For a Few Dollars Less

Having declard a state of financial crisis, we pulled up to the Oak Tree with a grim determination to enforce budget damage control. We approached the locked reception cabin and as we peered through the grimy windows for any signs of life, a bedraggled old man appeared behind us, clutching a greasy set of keys. We stepped aside as silently he opened the door and shuffled behind a stack of boxes (the reception desk). We attempted to filter enough oxygen from the stale atmosphere to ask if there was a room available, but were too overwhelmed by the cigarette-riden toxic conditions to finish our sentence. We left.

Commemorative Travelodge wine flute

Admitting defeat, we returned to similar conditions we'd been living in since the beginning of the trip, justifying the extravagence on the basis that we'd be spending every second there to devise a recovery plan. We armed ourselves with some cheap wine to numb the pain of what we knew would be an emotional night and began dissecting the financial activities of the trip to date. 

Our advanced budget management technology painted an alarming picture

As the crisis talks intensified, so did the wine drinking, and two broken bottles, a fist fight and a consolation hug later we had a rock solid game plan:

Plan 'A'

We identified the culprit in our financial predicament...accommodation. Hotels were single handedly destroying any hope of staying in the U.S beyond September, and so with a newfound drive we hit the interweb and searched for alternatives.

A revelation: Couchsurfing! A worldwide network of open minded people, offering up their sofas to host travelers for free. Within hours a lovely young lady named Elisa had replied to our email with confirmation that we could stay on her couch for a few days!

This was a great short term plan, but having learned the hard way about long term complacency we set about acquiring a way of combining free accomodation with a mode of transport! We hit craigslist and withing seconds "The Van" was staring back at us.

Plan 'B'

We finalized the bailout plan, took down contact details for the van owner, made the cashbook our new bible and set our fatigued bodies to bed to get some much needed rest!