One mind is good, two minds is better.
Got together with Mike Harger tonight. Mike is an assistant professional at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ. Mike is my partner in crime on the trip of a lifetime.
We decided to have a planning session. Naturally, it started with a few beers at Hooters. Then we got serious...time to plan.
Couple things came out of the brainstorming session.
First, we need a pretty decent trip outline in order to at least attempt to follow a schedule. We are more interested in visiting friends, seeing certain places and going on adventures. If plan A doesn't work, we need plan B. If plan B doesn't work, time for plan C.
The sponsorships are important to go get. Peter Millar and BMW are the most important two to go after. We need a car and we need clothes. OUR contacts are excellent with those two companies.
I want to continue to publicize the trip. Golf Week and Golf Digest need to get on board. Promoting this trip will help us get sponsors on board.
The last thing that came out of the planning session is that we have a lot more work to do. All of this takes follow up and all of this takes time. Maybe in a few weeks, once the golf season calms down, we can actually get to work on the details, the sponsors, the promotion and the route!
Can't wait to get started. Stay tuned.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
The sporting event aspect...
Check it out. Remember that dunk? Ridiculous. Tiger at Torrey. Unreal.
I have pinpointed 5 or 6 sporting events that I really want to go to on my trip. This really helps me plan the actual day to day itinerary of the trip too. Gotta be in a certain place at a certain time in order to get to the game!
So here are the games and events I am thinking about.
Leave Jan 12th/13th?
Saturday, Jan. 14th - South Carolina vs. Florida (bball - Columbia, SC - 7:00pm)
Sunday, Jan. 15th - Clemson vs Duke (bball - Clemson, SC - 6:00pm)
Saturday, Jan. 21st - Texas vs Kansas (bball - Austin, TX - 3:00pm)
Wednesday and Thursday Jan. 25 and 26 - Farmers Insurance Open (PGA Golf - Torrey Pines Golf Course - La Jolla, CA)
Sunday, Jan. 29th - Cal/Stanford (bball - Berkeley, CA - 5:30 PT)
Thursday, Feb. 16th - Pitt/West Virginia (bball - Pitt, PA)
Home the 17th?
I have also looked into a Lakers game (against the Clippers) on Jan 26th, a Denver Nuggets game on Feb 6th or 8th, a Chicago Bulls game on Feb 14th and a Notre Dame game on Feb. 15th. Might seem as if I am a huge basketball fan...that isn't necessarily the case. I do love college basketball but not so much the NBA. IF the NBA has a season, its more about the experience of attending a game at those places than the actual game itself. Then we get to hockey. I love the NHL and would really love to go to a Blackhawks game, Avalanche game, even an LA Kings game. So, I have to look at the NHL schedules too at some point.
I am excited just thinking about all this. Clemson vs Duke! Cal/Stanford! Pitt/West (by god) Virginia, backyard brawl! Are you kidding me baby! (in honor of Dick Vitale...who should be jealous of this schedule by the way).
Switching gears...
I am still trying to think of ways to publicize and market this trip. I know have a twitter account (haha I know), but in all seriousness, it might be pretty useful. User name is @ReedClemson07.
I am also spending some time finding contact information for people at Golf Digest. Might try to generate some press through that magazine. Sports Illustrated might not be a bad one to go after too.
I don't really need publicity. In fact, I might not want it. I do, however, think people will be interested in reading about this trip, seeing or hearing about the places I go and maybe, just maybe, some form of media will decide that's worthwhile.
Goodnight,
Reed
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
An interesting development...
I mentioned this once before...
As I write more updates on the trip, more and more people ask me about the trip or tell me how cool it sounds.
My immediate reaction is thanks but my secondary reaction is, oh good! People are actually reading. So, thanks!!!
The development happened this past week when a friend of mine from Clemson read my most recent post that had to do with taking a fall trip down to school for a football game. He loved that idea but mentioned how he wanted to take a big road trip this winter. I said, dude, read the other posts of the blog! That is the idea!!!
