RV camping costs and tips, from a special needs family
Welcome to Rving with J&J. We are a family who cares full-time for our adult brother and sister, J&J, and the RV is how we breathe. This site is where we share what RVing really costs us, what we have learned about traveling with a big rig, and how we make the road work for a family whose days run on care routines.
Everything here is our own experience, told in plain words: the real numbers from our own trip ledger, the systems we have had to learn the hard way, and the places where we will tell you straight that a figure is still unknown.
How we do it
We tow a 44-foot fifth wheel with a 1-ton diesel truck. A travel day for us is about 160 miles, roughly three hours of driving, because care does not pause for the road: medications, meals, and rest stops all ride along with us. We plan fuel stops before we need them, we arrive before dark, and we keep the setup routine the same every time so J&J always know what comes next.
Under the skin, RVing is systems: weights, water, power, propane, and tanks. Nobody explained any of that to us at the start. The articles on this site are the lessons, written the way we wish someone had written them for us.
Why we do it
Caregiving at home is 24 hours a day. The road is our reset: new air, a campfire, a morning that does not look like yesterday. It is also a lot of work, and we will not pretend otherwise. For our family it is worth every bit of it. Read our story for the longer version.
Start with the numbers
Our anchor report is one real trip from our own ledger: a 13-night fall trip, about 1,104 round-trip miles. Fuel alone was 44 percent of everything we spent. Here are the headline figures.
| One sample trip | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total for 13 nights | $1,958.78 |
| Cost per night | $150.68 |
| Cost per mile (about 1,104 miles) | $1.77 |
| Fuel share of the total | 44% |
These are one sample trip, our trip, not typical costs or a promise about yours. Read the full line-by-line report, including the places where our own ledger is incomplete and we say so.
What you will find here
Costs, counted honestly
Trip cost reports from our own ledger, cost per night and cost per mile, and how to build a ledger of your own.
Towing and weights
Why the sticker on the door beats the brochure, payload math for big fifth wheels, and what diesel towing really costs.
Systems and upkeep
Shore power, propane, tanks, seals, and winterizing, explained in plain words with the safety notes up front.
Care on the road
How a full-time caregiving family actually travels: routines, rest, and why the 160-mile day is a care decision too.
Gear we use
Our Gear page collects the equipment our rig depends on, organized the way a campsite is: leveling, fresh water, and power. Every paid link there is labeled as a paid link, next to the link itself.
Campfire Talk
Campfire Talk will be our reader forum when the site opens. It is not live yet, and we would rather tell you that plainly than show you a pretend one.
Sister site
The caregiving story itself, the reason this RV exists in our lives, is told on its own site: Caring for Our Special Needs Family. This site does not retell it. It is about the road.
Follow the trip by email
When the site launches, we will send a free weekly email of real RV costs and tips. Signups open at launch.
This form does not take signups yet. Nothing you type here is sent or saved.