June Budget.

We have been taking it slow the past few days as the wind and heat have kept us around the mothership. The Legacy Trail starts just outside Pony Express and we have been walking (6 miles yesterday), but we have been putting off a longer bicycle ride due to the strong south wind and the 95+ - degree heat for the past few days. We were also concerned about leaving KoKo behind in the heat with a hobbled air conditioner; we installed a “hard start” kit that we found at camping world but don’t want to take a big chance by leaving our buddy here alone. We did do our weekly cleaning and shopping, and we have made a few trips to the pool to beat the heat.

We exceeded our June budget by $250.00 but the big picture looks fine, as we did not exceed our income for the month. We feel fortunate that the trust that administers John’s pension has been one of the most reliable and profitable funds in the country; John’s monthly annuity can only increase, it will not go below the starting sum we now receive.

Of the budget lines that were exceeded, Campground Fees was the largest at $180.00 but we did spend $400.00 to reserve sites for future months so we will make this up in the future. We also went over by $180.00 in our maintenance budget for the motorhome; we bought parts for the air conditioner and also purchased cleaner and lubricants for regular maintenance we do. Our miscellaneous line was over by $110.00; most of this was spent at Camping World to replace two chairs and a sewer hose that have been with us since we bought our first mothership in 1999. After a good month in May KoKo went over budget by $90.00 in June as she stocked up on food, toothpaste and purchased a nail grinder to sand down her claws. The Clothing/Hair line was over by $75.00 as Sandy purchased a hiking shirt and some casual tops for herself, we had not done any cloths shopping since last year so these were normal purchases. The only other line that was over was CRV maintenance as John purchased $50.00 worth of oil and filters for an upcoming oil change.

We did have a few lines that were under budget and helped offset what we spent above. Gas for the CRV was under by $145.00 as we continue to locate ourselves close to what we want to see and the 25-30 mpg we get from the Honda helps save. We were $120.00 under in our entertainment budget so Sandy must owe John a “good time” or something. We were also $110.00 under for groceries; we noticed a savings when we moved away from the California coast and more savings as we moved on to Nevada and Utah. The last line with a savings was diesel fuel where we were $75.00 under (about a quarter of a tank); we had to laugh when we fueled up in Baker Nevada, a guy on a motorcycle walked over and said he always wondered what it cost to fill up a large motorhome, he made a funny noise when he looked at the pump and John thought about offering to let him call heads or tails on a flip for both fuel bills where the looser pays both but didn’t think he would go for it.