After reading the initial posts, he was on board no questions asked. My friend mike just so happens to be a golf professional as well. He also has those winter months off. He snowboards and is excited about that part of the trip as well.
One point he made...my connections are good, but add in his connections and this trip gets better and better.
We chatted about the trip over a few beers the other night and we both realized how much work needs to be done to plan the trip.
At some point, I will write a new post that will attempt to organize the planning process. That will provide me with an outline to move forward with the planning. It's with one thing to talk about it, it's another thing to actually make phone calls, get sponsors, tee times, bball tickets, ski equipment and the car!
As always, if you have any ideas or comments, let me know. I'm open to suggestions for this trip!
Reed
As I write more updates on the trip, more and more people ask me about the trip or tell me how cool it sounds.
My immediate reaction is thanks but my secondary reaction is, oh good! People are actually reading. So, thanks!!!
The development happened this past week when a friend of mine from Clemson read my most recent post that had to do with taking a fall trip down to school for a football game. He loved that idea but mentioned how he wanted to take a big road trip this winter. I said, dude, read the other posts of the blog! That is the idea!!!
After reading the initial posts, he was on board no questions asked. My friend mike just so happens to be a golf professional as well. He also has those winter months off. He snowboards and is excited about that part of the trip as well.
One point he made...my connections are good, but add in his connections and this trip gets better and better.
We chatted about the trip over a few beers the other night and we both realized how much work needs to be done to plan the trip.
At some point, I will write a new post that will attempt to organize the planning process. That will provide me with an outline to move forward with the planning. It's with one thing to talk about it, it's another thing to actually make phone calls, get sponsors, tee times, bball tickets, ski equipment and the car!
As always, if you have any ideas or comments, let me know. I'm open to suggestions for this trip!
Reed
Friday, September 16, 2011
Why go?
It's about freedom. Work feels like jail sometimes. I live here, work here, and play here. Hitting the road this winter is about being free. Going where I want to go, doing what I want to do and playing wherever the heck I feel like it.
Being a golf professional certainly has its perks but a flexible schedule is not one of them. Now that the first hint of cold weather is here, its planning time for my two precious fall excursions.
The first is a trip to Clemson. This has to happen sooner rather than later. The plan is to fly to Charlotte on Friday, November 11th. Drive to Clemson, hit up Tiger Town Tavern as soon as I roll into town (right after I see my little sis of course). Go to the Clemson/Wake Forest game the next day. AND if the scheduling works, Auburn plays Georgia in Athens the same afternoon. If I can make it out of bed the next morning, I will play golf with the boys either at the Cliffs or the Walker Course. Sometime that night, I will drive back to Charlotte and fly home. GOD'S COUNTRY.
The second trip is to Bermuda. I play in the Bermuda Goodwill Golf Tournament every year. The second week of December is a great time to play golf in Bermuda because the weather is still good, the golf courses are in great condition and the tournament field is really good. Mid Ocean might be one of the best golf courses on this planet. Port Royal isn't bad either. My team stays at the Coral Beach Golf and Tennis Club. We stay in a cottage about 50 yards from the beach. You haven't lived until you try kite surfing on Elbow Beach or tried to drive a scooter on the wrong side of the road in Bermuda.
If there is a third trip before the new year, I hope its as good as the other two.
I don't ask or get too much time off but when I do, I make the most of it. That is why in January and February, "this trip" will be the trip of a lifetime.
Being a golf professional certainly has its perks but a flexible schedule is not one of them. Now that the first hint of cold weather is here, its planning time for my two precious fall excursions.
The first is a trip to Clemson. This has to happen sooner rather than later. The plan is to fly to Charlotte on Friday, November 11th. Drive to Clemson, hit up Tiger Town Tavern as soon as I roll into town (right after I see my little sis of course). Go to the Clemson/Wake Forest game the next day. AND if the scheduling works, Auburn plays Georgia in Athens the same afternoon. If I can make it out of bed the next morning, I will play golf with the boys either at the Cliffs or the Walker Course. Sometime that night, I will drive back to Charlotte and fly home. GOD'S COUNTRY.
