Forth of July Picnic

We traveled 3000 miles in three days on $300.  It was an ADVENTURE!  Jennifer and I traveled from Virginia to L.A., CA.

I love a good challenge, don’t you?  Where do you want to go or need to go this summer? Does it seem impossible?  Then do it!

I’ve got my master’s degree in pinching pennies after raising five daughters. On top of raising them, we sent all five to college and have married four of them, so far.  Many days there’ve been no pennies to pinch.   So, we’ve had to work harder.

Several years ago Jennifer got an internship in L.A., CA.  She needed to get there with all her belongings- on the least amount of money possible.  We looked at the three big budget needs of travel: Mode of transportation, food, and lodging. We calculated every mode of travel meticulously- plus shipping her belongings. Every way we sliced it, we came up with car travel being the cheapest.

This is how we traveled 3000 miles on $300 in three days:

~Our VW Bug could go 45 miles to a gallon on the highway. We needed approximately 66 gallons of gas for 3000 miles. We mapped out the cheapest places to get gas and drove wisely on the highway.  We didn’t carry heavy luggage or coolers that would add drag to the fuel consumption.  We made the whole trip on $220 in gas.

~We calculated that we would need three nights of lodging.  We asked friends in TN (Micca Campbell) and OK (Tammy Dennis) if we could stay overnight with them on our journey. We made WONDERFUL memories with them.  Our last night we stayed at the cheapest hotel (THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED). It was definitely a memory which could be a post all on its own.

~We brought ALL of our own food. Loaves of organic bread, peanut butter, jelly, bananas, apples, boiled eggs and water.  Not once did we buy fast food.  Not once did we visit a convenience or grocery store and not once did we sit down in a restaurant. Not once did we buy a bottled water.  We filled up jars with water at home and refilled along the journey.

Traveling is expensive, if you aren’t careful.  In I Corinthians 4:2 We are told that, “it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” I want to have been found faithful with all the Lord provides for our family.

It’s a holiday weekend.  Yay!  Dale and I traveled to the beach to be with our children and grandchildren.  For the trip, I packed a picnic lunch.  I  poured chili in the bottom of mason jars, poured homemade corn bread batter on top of that and topped with shredded cheddar cheese.  I then baked the jars in the oven on 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Let the jars cool before putting tops on.

To add live enzymes to our meal, I included my Cucumber Salad and watermelon stars.  I filled mason jars with water for drinking and added organic chips to the basket! YUM!

You can also make my Chicken& Dumpling cobbler in mason jars.  Where do you plan to go this summer or where do you wish you could go? I would love to hear what food you bring on trips to save money!