In this report, we ask an expert guest star, Can you travel the USA in a Van on $500 per month?
Our guest star Kevin of the 30 and A Wake Up YouTube Channel, helps us understand the range of expenses that various people pay while living and traveling around the USA in a Van for one year.
How Did Kevin and Dan Meet
One of Kevin’s subscribers recommended that Kevin check out my channel when Kevin was traveling internationally. Kevin enjoyed my style of travel and ended up watching many videos. Eventually, Kevin commented on one of my videos and we have communicated on and off since then.
Kevin eventually bought a Lifetime Membership for $99 so he could access my retire cheap in paradise reports. Many people also buy the $9 Monthly Membership.
I also watch Kevin’s videos because I am interested in Van life as a way to see the beautiful landscape of the national parks in the USA on a cheap budget. Someday, I hope to travel around the USA for 6 to 12 months experiencing the beautiful national parks.
So I invited Kevin to help me and my subscribers understand what it costs to travel and see the USA in a van or small RV.
Kevin’s Cost of Living in a Van
Kevin just completed a year of traveling around the USA in his van. He spent in the range of monthly expenses between $500 to $1500 per month.
If you move every few days, it can be more expensive because you are paying more for fuel and other expenses. But if you move less often, and stay on BLM land or National Forest Land, which are free, it is easier to keep your expenses lower.
Similar to rent, there is the cost of the van and there is the cost of the rents you pay at any RV parks you decide to stay in during the year.
Kevin paid $120,000 USD cash for his van, so he did not have monthly payments. Then he enjoyed living in and traveling around in the van for a year and then he sold the van. He sold the van for $115,000 USD at the end of the year. So the van cost him about $5000 to keep and use the van for one year not including fuel. If you divide that $5,000 USD over 12 months, the van cost him about $500 USD per month.
Some people buy an old van for $5000 and build it out in a home depot parking lot for $2,500 USD. So their total cost would be about $7500 USD. But then, the van could be worth more than the $7500 they invested if they did a good job building it out.
The second ‘rent’ expense is your camping fees.
Free Camping in the USA
In the USA there are tons of free camping places on BLM land and National Forest land. BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management. Anyone in the USA can stay on BLM and National Forest land, for free, usually for 14 days. Zero rent costs.
After 14 days have expired, you are allowed to move to another spot on BLM or National Forest land for 14 more days. You can do this over and over by moving every 14 days. So you can camp for free indefinitely just by moving every 14 days.
RV Resort Camping
You can also stay in RV Resorts which are all around the USA at all different price points. There are RV Resorts that cost as much as $250 per night. So it is hard to determine what your cost of living will be for rent in an RV or Van since you have to decide where you are going to live, in a park, or on free land?
Kevin kept his rent costs down by staying more in BLM and National Forest land for free. He wasn’t as fond of RV campgrounds because you are too close to your neighbors so RV parks aren’t as nice as being out in the mountains, deserts, lakes, and streams.
But Kevin did purchase an annual membership to Thousand Trails, which cost him about $600 US per year. This allows you to stay at their campgrounds for free.
Movie NomadLand
There are people living in $2 Million USD RVs and staying in $200 per night RV Resorts. There are also people (like in the movie NomadLand) living on BLM land in a $5000 USD van on only $300 USD per month. So there is a huge range of expenses. So the cost of living depends on you.
Travel Costs Depend on How Often You Move
If you are moving every 2 or 3 days, you have to pay for the fuel costs. So it may cost you $400 to $500 per month depending on your mileage. Also, if you have a large expensive RV instead of a van, it could even be more.
But if you are like Kevin, and you stay on BLM land for 14 days before moving, your fuel costs will be low, somewhere in the range of $30 to $100 per month.
So you really dictate what your expenses will be depending upon your behavior.
Cheap RV Living
There are people on the Cheap RV Living Youtube Channel that are living on low social security checks on beautiful BLM land. Which in Kevin’s view is a really good life on so little money. Kevin believes that living free on BLM land is way better than paid campsites.
Realistic Budget Range
Kevin shares that you can live this lifestyle on a range of $500 to $2000 per month. As you go up the scale of costs, you will have a nicer van (or RV) and you will be living a slightly better life, or you are going to be moving around more at the higher numbers.
