How much money should I have to do a year trip on the southern tier route?

[Hike2bike]

I read all about these wonderful trips that go for up to a year or more. When your not working, just how much money should I be stashing away to make the trip? Reading about others traveling for years,how do they do it?

[roadpacker]

A year is a long time to spend on there. Probably wouldn't take you more than 3 months. Whatever your health insurance costs + 300 for food, (no eating out/bars/booze), no hotels is what I wager per month for my up-coming trans-america journey

[Hike2bike]

  Thanx for mentioning the insurance. I had to get that over in England as getting oriented to their reverse traffic lanes ( can,t tell you how many times I forgot which way to look) and roundabouts could easily get you killed.
I am now planning on only spending 5 months as even at $10/day costs add up, however I have found a bunch of BLM campsite areas that are free with a 14 day stay max.

[roadpacker]

Everywhere is free that you don't get caught 

[the tortoise]

How you can eat on $10 a day is beyond me! I would budget at least 30 to 50 per day.

[roadpacker]

To tell the truth-- I'm not entirely sure myself! I've heard of people who do even less! I know Alistair Humphreys did about $10 a day for 4 years-- although for sure some places had much cheaper food. You would have trouble doing that in Switzerland, I understand. But my scheme-- no prepared food, liquor, coffee, no paid sleeping arrangements of any kind etc. LOTS of PBJ, Pasta, home-made mac n' cheese, few meats, milk, bread, cheese on bread, chili.... make-your-own trailmix, cereal, PB+banana sandwiches... eggs and stir-fries with farm-stand vegetables (good source of cheap eggs and veggies)... canned soups are typically low cal/high cost so no go there... I figure a block of cheese and maybe a stick of pepperoni or something will go a decent way. My friend even suggested greek yogurt-- eating it before it goes bad of course. Corn cooked straight over the fire and doused in pepper is a tasty option I've had. Potatoes can be baked pretty easily if you rest them in a bed of coals, although that seems like a bit of work to me.

I've done close to that before, but I did not make an effort to block out pizza desire. (I freaking love cheese on the road.) If I can block that, and block out candy (are snickers cost-effective??) then I think I'll be just about on point. Tortillas are useful, baguettes and even cold tomato soup straight from the can with some brie is otherworldly, esp. when shared with a friend... all of this I have learned from touring with a good friend of mine. The guy carries a huge rocket stove on the top of his rear rack just for cookin!!! And 2 pots and a proper pan, too.

Whatever the case I _have_ to make it work. I am going to be very unemployed for many months, and I am going to run it pretty close to the bottom!

[the tortoise]

Are you going going to be using warmshowers? A good way to connect with people and they will probably feed you.
I remember on the tour divide it seems like every time I stopped at a convenience store  or market I usually dropped around $30!

[roadpacker]

I'll be using that and couchsurfing I figure. I'm hoping a non-racing approach will mean a non-racing appetite, and also a reduced need for expensive/packable packaged goods-- like cliff bars or trailmix bars.

[paulmissoula]

I toured the Southern Tier route with some friends a few years back at a tour pace (45-70 miles per day). We took our time with some lengthy detours, hanging out for 3-5 days in a few different places along the way and spent several days in one place for my buddy to recover after a spill, and we still managed to finish in about 3 months.

Also, budget some money to eat out and enjoy the local cuisine, have a beer after a long tough day, and treat yourself with a motel stay every once in awhile. It's easy to say you'll stealth camp every night and eat on a dirtbag budget now, but a lot harder to do when you're on road and have nothing but peanut butter sandwiches and ramen for 2 months straight. On a good cheap day, with camping, I probably spent on average about $25/day on the low end. More if ate out, had beer, stayed in a motel, etc.

[PeteStaehling]

Also, budget some money to eat out and enjoy the local cuisine, have a beer after a long tough day, and treat yourself with a motel stay every once in awhile.

I agree on the local cuisine part.  I wouldn't dream of riding the ST and not sampling the southwestern food, Cajun food, and barbecue.

My observations on the ST were that:
1. It was pretty easy to average 80 miles per day even for a 61 year old non athlete like me.  It is the flattest of the cross country routes and has less reasons to stop much.  Compared to the Trans America lot of the time there wasn't that much to do except ride.
2. There were plenty of places where there were long stretches without much but empty space where making long days seemed kind of like a no brainer.
3. Camping for free was pretty easy for a large portion of the trip and could often be in plain sight.  I camped for free a lot and very seldom needed to employ any stealth.  Roadside picnic areas, under bridges, and other similar spots are typically fair game in places like Texas.  I think you may be more likely to be run off if you use a tent, but I mostly cowboy camped and slipped into a bivy if the weather turned bad.  I did pitch a small tarp sometimes, but not when camping in places on the side of the road.
4. I thought the scenery was mostly pretty unappealing, but made up for by the local folks I met and the good local food.

It is possible to go pretty cheap, but remember that it is supposed to be fun so budget to be able eat fairly well at least some of the time.