The second trip is to Bermuda. I play in the Bermuda Goodwill Golf Tournament every year. The second week of December is a great time to play golf in Bermuda because the weather is still good, the golf courses are in great condition and the tournament field is really good. Mid Ocean might be one of the best golf courses on this planet. Port Royal isn't bad either. My team stays at the Coral Beach Golf and Tennis Club. We stay in a cottage about 50 yards from the beach. You haven't lived until you try kite surfing on Elbow Beach or tried to drive a scooter on the wrong side of the road in Bermuda.
If there is a third trip before the new year, I hope its as good as the other two.
I don't ask or get too much time off but when I do, I make the most of it. That is why in January and February, "this trip" will be the trip of a lifetime.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
What do I need to bring?
How do you pack for a 35 day road trip? What do you bring? What don't you bring? What if I get somebody to come with me? That's twice the amount of stuff. Jeez!
First off, I definitely need an SUV. That much is apparent. If as much gear is needed as I think, no way it fits in a sedan or my sports car. Come on BMW gods! I guess that is the first of many serious phone calls I will have to make in order to turn this dream trip into reality. "Uh yes sir, that's what I said. I need to borrow your car for a month and put 10,000 miles on it." Maybe its time I explain the BMW connection. My friend, Matt, is a PGA Tour player. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina, which just so happens to be near one of the largest BMW plants in the U.S. Well, Matt has a sweet sponsorship with BMW. They basically give him whatever new model he wants like every six months. Now, I don't know the details of the arrangement. All I know is...its awesome. In any case, Matt currently has an X5 that is just sitting in his garage. I happen to know that his wife Kelly drives a Range Rover and Matt drives a blacked out BMW 5 series with an M3 engine. Point being, the X5 just sits there. Matt and Kelly are on the road 75% of the year anyway. I asked Kelly if I could use it and she said yes. I am thinking I should officially ask Matt at some point too.
Anyways, let's assume I have this X5 for the trip to start planning the packing.
Breaking it down into categories here:
Provisions
Clothing
Equipment
Emergency Equipment
(Non-Essential) Essentials (ha!)
Misc.
Lists may be helpful later on. Here it goes.
Provisions:
- A case of water
- A case of Diet Coke
- Natural Valley granola bars
- Largest box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch I can find
- Gum
- Cool Ranch Doritos
- Cooler for all of the above.
Clothing:
- Golf Polos
- Regular polos
- Button downs
- Jeans
- Golf slacks
- gym shorts
- khaki shorts
- t-shirts
- boxers
- socks
- running shoes
- boat shoes
- sandals
- boots
- golf shoes
- skiing gear - gloves, hats, goggles, ski jacket and pants, neck warmer, etc
- long underwear
- under armour cold gear
- warm socks
I am gonna need more than one suitcase. Hmm.
Equipment:
- Golf clubs
- extra golf balls
- football and a basketball (just to have, who knows)
- Skis, poles, boots, helmet (might need to invest in a ski rack for the top of the X5)
Emergency Equipment:
- Full size spare tire
- Jumper cables and car emergency kit (wrench, jack, flashlight, flare, etc)
- A shovel (never know when you might need to dig yourself out of 15" of snow).
- An extra 3 iron...just in case somebody attacks you???
(Non essential) Essentials:
- Emergency case of Bud Light
- Emergency bottle of Jameson
- Emergency bottle of Grey Goose
- Flask. Koozie X 4.
- Towels, shaving kit, toothbrush, deodorant, etc.
- At least 12 of my favorite hats.
- Ipod with "The ultimate road trip playlist."
- My Ipad, which has a GPS app. (I will and am planning on getting lost at some point)
- A road atlas.
