Money Monday: By The Numbers: October

Finally, things have simmered down enough and it is time for my monthly spending recap, along with a few other random stats! For the month of October, my bike trip was slightly winding down, and I spent a lot more time visiting and housesitting than I did riding. All of the below numbers are as of October 31, 2024. 

Montreal bike (they were everywhere!)

Mileage To Date:

Total Days on the Road: 222

Total Days Ridden: 153

Days Ridden in October: 10

Total Miles Ridden: 8,540

Average Miles Per Day Ridden: 55.8 (vs 56.57 as of Sept 30)

Max miles per day: 101

Accommodation To Date: 

Airbnb: 12

Established Camp: 35

Friend: 36

Housesitting: 18

Motel: 69

Warm Showers: 9

Wild Camp: 40

Train: 3

Total Days: 222

Total average cost per day: $39

Verdict: Although October involved a lot of housesitting and stays with friends, the motels were more expensive than normal and there was no wild camping. This only brought the average per day down from $40 to $39. 

Total Cost: October

*Please note that I eradicated my travel category since basically all my costs are what I would have categorized in travel before. 

Accommodation: $1,106 (↓ from September by $15!) Includes any place where I rested my head for the night. In October this included housesitting (13), Motel (9), Friend (5), Airbnb (2), Established Camping (1) and Train (1). 

Dining Out: $174 (↓ from September) Includes coffee, ice cream shops, snacks and meals at a restaurant, including bakeries and the train canteen. This was down about 30% from the average for this trip. This is likely due to the fact that I was not on the move as much so could plan my groceries and meals out better. However, I did go out and get food in Montreal and Quebec a few times, and went out with Elisabeth! I feel like this was more quality than quantity though. 

Groceries: $254 (↓ from September) Includes food and snacks from a grocery or convenience store. This is down about 20% from the average for this trip. This is likely due to the fact that by housesitting or staying with friends, I tend to be able to shop less often so can stock up on more things. 

Health: $234 (same - insurance premium) Includes my health insurance and any costs for health care (which I have luckily not had!!!). I expect to go for my colonoscopy procedure in the next six months and it will be interesting to see what the out of pocket is for that with my new insurance plan. (by interesting, I mean please don't hold your breath!) 

Misc.: $33 (↑ from September) Includes CFA membership, shipping, gifts, personal care (as you can see, there is not much of that happening)

Shopping: $4 (↓ from September) Includes costs associated with cycling maintenance, cycling gear, running and camping gear and other clothing or toiletries. The $255 average for this trip is mainly because I've spent about $1,100 on bike maintenance, which equates for about 62% of this category. Luckily in October, I barely spent anything! Bob sure is high maintenance! (*Dad joke)

Transportation: $169 (↓ from September) Included one flight for me and Bob and a couple of local bus and train rides in Montreal and Quebec. Why is it so low, you ask!? I used points for a lot of this, which I talked about in my last Money Monday post! 

Utilities: $232 (↓ from September) Includes a monthly breakdown for the following, even though some of them are charged only once per year: phone, Garmin charges, subscriptions, credit card fees and internet security (NordVPN). 

Total Spent: $2,205 (↓ 20% from average and ↓ 27% from September)

Verdict: Pretty much all categories went down from September and most were lower than the average for the trip. I am still trying to figure out what I should target for my budget for next year, but I am thinking that $2,500 a month may be a good number to start with. I do think that there will be a couple of things that I will need to upgrade next year (for example, my normal travel backpack is from the 90s!) but hopefully they will not cost more than the cost of bike maintenance, so it will even out. 

This brings to total spent for seven months to $18,407 or approximately $2,600 per month. The highest month is still the Tour Divide (July) and the lowest is April with October coming in second lowest.

Verdict: Being on the move more or trying to go faster equals more expensive for the most part. Being able to slow down and buy things in larger quantities and stay in one place for a week really does make a difference. 

To end this number heavy post, here are a few non-cycling related stats! 

Favorite Ice Cream: The Real Scoop in Wolfville. 

Favorite New Town: Wolfville, although Mahone Bay was pretty dang cute

Favorite New Water Related Venue: Hubbards Bay or Blomidon

Favorite Food Item: I really loved the family dinners at Elisabeth's house! However, I had a blast getting a loaded poutine at La Banquise in Montreal. Was it touristy? 100% yes. However, it was still a lot of fun and it was very filling! 

