Last summer we went on a 3-week road trip from Rochester NY, to the Grand Canyon, and back. We converted my 2014 Ford Escape into our humble abode for those three weeks and ended up spending a total of 15/20 nights in the car for only $1000 each. The experience was unforgettable and frankly life-changing.

But, why did we decide to sleep in the car? It doesn’t sound like the most enticing or luxurious way to travel, and trust me it’s not! Our 2 biggest factors were flexibility and budget. We wanted to hit everything on our list along the route we mapped out, but we also wanted to be able to add things in or take things off. Sleeping in the car gave us this flexibility because we didn’t have to book Airbnbs or hotels in advance. And as for budget, we probably saved close to $1000 in lodging by staying in the car.

I have two blogs related to this trip that you can check out

Here’s how much we ended up spending:

: Western America 20 Day Road Trip for $1000

Here’s where we parked for free to save lots of money!

: Best Places to Park Overnight for Free.

Process

After deciding to make my small SUV into our sleeping quarters, we did a lot of research into what other people have done to convert their cars. We knew that we wanted the conversion to be temporary since I needed my car to go back to normal when we returned home, so our options were a bit limited.

We would have loved to go full out, but also wanted to be budget-friendly so we decided on creating a simple wooden platform that could slide in and out of my car giving us the perfect amount of space to sleep on top of as well as store things underneath.

Then we measured my car, got the wood, and with the help of Adam’s dad and grandfather we built our platform!

It’s a simple design, but it worked perfectly for us! All we did was get mattress foam toppers for the top, and it was pretty comfy! We had way more room underneath for storage than we ended up using, and slept comfortably on top though we didn’t have room to sit up all the way.

Included in our platform was fold out “headboards”. We split them in the middle so that if one person was driving the other could be sleeping. And they gave us about an extra foot of length to sleep at night.

We debated on cutting the foam toppers to fit the platform to size, but decided against it so that we could use them at home when we returned. We knew we wouldn’t have the time to do another long car camping trip for awhile, but if we had the chance to do it more often then we would have probably cut them to size. We bought 2 1.5 inch foam toppers from Walmart for $15 each that were Full Size, and then we already had a 2 inch topper at home. One thing I thought of later was that we should have put yoga mats down under the toppers to give a bit of extra firm cushion, but it was comfortable enough for the 15 nights we slept in the car.

Price

Our total for making the platform and buying the foam toppers was only about $85!

For the screws, wood, sandpaper, and hinges from Home Depot, we spent $54 and we found the foam toppers at Walmart for $15 each. We just used our sheets, blankets, pillows, and comforter from home and I already owned the curtain for privacy and the fairy lights for fun!

We also bought some small things from Walmart as well like mesh fabric for netting the windows and USB chargeable fans to keep cool at night. Our total with those small items was about $100.

So for $100 we were able to save potentially $1000+ on lodging! Totally worth the small investment to save the money on lodging.

Pros and Cons

If you have ever dreamed of car camping, do it. It’s such a great experience. We’ve done it twice, the first time was a 10 day road trip where we slept in the car about 5 times, and the second was the 20 day road trip where we slept in the car 15 times.

It is such a freeing experience being able to explore at your own pace and see so much that you might not be able to see if you’re on a more strict schedule. We pushed ourselves to hike almost every day (sometimes multiple times a day), check off some of our bucket list destinations, and spend lots of time enjoying each other’s company.

We were able to see some breathtakingly beautiful places in our country and spend lots of time in nature away from the internet.

But I will say that car camping is not for everyone. It can be exhausting and dirty at times. We were only able to shower about every 2-3 days at campgrounds, rest stops, or when we stayed in an Airbnb or with friends. The short night's sleep we would get would vary in quality depending on if where we were parked was too cold, too hot, or too sunny. And hiking all day in the sun and having to crawl into the car isn’t as satisfying as falling back into your comfy bed at home.

We were lucky not to have any car problems, but be prepared because they do happen. We had AAA which gave us some peace of mind in case something did happen.

You’re not always able to eat the best food or have access to clean bathrooms, but there are ways to work around that.

To me, the small gritty details of car camping were nothing compared to the overall experience. It’s not glamorous by any means. But finishing your day by watching the sunset at the grand canyon and the anticipation of what exciting adventure the next day will bring was worth every second. I would do it again in a heartbeat.