- My cell phone
- Cash, checks (just in case)
- Visa card
I can't believe what a great commercial all this would make for multiple different companies. Give a PGA Professional a BMW X5, let him travel all around the country and let VISA finance the whole thing while he visits places Bourbon Street, the Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, the Staples Center, Vail and Aspen. Come on, home run! Right?! I wouldn't even care if I got paid to do the commercial...I am only in it for the experience of the trip. (let me be clear on something...if offered money, I wouldn't decline. haha.)
I hope I can get through the next few months. I am so excited for this trip already. Problem is I have a massive amount of work to do in order to pull it off. And a few very busy months of the Baltusrol golf season still to go.
One other thought for the night;
My fantasy team TE, Jermichael Finley, is a boss.
Later,
Reed
First off, I definitely need an SUV. That much is apparent. If as much gear is needed as I think, no way it fits in a sedan or my sports car. Come on BMW gods! I guess that is the first of many serious phone calls I will have to make in order to turn this dream trip into reality. "Uh yes sir, that's what I said. I need to borrow your car for a month and put 10,000 miles on it." Maybe its time I explain the BMW connection. My friend, Matt, is a PGA Tour player. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina, which just so happens to be near one of the largest BMW plants in the U.S. Well, Matt has a sweet sponsorship with BMW. They basically give him whatever new model he wants like every six months. Now, I don't know the details of the arrangement. All I know is...its awesome. In any case, Matt currently has an X5 that is just sitting in his garage. I happen to know that his wife Kelly drives a Range Rover and Matt drives a blacked out BMW 5 series with an M3 engine. Point being, the X5 just sits there. Matt and Kelly are on the road 75% of the year anyway. I asked Kelly if I could use it and she said yes. I am thinking I should officially ask Matt at some point too.
Anyways, let's assume I have this X5 for the trip to start planning the packing.
Breaking it down into categories here:
Provisions
Clothing
Equipment
Emergency Equipment
(Non-Essential) Essentials (ha!)
Misc.
Lists may be helpful later on. Here it goes.
Provisions:
- A case of water
- A case of Diet Coke
- Natural Valley granola bars
- Largest box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch I can find
- Gum
- Cool Ranch Doritos
- Cooler for all of the above.
Clothing:
- Golf Polos
- Regular polos
- Button downs
- Jeans
- Golf slacks
- gym shorts
- khaki shorts
- t-shirts
- boxers
- socks
- running shoes
- boat shoes
- sandals
- boots
- golf shoes
- skiing gear - gloves, hats, goggles, ski jacket and pants, neck warmer, etc
- long underwear
- under armour cold gear
- warm socks
I am gonna need more than one suitcase. Hmm.
Equipment:
- Golf clubs
- extra golf balls
- football and a basketball (just to have, who knows)
- Skis, poles, boots, helmet (might need to invest in a ski rack for the top of the X5)
Emergency Equipment:
- Full size spare tire
- Jumper cables and car emergency kit (wrench, jack, flashlight, flare, etc)
- A shovel (never know when you might need to dig yourself out of 15" of snow).
- An extra 3 iron...just in case somebody attacks you???
(Non essential) Essentials:
- Emergency case of Bud Light
- Emergency bottle of Jameson
- Emergency bottle of Grey Goose
- Flask. Koozie X 4.
- Towels, shaving kit, toothbrush, deodorant, etc.
- At least 12 of my favorite hats.
- Ipod with "The ultimate road trip playlist."
- My Ipad, which has a GPS app. (I will and am planning on getting lost at some point)
- A road atlas.
- My cell phone
- Cash, checks (just in case)
- Visa card
I can't believe what a great commercial all this would make for multiple different companies. Give a PGA Professional a BMW X5, let him travel all around the country and let VISA finance the whole thing while he visits places Bourbon Street, the Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, the Staples Center, Vail and Aspen. Come on, home run! Right?! I wouldn't even care if I got paid to do the commercial...I am only in it for the experience of the trip. (let me be clear on something...if offered money, I wouldn't decline. haha.)
I hope I can get through the next few months. I am so excited for this trip already. Problem is I have a massive amount of work to do in order to pull it off. And a few very busy months of the Baltusrol golf season still to go.