Favorite Book: God of the Woods. I will be doing a post about what I read later, or you can find my list on my Goodreads page here! 

Okay it's your turn!! Have you read God of the Woods? What was the best (or worst) thing you spent money on in October? What month is normally your highest spending month? 

If you haven't already, you can fill out this form with any questions you want answered for my upcoming ask me anything post!!

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

By The Numbers: June - September

The last time I wrote one of these posts was in June for updates through May! My, how time flies. Part of the reason I did not keep up with this was that I was on the Tour Divide. This is twofold; firstly, I was trying to go fast(er), and so did not want the extra weight, so I sent my laptop home. Have you ever tried doing a budget review on your phone? I have, and it is no fun, so I decided to wait. Secondly, even if I had had my computer, I would not have posted due to not really having the time or the energy at the end of the day or week. You will see though as we go through a few things, that these period (June 14 - July 21) caused a lot of the numbers to change! All of the below numbers are as of Sept 30, 2024. 

El Malpais National Monument, NM

Mileage To Date:

Total Days on the Road: 191

Total Days Ridden: 143

Total Miles Ridden: 8,089

Average Miles Per Day Ridden: 56.57 (vs 48.91 as of June 1)

Average Miles Per Day ridden during the Tour Divide: 72.7

Max miles per day: 101

Accommodation To Date: 

AirBnB: 10

Established Camp: 34

Friend: 31

Housesitting: 5

Motel: 62

Warm Showers: 9

Wild Camp: 40

Total Days: 191

Total average cost per day: $40

Verdict: June and July were rough months for accommodation budget-wise, because they included a stay in Canmore with friends and then the Tour Divide, where you kind of have to take what you can get. However, I also did wild camp a lot, as you can see from the fact that it is the 2nd most used option. Luckily in September, much of my accomodation has been with friends or housesitting, as there were not as many affordable options in the Midwest and Ontario. 

Budget Average June - Sept: 

You ask, I provide! In May, you all thought it was silly that I put cycling costs under Entertainment. So, I have edited my categories, so that cycling and running costs are under Shopping. I have also added a Utilities category, which includes a monthly breakdown for the following, even though some of them are charged only once per year: phone, Garmin charges, subscriptions, credit card fees and internet security (NordVPN). 

Accommodation: $1,041 (↓ from May, highest month August --> $1,412)

Dining Out: $348  (↑ from May, highest month July --> $518)

Groceries: $329  (↑ from May, highest month July --> $400)

Health: $234 (same - insurance premium)

Misc.: $122  (↑ from May - includes CFA membership, shipping, gifts)

Shopping: $287 (↑ from May, highest month July --> $669)

Transportation: $267 (↑ from May, highest month Sept --> $652)

Utilities: $226 (new category)

Average Total Spent: $2,854 ( (↑ 21% from May numbers)

Verdict: Many of these costs, as you can see from the highest month (July) were incurred during the Tour Divide, where I ate more, ate out more, shopped at higher cost food stores, fixed the bike a lot (hence the $669 shopping amount in July), and stayed in whatever room was near the course. This was not really a budget portion of my trip (total spending in July was $3,637). However, if you take out July, my average spending goes down by about 36%. Although I may not have months like this very often, I like to keep it in, as it gives me a good idea of the ebbs and flows of spending that will happen when traveling. For example, although my lodging in September was half the amount of August, in September I paid for a flight that I will not take until December, so my monthly total was not a lot lower. I look forward to doing a recap at the end of the year where the spending flattens out a bit, as month by month is a little harder to see the actual costs. 

Fun side note, in finance we call this smoothing, and it is often a lot easier to look back on several months or years worth of data rather than look at it day by day or week by week. For example if you look at your investment account every day, you could easily get anxious for four days out of every five, but if you look at the last ten years, you will probably note a general upward trajectory. 

