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I am a big fan of the pop-up campers that go in the bed of the truck. I loved mine. I took three months off and traveled around the west coast in it. Had some great adventures.

But calculating it all out, a Miata and motel would have been a lot cheaper. My Diesel F250 with the camper got about 8 miles to the gallon. 300 miles a day was over $100.

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This is all about the ratio of travel days to productive or fun days I talk about a bit in my longer comment below. And sure, do the math- if you would be happier in a hotel anyway- and a lot of people would be- then it makes sense to get hotel rooms.

But if you're parking the truck on BLM land for a week at a time, then that's happier and cheaper.

Hell, you could go with a Miata and a camping tent, and just control the ratio of BLM land time vs hotel time.

I think one viable strategy is 5off 2on. EG: Stay in a Hotel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (lower cost than weekends) and then camp on BLM land (or other cheap places) the other 5 days.

State parks are 12-$25, while Motel 6 is $40-$60.

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