The Pan American Trail

Picture in the middle is what its all f^^^^ all About...champs

Thanks so much for bringing us all along on that incredible adventure. I wish you the best in the years to come.

Happy holidays, and I hope 'normal' life is treating you guys well.

Dunno if you're still checking up on this thread, but I was interested to see what your daily or weekly budget might have averaged out to, if you don't mind sharing.

You guys wild camped, or hoteled it on the super cheap much more than other ride reports I've come across. Did you have an approximate budget going into it, or just tried to keep expenses as low as possible? Have an approximate total cost, etc?

Cheers,
Chuck

Thanks Chuck, I don't check this thread too often, but I do get notifications if someone posts to this thread. The holidays were great and I am really enjoying "normal life" :)

Regarding money: Initially, the trip was going to be 12 months long and I estimated $10,000 total expenses after buying the motorcycle and all gear which was probably another $5000 with most of that going towards climbing gear. Then the trip lengthened to 16 months and everything is always a little more expensive than hoped so I exceed the initial 10k. I'll break it down like this:

5k - Initial startup cost (bike, gear, luggage, etc.)
10k - I had exactly this amount in the bank at the start of the trip
2k - Amount I made fishing for the summer in Alaska (It was an all-time bad year)
2k - Amount I made working construction when I was back in the states post Lyme disease, waiting to see if I was healthy enough to go back
4k - Borrowed from my parents when we extended the trip

I spent a total of 18k in 16 months. This included everything and there were a few out of the ordinary costs that are in there, such as:

$800 - Flight to Denali Basecamp
$600 - Bike repair bill in AK
$500 - Medical bills in Peru for Lyme

But things like that are expected on a trip like this. I would estimate $2500 total in expenses in this category.

Budget wise, I estimated $10 a day for food, $10 for gas, and $10 for miscellaneous expenses such as bike maintenance and lodging. We did not quite hit that, but it wasn't far off as $30/day for 16 months is $14,600. We really tried to stay under $10/day for food as that is a cost you can control if you are disciplined, and the $10/day for gas is a rough approximation of total miles and average gas prices.

A few notes. According to my expenses, I finished the trip with $0 in the bank account. I actually put the last $6000 of the trip on a 0% APR Credit Card that I paid off as soon as I got a job back in the states, well before the end of the 15 month period. I would never finish a trip like this with no money in the bank account as it is always important to have an emergency fund since you never know what may happen. Also, I had the luxury of having my parents and a few other close friends who, at a moments notice, would have been able to loan 5k or more to me if I was really screwed. This allowed me to run things a little tighter than what is probably smart.

I hope that answered some of your questions!

Great, this is some fantastic info and glad things are going well back in the states!

Many thanks,
Chuck

Bravo.

Today I received a warning that all my pictures on Flickr were at risk of deletion Flickr recently started charging for all accounts with over 1000 pictures. I have way over 1000 pictures and hosted everything on this forum through Flickr and we all know how annoying a ride report is that is filled with dead photo links.

All that to say, this trip report lives to see another day, enjoy :)

So when are you going back out on the road???

Thanks for sinking some cash mate. Great rr and awesome pics.

I don't know. As of now I have no plans for another motorcycle trip. In a few months I am moving out to Denver CO and I'll probably get some kind of dual sport out there. Down the road I would love to do the TCAT but I don't see anything big happening in the next few years; I think I'm a little burned out on bike trips for now...

You got it man. Thanks for the kind words.

Thank you for ponying up and keeping the pictures alive. Also, thanks for bumping this ride report back to the top.

Good Luck on the move to Colorado. PA will miss you.

Lots of great day rides and quick overnights out of Denver. Good luck

Photo Bucket wanted to start charging me $300/ year. That's why my RTW thread has no pictures, and I no longer have a Photo Bucket acct., but thanks for paying up. I will enjoy your pictures again.

Ouch, that's rough. Flickr Pro is only $50 a year so it's reasonably priced and offers a ton of storage.

Just finished, awe
some, but what happened to the Bow and arrows?

James got tired of carrying them and gave them to our favorite pizza store owner in Huaraz, Peru. He was pretty excited.

Unfortunately we never lived out our dream of living off of animals will killed with the bow...

So roadkill was out?

Sounds awesome! Have a blast.