Overall Spending To Date: 

Currently, for the six months of full time bike travel, my average spending per month is $2,564. The breakdown per month is: 

April: $1,881 (75% California/Oregon/Washington USA, 25% BC, Canada)

May: $1,845 (100% BC, Canada)
June: $2,410 (50% MT/ID/WY, USA, 50% BC/Alberta, Canada)

July: $3,637 (100% CO/NM/IL/WI, USA) <-- Highest

August: $2,862 (67% MN/WI/MI, USA, 33% ON, Canada)

September: $2,749 (35% OR/NY, USA, 65% ON/QC, Canada)

Verdict: The west has cheaper accomodation and more available wild camping (ie free) options due to there being a lot more national forest, BLM and Crown land. Also, most likely even the motels in the west were a lot cheaper in April than they were in July. I am also getting more tired or more lazy as time goes by, and am not as diligent about always camping or getting food from the grocery store as I was in the beginning.  

To end this number heavy post, here are a few non-cycling related stats! 

Favorite Ice Cream: The mint chip at The Clark Store outside of Steamboat Springs, CO. It was cash only, but a double scoop only cost me $5 and the kids serving it were top notch! 

Double scoop of mint!

Favorite New Town: Marquette, MI. The entire UP was nice, but the town of Marquette checks a lot of boxes. It is right on Lake Superior, it has a sweet bakery (Huron Mountain), is laid back, has good coffee, is walkable, has old buildings, has a Saturday farmers market, and has excellent bike paths! Win, win! 

Marquette Bay

Favorite New Water Related Venue: Although all of the Great Lakes were beautiful, I have a special spot in my heart for Lake Huron. I put my feet into all five of them, but was able to swim a few times in Lake Huron, and it was fabulous. Actually my first week or so in Ontario was all along Lake Huron and other waterways and every morning I got to see the sun rise over the water and it was very special. 

Lake Huron at Blind River

Favorite Food Item: I am back in the land of pate, of which I am a big fan. When I was in France, it was not uncommon for me to sometimes eat bread and pate a few times a day. Currently, I am not doing that, but it is nice to have the option! Bring me the liver! 

Foie!

Favorite Book: I know I have mentioned this before, but I really enjoyed The Indifferent Stars Above. Another one that was thought provoking was The Anxious Generation, which I've also already mentioned. My largest category for star ratings is four stars, so there are a ton more I could add, but you can look at them on my Goodreads page here instead! 

Okay it's your turn!! Do you like pate? What is your favorite water related venue that you have been to? What was your favorite book last month and why? 

By The Numbers: May

And just like that, May is gone. It treated me well, as in I probably got rained on a little at least 20 of the 31 days, but none of the rain was super heavy so I never had one of those cold and drenched miserable days, which is great! Also, I went swimming for the first time this year. Yay! Which is funny, as I have literally been waking up to temps around freezing most mornings recently. Here is a quick recap of the last month of travel, as well as the journey so far. All stats are up to and including May 31, 2024. *If you don't give a hoot about cycling, I have included some non-cycling stats at the bottom; feel free to go directly there! 

Kananaskis Trail/Hwy 40 is closed to cars until June! 

Mileage Stats (overall):

Total Days on Road: 69 *PS last month I miscounted. Oops. 

Total Days Ridden: 55

Total Miles: 2,690

Average Miles Per Day Ridden: 48.91 (vs 49.6 as of May 1; pretty steady!)

Total Hours (moving only): 329

Average (moving) Hours Per Day: 5:35 (vs. prior of 5:40) 

*like last time, I would say there are about two additional hours of drinking, eating, bathroom stops, sheltering from the rain, looking at maps, warming up by stopping for coffee and/or looking at mountains.

I am so happy to be on a dirt road!

Accommodation stats for May: 

Established Camp: 7 (↑ 75% from last month)

Friend: 2 (↓ 85% from last month)

Motel: 11 (↓ 15% from last month)

Warm Showers: 0 (↓ 100% from last month)

Wild Camp: 9 (↑ 13% from last month)

Verdict: Apparently, I know more people in CA, OR, WA and the west coast of Canada than I do in the interior! Also, I was on a lot of dirt and in more parks, so my camping as a whole increased over town stays. However, as you will see below, the lack of staying with friends/warm showers caused my costs to be higher this month. 

I had to stay an extra day in Fernie to get my bike fixed.

