Before starting my trip I was curious as to how much it would cost me. This cost breakdown might help others:

This leg of my trip ran exactly 5 months(154 days) from Jun 9 - Nov 9 in 2003 and I traveled all over the USA, Canada, and 10 days into Northern Mexico(for the HU Rally). I already owned the motorcycle(Kawasaki EX500) and all related equipment (camping, photo, etc...) so they are not included in the cost of the trip.

I spent:

$496.69 - bike parts, oil changes, repairs
$747.04 - gasoline (est 1500 liters)
$903.56 - food
$408.77 - entertainment
$713.38 - lodging
$685.59 - misc (laundry, insurance, fees...)

Total - $3955.03

this comes to an average of $25.68 per day
and of that $25.68 per day here is the breakdown:

$3.23/day on the bike
$4.85/day on gasoline
$5.87/day on food
$2.65/day on entertainment
$4.63/day on lodging
$4.45/day on misc

I'm sure some people can get away with spending less, but I can't. Most people would spend more. Here is how I kept the costs to these relativly low levels:

BIKE - I did all of my oil changes and only changed the filter every 3rd oil change. Almost every gas station outside population centers will let you change your own oil if you buy oil from them. One of them charged me $1 for oil recycling but the rest didn't.

FOOD - breakfast was a light meal of granola bars, or fig bars, or similar. Lunch was a heavy meal of either canned food/beef jerkey/bagels/etc... or restaurant food. All you can eat buffets run for $5 - $7 usually in the US/Canada and will definetly fill you up. I usually ate in a restaurant 3 times a week. More where it was cheaper. Dinner was usually canned food cooked over my stove. Helps keep costs REALLY low. I'm also very thankful for people I stayed with along the way - they never left me hungry.

LODGING - Most of my nights were in my tent and more then half of those nights were not at a pay campsite. In much of the US/Canada it is very easy to find a place to pitch the tent without beeing seen from the road. Good maps will show goverment land (National Parks/Forests/Grassland/Shoreline, State Parks and Forests, BLM land, etc...) The trick is usually to find a side gravel or dirt road and take it for a couple KMs or so until you're out of sight of the main road. You don't need a dual-sport to follow most of these roads for short distances if you take it slowly. My fully loaded Kawasaki EX500 is anything but a dual-sport.

Finding places to sleep without paying becomes very dificult in heavily populated Eastern USA/Canada and I was forced to pay often there. A tip about SHOWERS - find a pay campsite where there is no front gate guard and just go to the shower building, pay your 25 cents, and shower away. If you are near a major Interstate Higway find a truck stop on your map and drop in. They all have showers. Another really good way to keep costs down and make new friends is to keep in touch with HU Communities when you are getting close to an area where they exist. I've had many great motorcyclists help along the way!

MISC - all kinds of unexpected fees/tolls and other costs came up in my trip and there is no way to keep most of them low, but I can say that hunting for the lowest rate on motorcycle insurance can really help. I spent $20/month on full coverage insurance for USA/Canada and $35 for two weeks liability insurance in Mexico (thats how short term insurance rates go I'm afraid...)

I hope this helps give an idea on costs and ideas on keeping costs low. The lower you keep your costs, the longer you can stay on the road and not in a cubicle at work. Even if this means slowing down your trip - there were many days that I just sat under a shady tree near my tent and read a book and relaxed. A day spent like that costs me around $3 in food and that is the only cost when camped for free!


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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake

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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake