cost per day to tour

[ray b]

All good - but again, for this thread to be useful, we really have to be specific about what the daily budget buys.

(Variables - area of the country, population density, food preferences, calories burned/aomount of food consumed, grocery vs. cafe vs. restaurant, camping vs. hotel, etc....)

[Westinghouse]

It is possible to save a considerable amount of money by doing this.  Get a black card membership with planet fitness for $20 a month. They are numerous enough that you should find them in just about any town of any size on the East Coast or elsewhere. Free camp in the woods as much as possible. Use planet fitness for hot showers. It is supposed that you could do that with most any health club chain. Planet fitness is the one which I think is most numerous.

[BikeliciousBabe]

All good - but again, for this thread to be useful, we really have to be specific about what the daily budget buys.

(Variables - area of the country, population density, food preferences, calories burned/aomount of food consumed, grocery vs. cafe vs. restaurant, camping vs. hotel, etc....)

Exactly.  As I alluded to above, camping in an area such as the northeast is going to cost noticeably more than out west, at least if you want to do it legally.  When I rode from northern Vermont to Philadelphia in 2021, camping at private places and state parks was at least $25/night (and usually more), with the one exception being a place in Upper Black Eddy, PA, on the Atlantic Coast route.  For years the owner he has charged cyclists only $10/night.  (Bring cash.) The one hotel night in Hyde Park, NY was around $200.  When I stayed at the same hotel back in 2018 it was just under $100.

[froze]

Motels have skyrocketed in price just in the last 2 years, to about double over that time.  We had to spend $220 for one night just a couple of weeks ago, and that was the cheapest we could find without going to a dive place where I would need my 357mag to take care of the drug addicts and criminals that hang out in those places!

I like the idea of the Planet Fitness thought, I will have to get a card, now that I'm a senior citizen and a member of Silver Sneakers, but some Planet Fitness places accept Silver Sneakers and some don't, so I'll still need a card.  The only problem I see with this, is finding one near my route.

[Westinghouse]

Motels have skyrocketed in price just in the last 2 years, to about double over that time.  We had to spend $220 for one night just a couple of weeks ago, and that was the cheapest we could find without going to a dive place where I would need my 357mag to take care of the drug addicts and criminals that hang out in those places!

I like the idea of the Planet Fitness thought, I will have to get a card, now that I'm a senior citizen and a member of Silver Sneakers, but some Planet Fitness places accept Silver Sneakers and some don't, so I'll still need a card.  The only problem I see with this, is finding one near my route.

Finding any health club is as easy as 1-2-3.  Just google for them in towns on your route.  The conveniences of modern technology.  It beats stopping and asking.  The directions would be accurate.

[BikeliciousBabe]

I like the idea of the Planet Fitness thought, I will have to get a card, now that I'm a senior citizen and a member of Silver Sneakers, but some Planet Fitness places accept Silver Sneakers and some don't, so I'll still need a card.  The only problem I see with this, is finding one near my route.

Planet Fittness' business model relies heavily on volume, volume, volume, so they tend to not be in places with relatively low population densities.  Also, unlimited access is for your home club only.

Unless you are touring a lot in highly populated areas, you would probably be better off trying to purchase showers from private campgrounds.  There is even a hotel along the GAP in Connellsville that sells showers to people camping at the nearby free camping area. The restaurant in Rexford, MT, on the Northern Tier, sells showers.  (The nearby federal campground has plumbed restrooms but no showers.)  Truck stops and local pools are other possible options. Rivers and lakes are usually free. 

[froze]

I like the idea of the Planet Fitness thought, I will have to get a card, now that I'm a senior citizen and a member of Silver Sneakers, but some Planet Fitness places accept Silver Sneakers and some don't, so I'll still need a card.  The only problem I see with this, is finding one near my route.

Planet Fittness' business model relies heavily on volume, volume, volume, so they tend to not be in places with relatively low population densities.  Also, unlimited access is for your home club only.

Unless you are touring a lot in highly populated areas, you would probably be better off trying to purchase showers from private campgrounds.  There is even a hotel along the GAP in Connellsville that sells showers to people camping at the nearby free camping area. The restaurant in Rexford, MT, on the Northern Tier, sells showers.  (The nearby federal campground has plumbed restrooms but no showers.)  Truck stops and local pools are other possible options. Rivers and lakes are usually free. 

I am aware of the truck stop option, and I even have some sort of liquid soap that is biodegradable so just in case I need a river or a lake; I also have wash wipes, mint-scented to supposedly help keep mosquitoes away.

[kd_ca]

Almost finished a solo self supported a cross country trip, San Francisco to Maine.