Budget stats for May: 

Accommodation: $1,093 (↑ from last month)

Dining Out: $246  (↑ from last month)

Groceries: $271  (↑ from last month)

Health: $234 (same - insurance premium)

Transportation: $0 (↓ from last month)

Phone: $81 (same - cell phone)

Entertainment: $274 (↑ from last month - bike repairs/camping supplies/bear spray/satellite messenger)

Misc.: $78  (↑ from last month - VPN, credit card fees, gifts)

Shopping: $120 (unfortunately, a new category, 100% increase from last month)

Total Spent: $2,405 ( (↑ 35% from last month, which was $1,767)

Verdict: Uh oh. Although this is still not super high and is still less than half of what I was spending at home, as I mentioned last month, my thought was that I would shoot for about $2,000 per month. However, I did know that I might have to tweak it a little as I got more knowledge about what I was actually spending. 

The main culprit is the cost of accommodation, which was about 35% higher than last month. I would say that I maybe stayed in more motels, but as we see from the accommodation stats, that was not true; they just cost more. I crossed the border into Canada at the end of April, so once again, I am going to blame Canada (so sorry)! Also dining out and groceries are both about 25% higher. I also had to buy a few things along the road:  a new pillow, some new dry bags, camping fuel, memory cards and a new charger. This inflated my entertainment cost quite a bit and added a whole new category of Shopping. Some of these costs, although not necessarily recurring, will probably be replaced by something else, so maybe $2,500 is a more realistic goal. We will see. 

Also, in the question form (P.S. You can still ask questions here), Nicole asked, "How long will you be biking for? How many kilometres do you bike a day on these adventures?" Well, as I mentioned above, my average is currently about 49 miles / 78 km, but my longest day so far for this trip was about 70 miles / 112 km. My shortest day was a day with my Dad, where we biked around Vancouver, and that was 20 miles / 32 km. I think for him it was his longest day ever, and he was very glad to get his butt off the bike, literally. 

As for how long I will be biking for, I hope to get to the East Coast before the snow starts to fly. If I am tired by then, I will fly or take the train home; if not, who knows, maybe I will bike home. That is way too far in the future to decide at this point. So, to answer your question, somewhere between October and December most likely. After that, I think I will do some international (non-North American) travel, probably without the bike, but who knows. My friend Dr. G asked if I planned on doing any international cycling and I my answer to this question is yes, but I do not know if it will be right after this trip or if I will need a break from Bob for a while. Europe has a whole network of cycling routes called the EuroVelo and I would love to spend some time exploring that at some point, plus there are many, many other routes on all of the continents that have piqued my interest. 

Speaking of international trips, one of my inspirations for this trip was from a woman named Lael Wilcox, who got the women's record for the Tour Divide race (Canada to Mexico) and won the TransAm (west coast to east coast of the US) race overall. She is currently (right now!) trying to set a world record for fastest round the world bike tour (18,000 miles). She is very inspiring and is so cheerful and she will even respond to your comments on Instagram. If you are interested, here is her Ted talk about the TransAm race and how she got her start, and here is her Instagram, where you can follow her RTW FKT attempt. 

And now, some non-cycling related stats! 

This month, instead of ice cream by the numbers, I am just going to show you my new favorite ice cream: Two Scoop Steve's in Yahk, BC. Since it was in the name, I got two scoops! Mint chip and butter pecan. It was delicious, and was even worth sitting in the spitting rain to order it and eat it. 

Favorite new town: Fernie, BC. Although it rained the entire time I was there, this little town is nestled in the mountains, has a cute little downtown and has any action sport you may like, like skiing, hiking, mountain biking etc. Plus they have everything you need, including three bike shops, within about a five block radius! *Runner up: Nelson, BC, which sits on a lake and really kind of reminded me of Tahoe a little bit. 

Favorite new lake: There have been so many, but I would probably have to say Kootenay Lake. Not only is it next to my runner up, Nelson, but it is huge, very beautiful, surrounded by mountains, and not even that cold! Also nearby there are hot springs, skiing, hiking, and beautiful vistas! PLUS, there is a free ferry, the longest free ferry in the world apparently! *Runner up: Okanagan, which has great vistas but not as many nice green trees. 

