Costs
Part of Fifteen kinds of historic highway: how to tell the real ones from signage
5 points on historic highway routes cost that matter
Costing a two day historic route weekend: mileage as the anchor figure, site fees, where the money goes, and the padding that keeps the budget honest.
What to take away
- Mileage is the anchor. Everything else on a historic route weekend is small by comparison.
- A published per mile rate is a useful sanity check on your own running costs.
- Site fees are modest and stay local, which is a reason to pay them rather than avoid them.
- Two nights and four hundred miles is a realistic weekend. Six hundred is a drive, not a trip.
A historic route weekend is cheap to do and easy to underestimate. The subject is free, the roads are public, and the costs hide in fuel, wear and the two hundred miles you added because a site looked close on the map.
Start with a defensible per mile figure
Compare your estimate against a published rate. The General Services Administration's page on privately owned vehicle mileage reimbursement lists 76 cents per mile for travel on or after July 1, 2026.
Mileage rate anchor
- 76 centsper mile
- 100 miles76 dollars
- July 1, 2026rate effective
It applies where an automobile was authorized or no government vehicle was available. One hundred miles at that rate comes to 76 dollars.
Use it as a per-mile check on fuel plus wear, not as a pump price, for your own weekend budget. It is useful anyway, because it is built to cover fuel plus wear rather than fuel alone. If your own estimate is far below it, you have probably forgotten tires, servicing and depreciation.
The weekend shape
| Line | Basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | 350 to 450 miles | Two driving days with real stops |
| Fuel | Distance and real consumption | Add margin for gravel and detours |
| Nights | One or two | Campground, motel or a mix |
| Site fees | Day use where charged | Often a few dollars per vehicle |
| Food | Two days | Buy in the last town with a store |
| Contingency | Ten percent | Weather, a tire, an extra night |
For the 350 to 450 mile, two-night weekend, a typical bottom line is $160 to $550 for two people. Campground nights typically run $15 to $35 each. Motel nights typically run $80 to $150 each. Two days of food typically runs $40 to $80 per person. Fuel, vehicle and season drive the range.
Where site fees go
Fees on public land are small and worth understanding. The BLM's explanation of how recreation fees are used says that under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act the agency may collect and retain certain fees. Most revenue stays with the site or field office where it was collected.
The money may only be spent on things such as repair and maintenance tied to visitor enjoyment and safety. Interpretation and signs, visitor services, and law enforcement related to public use are also allowed.
This matters directly for a historic route. Interpretation and signs make an unmarked road readable, funded by envelopes people put in the tube at the trailhead.
Cutting the cost without spoiling the trip
- Shorten the route rather than the stops. Miles cost more than time does.
- Camp one night and take a room the other, so you get both an early start and a shower.
- Buy food before the last fifty miles, where the choice narrows and the price rises.
- Skip the detour that only reaches a viewpoint you can see from the road.
Plan the route before you compare tours
The planning order that keeps a weekend from turning into a marathon is in how to plan these routes without rushing. If you are weighing a guided version against doing it yourself, comparing tours on historic routes sets out what the fee should buy.