Kevin’s range of $500 to $1500 per month includes gas, food, rent. But that is because he bought his van for cash upfront. So to achieve this, you have to pay cash for your van.
You can either buy an expensive van like Kevin, something more moderate in the middle price range (new or used, or buy an old van for much cheaper and build the interior as you like. You could also buy a used RV or Van that is already built out.
East Versus West Coast of USA
The further west you go the larger the selection of open BLM and National Forest lands, which means more free camping. But if you are traveling around the east coast, you may have to spend more because there are very few free camping spots.
Some people are comfortable just pulling their Van over and sleeping for the night when they are on the east coast. Other people like Kevin, only like staying in paid campsites or free land approved by the government in each part of the country.
Stealth Camping
Other people build camper vans that don’t look like campers on the outside. Then the police are less likely to approach them for breaking local laws. Building a camper to not look like a camper is called stealth camping.
Some people even do this in large cities, even New York City. Kevin doesn’t like to break local laws like this.
Positive Surprises of Living in Van
When he started living in a van he had this vision that someone may attack him in the woods eventually. A vision from the movie Deliverance. Someone with a banjo attacks him. But he has been surprised about how safe it is.
But he quickly learned that there is nobody out there in the middle of BLM land and national forest land. So he was surprised at how safe it was despite his fears. Bad people don’t seem to go out in the middle of nowhere to find victims. They go to cities.
Also, Kevin was surprised by how inexpensive it can be.
Finally, the community of traveling people that are connected online that are sharing ideas and friendship with each other surprised him. He is a member of a group called Xscapers that are working people that are working remotely from their vans.
The group taught him all the tricks about how to live the van life including things to do, places to go, and things to see.
Negative Surprises of Living in Van
If you are not tapped into one of the groups that help you along, you can get lonely. You need to keep yourself busy. People don’t realize how much free time you have. It surprises them.
How to Find Love on the Road
The xscapers group seems to have more women than men. Many solo female travelers are very interested in the community. So more women than men seem to show up at community meetings.
Also, Bumble was a good website to meet women online in the USA. Whereas, Tinder is good for meeting people internationally, but is just a hook-up website in the USA.
Why and When Did Kevin Start Traveling
Kevin only left Missouri twice in his life before he joined the Navy. Both times were when he traveled with his family in an RV. So he had a fondness for both RVs and travel from an early age.
Kevin comes from a poor family so he joined the Navy at age 18 because college wasn’t an option. So he traveled all over the world while in the Navy including being based in Hawaii and also got to live in Italy while in the Navy.
After 20 years in the Navy, Kevin retired with a full pension. He then went to law school and was a corporate lawyer, based in New York City for his second career. But after seeing people on YouTube traveling around the world, her quit his lawyer job in New York City and began to travel the world.
Kevin Travels The World
He started by traveling with Remote Year, which is a traveling group that takes you to a new country every 30 days. That first year ended in March 2020 in South Africa. So Kevin flew home to visit his mother.
COVID exploded while he was in the USA so he couldn’t travel internationally. So instead, he bought a van and started traveling around the USA. So he bought an RV and started traveling the USA because of COVID.
How Kevin Funds his Travels
Kevin retired from the military on a $3000 USD pension per month. Plus he has a house and some other investments. But he decided to start a YouTube Channel to pay for his travels. He accomplished that in May 2020. Since then, his YouTube Channel income pays for his travels 100%.
So he just saves the pension income and lives off his YouTube income.
What is Next For Kevin
Kevin is going to Thailand and getting the 20-year retiree visa. That will allow him to travel all over Thailand without having to worry about doing visa runs every 30 to 60 days. Plus, Bangkok is a great base to live and explore all over SE Asia.
From there he wants to explore all the beautiful places to live comfortably on a low budget by western standards. You don’t need $3000 per month. There are places all over the world where you can live nicely much less than they may have expected.
Make sure to check out Kevin’s channel here: 30 And a Wake UP
We hope this report has helped answer the question for you, can you travel the USA in a Van for $500 per month?
Make sure to grab a free copy of my eBook while you are here: How I Fired My Boss and Traveled the World for 14 Years.
This is Dan of Vagabond Awake, the YouTube Channel for VagabondBuddha.com. The world is your home. What time will you be home for dinner?