Super Trip Stats

Briefly

This trip took 16 calendar days. A total span of 15 days, 1 hour, and 20 minutes. It took me 10,473 miles to reach all 48 states. The first ten days were by myself, the 11th was half-and-half, and the last four were with my wife.

I spent $2,187.96 on this trip. An average of 21¢/mi. I bought 379.239 gallons of gas, for a total cost of $827.97. I averaged $2.18 per gallon, and drove an estimated 27.8mpg.

Miles

Mileage Chart

I didn't note what mileage I was at during the first night or the next morning. So, it can't be used in the High or the Low, although I'm sure neither qualified. The low was Super Bowl Sunday, when my wife and I drove from York, ME to Bangor, ME to get a room and watch the Super Bowl.

The high mark west set out west on a day of all-interstate driving. Day Four started in Western Arkansas and didn't finish until the Continental Divide in Northwest New Mexico. Spanning 1,023 miles.

I averaged 655 miles per day for the whole length of the trip. During the first ten days, by myself, I traveled 794 miles per day. In the four days with my wife, I averaged 386 miles. Even omitting Super Bowl Sunday, that was still only 431 miles per day.

Gas

Gas Chart

This is a good overview of the gas and mileage. This includes the nights I let the car idle all night. As noted, I gassed up 79 miles prior to leaving on the trip, which is why there is a discrepency between 10,473 and the 10,552 noted here.

Gas was relatively cheap during the drive, until northwest New Mexico and back around until mid-Montana.

The gas mileage wasn't as high as I had hoped, but two days of extremely slow driving hurt the numbers, as well as driving in the 70-80mph range for hours on end zapped it. I used STP Gas Treatment on almost all fill-ups, and SuperTech Injector Cleaner a little less than half the time.

For my trip, I projected driving only 7,000 miles for the 38 states, and using about $550 in gas. So the extra 3,000 miles and upped the total past $800.

Expense



I ended up spending about $1200 more than I planned when I first decided on a 'long' trip. Originally a 7,000 mile/11 day trip, I figured about $100/day for everything, and hoped to maybe make it $90 or so to get it all in under $1000.

Gas was a relative constant. The western states cost more because of slightly higher prices, and the fact I was driving so many miles per day.

P/F stood for Pop and Food. Up until Day 9, it was relatively low. If anybody knows me, I drink a lot of pop. So, four-to-ten pops in a day cost about $10-$15 on their own. Prior to Day 11 (when I picked up my wife), I only ate at a restaurant twice. The rest were truck stop, fast food, and convience store fare. With my wife, we slowed our driving pace, and ate out at least for dinner.

Car/Sups was a fluctuating cost. This included gas treatments, the snow chains, flashlight, clothing, oil changes, and anything else that was necissary for the trip that I couldn't eat...

Tolls are obviously a cost when driving. Please note, I only kept track of cash, not change. So any tolls paid with change didn't get tallied. Also, anything purchased with a dollar that got change back was rounded to the next dollar mark.

Miscellaneous purchases included the Super Bowl program in Indiana, some souvenirs at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, souvenirs and entry at Arches National Park, and other minor things that weren't entirely needed.

Hotel costs didn't come into play until I picked up my wife on Day 11. Prior to that, I just slept in the car. For the most part, the hotels we stayed at were humdrum four-walls-and-a-roof establishments. The Red Maple Inn in Berwick, PA was very nice for only $45.

In all, the total was more than I planned, but well worth it in the long run. Had it not been for my wife, I probably would've been done with the trip in 14 days (as I hoped) and made it home on the 14th day in time to watch the Super Bowl. Mostly because the day and a half wouldn't have been spent in Maine, and I would've driven longer, harder, and faster.

Time

Time Chart

The odd thing about this trip is that my driving time often went until 2 or 3 am ET. But, since I never woke up earlier than 7 am ET, I could guage my times by calculating the day starting at 3am, rather than 12am. The first day started at 4pm ET, and the last day ended at 5:20pm ET. So, technically the trip was 15 days, 1 hour, and 20 minutes. With that, it puts my average time (from starting driving until being finished for the day) at 59% of the 24 hours of a day, or an average of 14h10m.

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