USA Overland Budget: 53 Days Crossing America in a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon ($66 Per Day Cost Breakdown)

We both started this journey with one clear goal — to eventually complete the loop of Africa.

The idea of a full overland loop of Africa sounds simple on a map, but in reality it’s almost impossible. To this day, I haven’t heard of anyone completing a continuous loop. Between ongoing conflicts, shifting political situations, and closed or restricted borders, it remains more of a dream than a defined overland route — but it’s still a dream worth attempting.

Our journey begins near my hometown, a small town in eastern Washington State on the west coast of the United States. This marks the first major stage of our global overland expedition.

A Quick Note on Insurance Costs (Not Included in This Budget)

Before diving into the numbers, it’s important to clarify that this budget breakdown does not include car insurance or health insurance.

For the USA overland leg, our vehicle insurance was already paid upfront as part of an annual policy we had at home. Once the Jeep was shipped out of Baltimore, we cancelled that policy and switched over to maritime insurance, which is covered separately in our full vehicle shipping guide.

Our health insurance was also already in place before the trip began, through Brett’s employer at the time, and continued for the first 8 months of our journey. Because of this, it did not form part of our daily overland expenses during this stage of the trip.

So for clarity, the figures in this breakdown reflect only the actual day-to-day travel costs — not pre-paid or externally covered insurance expenses.

Shipping the Jeep: USA to Europe Overland Logistics

Getting both ourselves and our Jeep to Africa is a major logistical challenge, and the journey starts long before the wheels hit dirt roads.

We initially looked into shipping from Seattle to Europe. However, that route would have involved going through the Panama Canal, and the cost was significantly higher.

After comparing overland shipping options and vehicle logistics from the USA to Europe, it worked out slightly cheaper to drive across the United States and ship the Jeep from Baltimore, Maryland, to Germany.

That decision shaped the first leg of our journey: a full cross-country USA overland road trip.

Shipping the vehicle from the USA to Europe is not included in this budget.

We have written a separate detailed guide covering:

• shipping costs
• requirements
• vehicle preparation
• logistics from USA to Europe

This applies to shipments from the USA or Canada to Europe, and the process is very similar if shipping from South America using the same company.

Planning an Overland Budget (Before Leaving)

Before setting off, I spent a lot of time trying to understand what real overland travel actually costs.

I went down the same rabbit hole most people do before a trip like this — reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, and looking for any real-world breakdowns of what it costs to drive across the United States in a vehicle like a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. I also looked at full-time travel reports and expedition write-ups, trying to piece together something realistic.

The more I looked, the harder it became to know what was actually accurate.

It wasn’t always clear if people were including everything — fuel, repairs, camping, breakdowns — or only sharing parts of the picture that made the trip sound easier or cheaper than it really was.

In the end, I couldn’t rely on any single source. So I built my own rough budget using everything I could find, knowing it would only really make sense once we were actually on the road.

I also made a promise to myself early on — once the journey started, I would document every cost honestly. Nothing filtered, nothing adjusted. Just the real numbers, whether they were expected or not.

This is the first breakdown: our 53-day overland journey across the United States.

USA Overland Journey Budget (53 Days)

Our plan for the USA overland route was simple:

Travel as cheaply as possible, see as much as we could, and drive the most direct route toward Baltimore, Maryland, where the Jeep would be shipped to Europe.

We spent 53 days crossing the United States in a our Jeep Wrangler Rubicon overland rig.

Trip breakdown:

• 35 nights wild camping
• 12 nights in campgrounds (mostly around Washington DC where wild camping is difficult)
• 6 nights in hotels (between Jeep drop-off and flights to Europe)

Total USA Overland Travel Cost

Total spent over 53 days: $3,499.62

This works out to:

• $14.62 per day — accommodation
  (Hotels around Washington DC significantly increased this average)
• $18.19 per day — food & miscellaneous expenses
  (Food in the USA can be very affordable when self-catering)
• $23.09 per day — fuel costs
  (388 gallons of fuel covering approximately 5,700 miles across the United States)
• $10.64 per day — larger trip expenses
  (Including a full oil change and a U.S. National Parks Pass)

Average USA Overland Cost Per Day

Total daily cost: $66.03 per day

For a full-time overland road trip across the USA, this is the true all-in cost of travel, fuel, food, camping, and maintenance.