Kootenay Lake at Nelson

Favorite hamburger: Little did you know this would end up being a category, but if it's not an ice cream, it's a hamburger (or surprisingly, a GF pizza!). I think it is a toss up: the birthday wiener burger at Clyde's in Grand Forks was good, but the GF bun was a little odd and the fries were not super crisp. The Royale with Cheese at the Royal in Nelson was great, the GF bun was better and their poutine was also GF, but they really skimped on the fixings (the burger looked so sad, just meat and bun). 

The Royale, a sad little burger

Favorite book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Facing The Mountain by Daniel James Brown. This one is near and dear to my heart, as it talks about the Nisei solders, the second generation Japanese Americans, who went to fight in WWII, even as their parents, the first generation, were imprisoned in internment camps in America. The reason it is so dear is that my good friend K's grandfather was one of them and I remember sitting with her grandma talking about being in the internment camps. Many of the Nisei died, as they were sent on suicide missions, but they were the unsung heroes (along with many others) of the war. However, we don't know much about them, and this book really can open people's eyes about some of the things they went through. 

Okay it's your turn!! What unexpected thing did you have to spend money on last month? Who is your real life hero or inspiration? What was your favorite book last month and why? 

By The Numbers: April

It's May! As you may know, this is my favorite month! Bring on the spring time! I thought I would do a quick recap of the last "month" of travel, including some fun facts about ice cream consumption. I started my biking journey at the end of March, so this month will have a few non-April days in it, but here is what we have so far (through and including 05/01/24). 

Mileage Stats:

Total Days on Road: 40

Total Days Ridden: 29

Total Miles: 1,440

Average Miles Per Day Ridden: 49.6

Total Hours (moving only): 164

Average (moving) Hours Per Day: 5.7 (5:40) 

*my guess would be that average time on the road per day (moving + non-moving) would be around 8 hours. I take a lot of photos, potty breaks and food breaks! 

Sunshine Coast Highway

Accommodation stats: 

Established Camp: 4

Friend: 13

Motel: 13

Warm Showers: 2

Wild Camp: 8

Home for the night

Budget stats: 

*I will probably do this each month going forward, but this time, it will include all 40 days so far. 

Accommodation: $1,084

Dining Out: $275

Groceries: $310

Health: $234 (insurance premium)

Transportation: $79 (bus/ferry)

Phone: $81 (this is a family plan, but since I pay for it, I will account for the total)

Entertainment: $292 (bike repairs/satellite messenger)

Misc.: $17 (VPN, credit card fees, gifts)

Total spent for 40 days: $2,357

Monthly (30 day) cost: $1,767

This is good, as my thought was that I would shoot for about $2,000 per month, but I knew I may have to tweak it a little as I got more knowledge about what I was actually spending. I am happy with this, but know that some weeks I may be spending more on accommodation, which is my highest cost. 

Also, in the question form (it's not too late! You can still ask questions here), my friend Dr. G asked, "How has your spending changed? Do you spend 10% of what you did before?" Well, I do not spend 10% of what I spent before, maybe more like a third, but I think I will have a lot more clarity on this answer at the end of the year. It is hard right now, as I am still actually paying a lot for home things (repairs, inspections, upgrades) and so this cost above is really only my travel cost, and in all actuality, I probably spent more in the month of April than I have in a very long time (or ever). 

Peanut butter milkshake at Bend Burger!

Also, because I know you care, here are my specific ice cream stats: 

*I have put these in liters so that they will be consistent. FYI, a normal "half gallon" in the US is about 1.5 L (which is not actually half of a gallon anymore). 

Times I have been to the grocery store: 15

Times I have bought ice cream: 7

Total L of ice cream bought: 7.2 L (~5 half gallons)

Total cost: $22.56 (7.2% of grocery spend)

Average $ per L: $3.13 (~ $4.69 per half gallon)

Cheapest: Bremerton, WA / $2.10 per L (~ $3.15 per half gallon)

Most Expensive: Victoria BC / $5.83 per L (~ $8.75 per half gallon) (celebratory pint after good news! Totally worth every bite!)

Favorite Brand so Far: Trader Joes

Least Favorite Brand so Far: Crystal

Okay it's your turn!! How much did you spend on ice cream last month? How many times per month do you go to the grocery store? How much does a "half gallon" or 1.5 L cost in your neck of the woods? What is your favorite ice cream flavor?