Breakfast burrito: $5 - $8
Little bottle of chocolate milk: $2 - $2.75
Bananas: 59c to 79c per pound

Lunch Dinner:
Subway foot long: $13 - $17
Fried chicken dinner for one from supermarket deli: $8 - $11
Boxed salad for one : $4 - $6
Boxed cut fruit for one: $3 - $6

Laundry:
Wash: $3
Dry: 25c for 8 - 10 min

Campground Fees for primitive/tenting sites:
Private owned: $25 - $50
State owned: $1 (Nevada) to $20 (NY state) to $30 (CA,  CO)

Sometimes you have to pay the admission fee for the park in addition to Campground fee

Motels:
Low end $110 - $150, inclusive of tax. The included breakfast at these low end motels is not helpful  to the nutritional needs of a long distance cyclist. Most often I see donuts, bread, bagels, coffee and juice from concentrate. Rarely have I seen eggs, meat, waffles or milk

Hostels; $35 to $50, exclusive of tax

[Westinghouse]

I like the idea of the Planet Fitness thought, I will have to get a card, now that I'm a senior citizen and a member of Silver Sneakers, but some Planet Fitness places accept Silver Sneakers and some don't, so I'll still need a card.  The only problem I see with this, is finding one near my route.

Planet Fittness' business model relies heavily on volume, volume, volume, so they tend to not be in places with relatively low population densities.  Also, unlimited access is for your home club only.

Unless you are touring a lot in highly populated areas, you would probably be better off trying to purchase showers from private campgrounds.  There is even a hotel along the GAP in Connellsville that sells showers to people camping at the nearby free camping area. The restaurant in Rexford, MT, on the Northern Tier, sells showers.  (The nearby federal campground has plumbed restrooms but no showers.)  Truck stops and local pools are other possible options. Rivers and lakes are usually free. 

Not quite. The black card membership gets you access to any Planet Fitness in the country.  Not only that, you can bring a nonmember guest.  Small towns will not have a PF, and probably not any chain clubs, only privately owned.  That is why you google your route, then decide for yourself.

[froze]

Almost finished a solo self supported a cross country trip, San Francisco to Maine.

Breakfast burrito: $5 - $8
Little bottle of chocolate milk: $2 - $2.75
Bananas: 59c to 79c per pound

Lunch Dinner:
Subway foot long: $13 - $17
Fried chicken dinner for one from supermarket deli: $8 - $11
Boxed salad for one : $4 - $6
Boxed cut fruit for one: $3 - $6

Laundry:
Wash: $3
Dry: 25c for 8 - 10 min

Campground Fees for primitive/tenting sites:
Private owned: $25 - $50
State owned: $1 (Nevada) to $20 (NY state) to $30 (CA,  CO)

Sometimes you have to pay the admission fee for the park in addition to Campground fee

Motels:
Low end $110 - $150, inclusive of tax. The included breakfast at these low end motels is not helpful  to the nutritional needs of a long distance cyclist. Most often I see donuts, bread, bagels, coffee and juice from concentrate. Rarely have I seen eggs, meat, waffles or milk

Hostels; $35 to $50, exclusive of tax

So what was your average per day costs?

[Westinghouse]

I forgot to mention the so-called Continental breakfasts in the motels. For the most part it is garbage. You might see an orange here or an apple or a banana. Maybe maybe. It's not what you would call a breakfast at all. It's the kind of food that nutritionists and nutritional science warn you against taking at all. Mostly it's the kind of food that will shorten your lifespan if eaten continuously over a long period of time.

[kd_ca]

So what was your average per day costs?

For the coast to coast trip I just finished,  total amount spent / days on the road = $75

[jamawani]

Depends on how much you drink when you get in to Prairie Center for the night.

[BikeliciousBabe]

I am aware of the truck stop option, and I even have some sort of liquid soap that is biodegradable so just in case I need a river or a lake.

I like CampSuds.  A lot goes a long way, and you can wash dishes with it and even brush your teeth, but I refuse to go there. 

The first time I went rode into Glacier N.P. it was warm and sticky.  Now showers on the west side, so the stupidly brave among us bathed in the fridged waters of Lake McDonald. Run in to get wet.  Run out.  Soap up.  Run back in to rinse off.  Get the hell out of the water.

[jamawani]

Please, please do not introduce soaps or detergents - even biodegradable ones - into the streams and lakes of heavily visited parks like Glacier and Yellowstone. The high mountain water ecosystems simply cannot deal with the amount of foreign substances introduced by the numbers of people visiting. Not just soaps, but sunscreens, deodorants, urine - and in the backcountry - feces.

I've biked Going to the Sun Road a dozen or more times - I am lucky. And I've hiked much of the backcountry.
There are multiple facilities with running water on both sides of GTTS.
You can use the two-bandanna wash method, one soapy, one wet, and go into a toilet stall.
Then there's the quick Handi-Wipe towelette.

Remember, 4 million people visited Yellowstone and 3 million visited Glacier in 2022.
Nearly all in the short summer season.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/water-quality-resource-brief.htm