Yes, road trips were common for them, insofar as they took a cross-country one in 2020 as well as 2021.
She worked for his parents' business, and they lived in his parents' house, so--presumably they weren't paying rent. This allowed Gabby to save for the trip. I don't know what his employment was, if any, and if he contributed anything toward travel expenses. It's a question that's been hanging in the air this whole time, in my mind. Maybe someone else has answers.
The assumption is, that she traded in her prior vehicle (in which they'd made their 2020 road trip) for the van, then somehow made up the difference between the trade-in value and the newer vehicle's value. We don't know if she did this with savings, or if a parent helped her. It does appear that they were low on money (BL stated this to police), but there was also some info floating around about them staying in an expensive hotel, or her staying in one, for part of the time she was in Moab. We can only guess, that parents were helping them out along the way. The financing quesiton is another one that's been a mystery throughout this story.
We can only guess, that Gabby hid the conflictive side of their relationship from her parents. We don't know. There's a lot we still don't know about these two. Yes, you'd think she'd have told her mom about any problems that arose throughout the relationship, but OTOH, she could have hidden that, so as not to worry her parents.
There have been conflicting reports as to how long they've lived with his parents; a few threads ago (lol) it was said they'd moved in with them 8 months ago, but earlier statements said, they've lived together in FL for 2-1/2 years or 2 years. So they may have had their own place there for awhile (?), then moved in with his parents.
I'm still wondering about this claim that both of them were bipolar, and that she supposedly was genuinely, clinically, OCD. I don't think the statements they made to police were credible, necessarily.