Motorcycle Travel Scenario: 3 Days, 3 Items, $300

It’s fun to daydream about hitting the road. Want to play a little scenario game?

You have 3 days, 3 items & $300Maine World City Road Sign

  • You have $300 in cash for all expenses
  • You have 3 days to ride
  • You can choose only 3 items from home to put in your tankbag

The basic premise of this scenario is that you’re leaving home with just the cash in your pocket.

[edit] Your 3 items from home can be anything at all. Clothing, toothbrush, etc. But you can only pick 3. You can acquire anything else you might want out of your $300 budget on the road.

What else you need to know:

  • You have a camera or a cellphone – but not both.
  • You have a map or gps – but not both.
  • You have rain gear.
  • You happen to have 2 vouchers for overnight stays in motels.
  • You have the toolkit that came with your motorcycle.
  • You have no credit cards.

[edit] The items in the above list don’t count against your 3 items from home.

So, Where To?

From where you live right now – where would you go and what would you bring with you?

  • Would you be able to rely on the help of strangers should you find yourself in need?
  • Do you choose a map or a GPS?
  • Camera or cellphone?
  • Do you have any tips for finding free stuff that you might use along the way?

With gas tank fill-ups ranging around $15 – $20 these days, $100 a day doesn’t go nearly as far as it used to. Looking forward to seeing how you would stretch your dollars!

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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13 Responses

  1. specialsymbol says:

    So, $300 would result in a trip of 1128,18 miles. That is without food and accomodation. In that case I’d go and see the castle Neuschwanstein, that would leave me with roughly $160 for accomodation and food – a perfect trip for two days and one day hiking there, if I can find a cheap B&B.

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      Sebastian-
      Your hotel/lodging is covered in this fantasy. So – you’ve got extra Euros to spend!

      I think you made an excellent choice. The castle looks beautiful. Can I come? 🙂

      • specialsymbol says:

        Of course!

        Then I’d use the extra cash to do another day over the “Col des Mosses”, the most beautiful part (by far, discovered only two years ago) of switzerland.
        Which gives the option to ride back through the black forest rather than the Schwäbische Alb.

        No time for hiking though.. but it sure is the best trip you can have! I only don’t know what I should bring along if no hiking equipment is needed. Bread, cheese and wine for a piquenique maybe.

  2. Liz Petersen says:

    Great challenge, Fuzzy!

    My bf says he and his friends used to pool their money, flip a coin to choose their direction, and take off in his car. When they reached the end of half their money, they turned around and drove home, sometimes a couple days and hundreds of miles later!

    I’m up for this challenge… who else?

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      That sounds like it must’ve been a lot of fun, Liz.

      I’d love to put the 3/3/$300 idea to the test. I’m sitting here thinking about where I would go!

      • Liz Petersen says:

        Okay, so if you do this challenge with someone else, does each person get the 3/3/$300? If so, can they rely on each other if one runs out of money? Or is that cheating, because then one person might bring the cell phone, and the other might bring the camera? See where I’m going with this? 😉

        I like that this is getting people thinking, but I’m more interested in reading someone’s actual experience with this experiment. Who will be the first?

        • Fuzzygalore says:

          I think i’d put using someone else as a resource – as getting help from a “stranger”. What the hell 🙂

          I starting plotting out 2 possible trips. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish them up before the weekend!

  3. Trobairitz says:

    Great idea and post.

    Hmmmm where to go, well I’d have to say from here in Oregon it would have to be along Hwy 101 towards San Francisco or southeast towards Crater Lake. Either way lots to see and do for free along the way. Hiking around Crater Lake or through the redwoods of California. Twisty motorcycle roads along either route. Technically I could make a triangle and hit both if I wanted to do that many miles per day.

    $300 doesn’t go far for gas and food, but as a vegetarian I can eat pretty cheap when I find a grocery store.

    I’d pick a camera over the phone. My cell phone doesn’t take pictures. If I needed a phone I’d rely on the kindness of strangers or, gasp, a pay phone.

    The map vs GPS is the harder question for me. I like paper maps but they might not be up to date. That being said GPS is nice but every time you turn it will just try and route you back to where you were. A GPS can help you find gas stations and accommodations and the like.