One other thought for the night;
My fantasy team TE, Jermichael Finley, is a boss.
Later,
Reed
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Random thoughts...And a preview of Austin, Texas.
Couple of random things tonight.
First, a different way to calculate the cost of gas...courtesy of my father.
"I checked the miles per gallon (mpg) for an X5 and learned it's 16 city and 23 highway. So, using the 23 divided by 10,000 miles means 435 gallons. At $3.50 per gallon, that's $1,522, so add an oil change and let's call it $1,600.
I looked at standard SUV rentals, too: Enterprise is $1,270 and Avis is $933. One trick is to pick a non-airport location, to save the concession fee. National is a PGA Tour sponsor, but all I could find was a terrible quote of $4,300. Maybe your Enterprise connection would match or beat the Avis quote. Enterprise was unlimited miles, but I couldn't find whether the Avis quote was for unlimited miles."
Second, I was given a great recommendation by one of the members at Baltusrol. He said, use the Rand McNally website to plan my trip. After a brief look this afternoon, the website is full of great stuff.
www.randmcnally.com
A different Baltusrol member offered me this use of his son's Ritz Carlton condo in Aspen. A third Baltusrol member told me that I must ski Alta. Forget Park City. Fine by me.
And now an idea...
I wonder if anybody would be interested in meeting me at certain points along my trip? Say for instance, you wanted to go skiing out west for a few days this winter. Well, why not coordinate with me and plan your trip for when I am going to hit that same stop along my route. Meet you in Jackson Hole, 2nd weekend in February?! I'll pick you up at the airport, I already have a place to stay. Done. Just a thought.
Another thought...The Phoenix Open is scheduled for January 30-February 5th. That is the best spectating experience for a golf tournament. Might have to make that a stop. Could be tough scheduling. This trip gets more and more complicated.
Also tonight...my second preview.
Day # 8: University of Texas (Austin, TX)
Estimated mileage to this point: 1800 miles. Number of Oil Changes so far: None. Funds left: Not worried yet. Overall Health: Just fine. Morale: Excellent.
The home of the Longhorns. I would have really loved to go to a football game at UT but I will settle for Texas hosting Kansas in basketball. This should be a big time game. Both teams are annually ranked in the top 10. It's a Saturday so I am hoping for college Gameday to be there. I will need tickets but Stub Hub and/or scalping should do the trick.
After the game, sounds like the place to go in Austin is 6th Street. Austin is well known for its art and music. Sounds good to me, anywhere I can sit on the back patio of a bar, listen to live country music and drink a good Budweiser, that's the place for me.
Check out what 6th Street has to offer:
www.6street.com
Austin is also home to the Barton Creek Golf Resort. This could be a great place to play, with 4 courses and a hotel on property, I might have found the place to stay while I am there. Check it out.
www.bartoncreek.com
Next Stop: The BIG D - Dallas, TX.
First, a different way to calculate the cost of gas...courtesy of my father.
"I checked the miles per gallon (mpg) for an X5 and learned it's 16 city and 23 highway. So, using the 23 divided by 10,000 miles means 435 gallons. At $3.50 per gallon, that's $1,522, so add an oil change and let's call it $1,600.
I looked at standard SUV rentals, too: Enterprise is $1,270 and Avis is $933. One trick is to pick a non-airport location, to save the concession fee. National is a PGA Tour sponsor, but all I could find was a terrible quote of $4,300. Maybe your Enterprise connection would match or beat the Avis quote. Enterprise was unlimited miles, but I couldn't find whether the Avis quote was for unlimited miles."
Second, I was given a great recommendation by one of the members at Baltusrol. He said, use the Rand McNally website to plan my trip. After a brief look this afternoon, the website is full of great stuff.
www.randmcnally.com
A different Baltusrol member offered me this use of his son's Ritz Carlton condo in Aspen. A third Baltusrol member told me that I must ski Alta. Forget Park City. Fine by me.
