31.24, Hardware to install racks: $8.28, Shock cord to keep the fruit from falling out: $18.31.
- Toilet Fan
Our composting toilet comes with an optional fan kit for $250. I thought that was far too much money, so I found one from another company for about $65. Right away, we knew the fan was too loud. We hoped that the toilet enclosure would fix this. It helped, but not enough. So I wrapped the fan with foam padding. It helped a little more. But the fan was still too loud. Not only could I hear it constantly, but it also made a pulsating sound at night. It was fine if there was a lot of outside noise or we were running our ventilation fans, but when it was quiet, it was maddening. I considered replacing it with the expensive fan kit from the toilet vendor. But the more I looked at that fan kit, the less it seemed better than what we had. I just needed a quieter fan. It finally occurred to me to download an app to measure sound decibels. My new app showed dB levels of 50 to 60 (loud!). It drowned out the leaf blowers in the neighborhood. So I kept looking for a quieter fan that would fit the system we already had. Success! I can’t hear the new fan at all.
New fan: $18.26
- Suspension
After months of driving on rough roads and feeling like I was going to fly out of my seat every time we hit the slightest bump, we decided we needed to address the suspension. Greg did some research; we drove into San Bernardino, had the van weighed, and bought and installed appropriately sized bump stops. They make a big difference. I can’t wait to really try them out driving off-road in the desert.
Bump Stops: $379.44
Gas
We spent $458.08 on gas and traveled about 996.6 miles (our trip to the dentist accounted for many of these miles). Although we often see prices over $6 a gallon here in California, we have managed to stay under $6. Hopefully we can keep this up.
Camping
$65 was spent on camping.
We spent 22 nights not camping in October, house sitting, or sleeping inside.
Since we used our America the Beautiful pass for all of our paid camping, it was all half price with our senior discount. We camped 2 nights in Joshua Tree National Park ($35) and three nights at a National Forest Campground ($30).
We spent 3 free nights camping in the San Bernardino National Forest at a Yellow Post site. Yellow Post sites are designated primitive spots with picnic tables and fire rings.
We also spent a night sleeping on the street in Periplo.
- 2 nights in a national park ($35)
- 1 night on the floor of a VRBO
- 1 night parked on the street in front of the VRBO
- 3 nights at a national forest campground ($30)
- 3 nights in a designated national forest dispersed campsite
- 21 nights house-sitting
The Dentist
We spent a lot of money at the dentist. I hadn’t been to the dentist in 15 years. Greg had 3 missing teeth and was ready to start the implant process. We both had X-rays and cleanings. I had 4 crowns, a filling, a couple of root canals, and a whitening session. We spent $6,860. It’s a lot, but we saved money, considering AI tells me the average price of a tooth implant in the US runs anywhere from $3000 to $6000.
To see all our monthly updates, van build expenses, and travel expense reports, click here.
If you are interested in reading other expense reports from nomads who really know how to live cheaply while still having a good time, check out the blog from our friends Mark, Liesbet, and Maya at Roaming About. They are currently in Europe, building out a new camper.
If you are interested in becoming a Trusted Housesitter or having a Trusted Housesitter take care of your pet, use our Trusted House Sitters discount code for 25% off!
I love reading about your adventures. It just amazes me how those of us who love to travel do so in such different ways. Hope your teeth stay fine and your health is good.
Stay safe,
Steve