    Hmmmm. Do the three things from home include the camera and map? Toothbrush would be a must unless I was allowed to buy one on the road.

    Great challenge fuzzy. Can’t wait to read everyone’s comments

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      Heya Trobairitz!
      Sounds like you’re in a great position to not require a lot of gasoline to get to “someplace good.” I’m envious. Like you said – lots to see for free and a great ride to get there.

      You get the camera/phone or map/gps as a “freebie” items to bring along. 🙂 The 3 from home items are anything at all – toiletries, toothbrush, wool sweater – anything. Everything else comes out of the budget.

      I’m looking forward to reading more replies, too!

  4. Anthony says:

    Hi Fuzzy, this is a great idea….

    firstly I’d take Cellphone (iPhone of course – so you get more than just a phone!) and GPS.

    Three things from home would be toothbrush, and a pencil & some paper (I have recently revived my love of drawing!)

    so for the trip……

    Technically the V-Strom can go 440km on a tank (only tested that once and I think I ran dry at 430-something…), and so at $28 per tank (at current prices) I can theoritically get just over 10 tanks of fuel for $300…..but I’ve decided to do a 1081km trip that covers highways, mountains, coastal roads….its all there – http://tinyurl.com/3q8frj8 – It would be approximately 360km per day – so it’s not a leasurely trip, but it covers a big area that has so much to offer with beautiful scenery and some great twisty roads!

    I think this is a trip that I’d seriously plan on doing at some point in the future….thanks for the awesome idea!!

  5. Hill Country and stay in Bandera, Texas
    $35.00 a night cabin next to the Medina river Total $70.00

    I will have to fill up with gas five time, Total $100

    the rest of the money for food and a bottle of wine from one of the winery near by.

    Cellphone, it has a camera, even though I love my Canon 5D Mark II.

    GPS, I can find most any place with it.

    I think I’ll go this weekend. 🙂

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      Awesome, Rex!
      Can’t wait to read all about it. Make sure you keep a tab and let us know if you were able to keep the money down. Wine can get expensive – or so i’ve heard 😉

      • Fuzzygalore says:

        Thinking about the “fantasy challenge” of planning a trip that will last no more than 3 days, leaving the house with no more than 3 items in my tankbag and having no more than $300 in my pocket (no credit cards) – This is a potential plan I came up with:

        Visit Block Island for a Relaxing 3 day getaway

        My Bike

        For the sake of argument I will be using estimates for my gas mileage and the price of gas. I’d rather estimate too high and have money left over than not have enough gas or money.

        • $4.00/gallon
        • 32 mpg (low estimate)
        • 4 Gallons per fill (high estimate)
        • I will be assuming $16.00 per tank.

        My 3 Items

        • Swimsuit
        • Travel dress
        • My trusty Chuck Taylors

        Costs – Getting to Block Island:

        • $50 Round Trip Travel 400 miles to & from Port Judith, Rhode Island ((200 miles: 6.25 gallons of gas * $4/gal = $25) * 2)
        • Throgs Neck Toll Bridge: $5.50 Round Trip
        • Ferry: $43 round trip from Point Judith, Rhode Island to Block Island
        • Total: $73.50
        • Left: $226.50

        While on Block Island, I can pretty much park my bike, walk or rent a bicycle to get around. That’s fun and saves money! Beaches are free.

        Change in to swim suit, wash undergarments & T-shirt and hang to dry while at the beach.

        Since I don’t have anything other than my swimsuit, I will have to buy all of my other items. Stopping at a CVS or a Walmart before getting on the ferry would do the trick!

        • Bicycle Rental $20/day
        • Flip flops: $5
        • Towel: $10
        • $10 sunglasses
        • $20 beach cover-up/dress
        • $65 for beach supplies
        • $161.50 left

        Save the bag your purchased items came in, to have something to carry your stuff around in.

        Buy bottled water, trail mix, fruit like apples or bananas. Buy toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, comb, razor, book or magazine. $30

        * $131.50 Left for 2 1/2 days to dine & entertain myself!

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