And now an idea...
I wonder if anybody would be interested in meeting me at certain points along my trip? Say for instance, you wanted to go skiing out west for a few days this winter. Well, why not coordinate with me and plan your trip for when I am going to hit that same stop along my route. Meet you in Jackson Hole, 2nd weekend in February?! I'll pick you up at the airport, I already have a place to stay. Done. Just a thought.
Another thought...The Phoenix Open is scheduled for January 30-February 5th. That is the best spectating experience for a golf tournament. Might have to make that a stop. Could be tough scheduling. This trip gets more and more complicated.
Also tonight...my second preview.
Day # 8: University of Texas (Austin, TX)
Estimated mileage to this point: 1800 miles. Number of Oil Changes so far: None. Funds left: Not worried yet. Overall Health: Just fine. Morale: Excellent.
The home of the Longhorns. I would have really loved to go to a football game at UT but I will settle for Texas hosting Kansas in basketball. This should be a big time game. Both teams are annually ranked in the top 10. It's a Saturday so I am hoping for college Gameday to be there. I will need tickets but Stub Hub and/or scalping should do the trick.
After the game, sounds like the place to go in Austin is 6th Street. Austin is well known for its art and music. Sounds good to me, anywhere I can sit on the back patio of a bar, listen to live country music and drink a good Budweiser, that's the place for me.
Check out what 6th Street has to offer:
www.6street.com
Austin is also home to the Barton Creek Golf Resort. This could be a great place to play, with 4 courses and a hotel on property, I might have found the place to stay while I am there. Check it out.
www.bartoncreek.com
Next Stop: The BIG D - Dallas, TX.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
This could get expensive...
Everything is expensive these days and this trip will be no exception. Tonight, I thought we could take a quick look at the finances of this trip. If nothing else, I can get a ballpark estimate of how much this trip wil cost.
Let's break it down first in to the following categories.
Gas
Food
Lodging
Golf costs
Skiing costs
Event tickets
Misc.
Ok, so in effort to over estimate everything...
Let's assume the trip is approximately 10,000 miles roundtrip. If the BMW x5 averages 350 miles to a full tank of gas, I would have to fill up approximately 28.5 times. Let's say a full tank of gas costs about $65. That means my total expenditure on gas for the trip is approximately $1900. Yikes!
Hopefully lodging includes some type of continental breakfast so to determine food costs, I will estimate paying for two meals a day. If I am gone for 30 days, that means paying for 70 meals. If one is some sort of fast food and one is a more expensive meal that most likely include a few (or 12) adult beverages, I would say anywhere from $20 a day on food to $50. If I average those two costs out to $37.50 per day on food times 30 days, that means total food costs will be approximately $1200 for the trip. After looking at this number, I'm thinking it might be sort of low, anyways, moving on.
Lodging could be tough to calculate. My goal is to stay with as many familiar faces as I can on this trip. However, I don't know anybody on some of these stops. For instance, I don't know a soul in the entire state of oklahoma, new Mexico, Utah, and Nebraska. Once again, if I estimate being gone 30 days and I stay in a hotel for 20 of those nights. Some nice and some cheap, averaged at a $100 bucks a night, that is $2000. Now, that's definitely a lot. Yikes!
Golf costs are easier. I am a PGA professional so I shouldn't have to pay for greens fees anywhere. I already have equipment and clothes. The only expense I may encounter is caddie fees or cart fees. I am going to estimate $500 just for the heck of it.
Skiing costs are harder to figure and more expensive. Season ski rentals (skis, boots, poles and a helmet) cost $230 from buckmans ski shop. That's a good price. I would definitely spend more than that on daily rentals from the resorts. Tickets can be expensive though. If I ski 8 days and tickets average $100' that is $800. I really only anticipate spending about $600 due to a pretty excellent connection at Jackson hole. I know the owners and I am very much hoping that they can help me out with tickets and lodging. Add in a miscellaneous $170 and skiing costs total an even $1000 for the trip.