Wild Camping in the USA: What We Learned

One of the biggest factors shaping an overland USA budget is simply where you sleep at night.

In the western United States, it often feels easy to find quiet places to stop along remote roads, with long stretches where space isn’t the problem. As you move east, crossing the Mississippi River, things gradually change. Options become more limited, and finding overnight spots takes a bit more planning, but it’s still possible if you stay flexible and pay attention to the area you’re in.

Wild camping in the United States isn’t something with a single clear answer. It changes completely depending on the region.

In some places, especially out west, it can feel almost effortless to find a quiet pull-off for the night. In others, signs start appearing more often, and it becomes less about simply stopping and more about reading the landscape and understanding local rules and restrictions as you move through them.

So rather than a simple yes or no, it really comes down to where you are, how you’re travelling, and how closely you’re paying attention to your surroundings.

Hotels, on the other hand, can quickly push a USA road trip budget higher. Because of that, sticking to wild camping where possible, and using campgrounds when needed, makes a significant difference to the overall cost of travelling across the country.

Food Costs in the USA (Overland Travel Reality)

Food is one of the easiest parts of an overland budget to keep under control in the United States.

If you’re cooking for yourself and shopping in places like Walmart or local dollar stores, it’s surprisingly affordable to stay on the road without spending much. The basics are easy to find almost everywhere, and it doesn’t take much planning to keep costs low day to day.

The moment you start eating out regularly though, the budget changes quickly. Even simple meals out add up faster than you expect when you’re travelling full-time and covering long distances.

For us, the pattern became clear early on — keeping food simple and self-catered was what made it possible to stay within a low daily overland cost while crossing the country.

Fuel Costs Driving Across the USA

Fuel is one of the positives of overlanding in the United States.

The USA still has some of the cheapest fuel prices in the world, which makes long-distance travel significantly more affordable compared to many other countries.

We covered:

• 388 gallons of fuel
• 5,700 miles driven across the United States

National Parks & Free Travel Highlights

If you’re planning a USA overland road trip, the U.S. National Parks Pass (America the Beautiful) is excellent value and includes entry to most major national parks.

Another surprising highlight of travelling through the USA was Washington DC.

We were genuinely impressed that many of the country’s most important museums in Washington DC are completely free to visit.

The Smithsonian museums are world-class — you just need to reserve a timed entry ticket.

We spent four full days moving from museum to museum, and it became one of the most memorable parts of the entire USA overland journey.

Final Thoughts: Is the USA Good for Overlanding on a Budget?

Looking back on our time crossing the United States, it’s hard not to feel like it gave us the perfect start to this journey.

We set out with a simple plan — keep moving, keep costs down, and follow the most direct line we could toward the East Coast. What we found was a country that made that surprisingly easy in most places.

Once you get out onto the quieter roads, especially in the west, it doesn’t take long before you realise how much space there actually is. Long stretches of remote roads, endless public land, and enough pull-offs and quiet corners that finding a place to stop for the night rarely became a real problem. As we moved further east, things tightened up a bit, but with a bit more planning it was still very manageable.

What stood out most wasn’t just the landscapes, but how practical the country is for travelling this way. Fuel is easy to get, distances are straightforward to cover, and there’s a kind of rhythm to road life here that makes long days behind the wheel feel simple rather than difficult.

Costs, in the end, stayed more reasonable than we expected. If you’re careful with where you sleep, keep food simple, and don’t let hotels take over your route, it’s very possible to move across the country without blowing the budget.

There’s also a strange balance in the USA that works well for overlanding — you can spend one day completely off-grid on quiet roads, and the next walking through some of the most well-known cities and museums in the world, often for free. That contrast is what made this first leg of the journey feel so complete.

For us, it wasn’t just about getting from one coast to the other. It was about testing the rhythm of life on the road, learning how the rig handled long distances, and finding our pace before heading across the Atlantic.

And in that sense, the USA was exactly what we needed it to be — a straightforward, affordable, and surprisingly varied first chapter of a much bigger journey ahead.

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