I am also hoping to go to half a dozen college basketball games. If i spend $30 a ticket and go to 6 games, that is $180. Throw in another $100 for other possible event stops. Lakers, mavs, avs, who knows?
And now for the miscellaneous expenditures. Visa should sponsor my trip...it's everywhere you want to be!!!!! This is tough, in effort to simplify this category, I am going to allocate another $1000. This should cover errors in the other calculations. It should also cover my impulse t-shirt and hat buying problem that i tend to have.
Ok, let's add it up.
Gas = $1900
Food = $1200
Lodging = $2000
Golf = $500
Skiing = $1000
Events = $280
Misc. = $1000
A grand total of $7880. Honestly, not as bad as I thought. I have been referring to this as a 10,000 mile and $10,000 trip. I am not sure I will hit either one of those numbers. In any case, I think I need to be prepared to spend at least 8 grand.
Happy labor day! I can't believe summer is over....
Let's break it down first in to the following categories.
Gas
Food
Lodging
Golf costs
Skiing costs
Event tickets
Misc.
Ok, so in effort to over estimate everything...
Let's assume the trip is approximately 10,000 miles roundtrip. If the BMW x5 averages 350 miles to a full tank of gas, I would have to fill up approximately 28.5 times. Let's say a full tank of gas costs about $65. That means my total expenditure on gas for the trip is approximately $1900. Yikes!
Hopefully lodging includes some type of continental breakfast so to determine food costs, I will estimate paying for two meals a day. If I am gone for 30 days, that means paying for 70 meals. If one is some sort of fast food and one is a more expensive meal that most likely include a few (or 12) adult beverages, I would say anywhere from $20 a day on food to $50. If I average those two costs out to $37.50 per day on food times 30 days, that means total food costs will be approximately $1200 for the trip. After looking at this number, I'm thinking it might be sort of low, anyways, moving on.
Lodging could be tough to calculate. My goal is to stay with as many familiar faces as I can on this trip. However, I don't know anybody on some of these stops. For instance, I don't know a soul in the entire state of oklahoma, new Mexico, Utah, and Nebraska. Once again, if I estimate being gone 30 days and I stay in a hotel for 20 of those nights. Some nice and some cheap, averaged at a $100 bucks a night, that is $2000. Now, that's definitely a lot. Yikes!
Golf costs are easier. I am a PGA professional so I shouldn't have to pay for greens fees anywhere. I already have equipment and clothes. The only expense I may encounter is caddie fees or cart fees. I am going to estimate $500 just for the heck of it.
Skiing costs are harder to figure and more expensive. Season ski rentals (skis, boots, poles and a helmet) cost $230 from buckmans ski shop. That's a good price. I would definitely spend more than that on daily rentals from the resorts. Tickets can be expensive though. If I ski 8 days and tickets average $100' that is $800. I really only anticipate spending about $600 due to a pretty excellent connection at Jackson hole. I know the owners and I am very much hoping that they can help me out with tickets and lodging. Add in a miscellaneous $170 and skiing costs total an even $1000 for the trip.
I am also hoping to go to half a dozen college basketball games. If i spend $30 a ticket and go to 6 games, that is $180. Throw in another $100 for other possible event stops. Lakers, mavs, avs, who knows?
And now for the miscellaneous expenditures. Visa should sponsor my trip...it's everywhere you want to be!!!!! This is tough, in effort to simplify this category, I am going to allocate another $1000. This should cover errors in the other calculations. It should also cover my impulse t-shirt and hat buying problem that i tend to have.
Ok, let's add it up.
Gas = $1900
Food = $1200
Lodging = $2000
Golf = $500
Skiing = $1000
Events = $280
Misc. = $1000
A grand total of $7880. Honestly, not as bad as I thought. I have been referring to this as a 10,000 mile and $10,000 trip. I am not sure I will hit either one of those numbers. In any case, I think I need to be prepared to spend at least 8 grand.
Happy labor day! I can't believe summer is over....
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