RE: Gas Prices and Camping

[bearbait]

 chasd60
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[jaycocamprs]

 bearbait

ORIGINAL:  bearbait
 How many people are getting an immediate cost of living raise of 200 bucks a month to offset this? Not many I m sure, so now how would you answer that question?
 

 And if we were, that too would raise the price of the goods even more. The increase in gas prices won t stop us from going camping. But it may well keep us closer to home.

[bikolee]

 chasd60
What really chaps my @&& about all these increases is that what they are selling at the higher prices was already in the tanks and paid for at the lower prices. There are no regulations to keep station owners from charging what they want. Joe Texaco could charge 5 bucks a gallon if he wanted. Of course no one would buy from him. At least I hope not........

[wapiti]

 chasd60
I ve talked witht the service station owner that does most of our vehicle maintenance about fuel prices.
 
 The for the average owner it s a little bit like the stock market and commodities trading. There are months he can make a small profit on fuel, others he looses money on fuel. Depending on what the competition is charging down the street. But fuel is a cash flow generator and allows him to rob Peter to pay Paul one month and get back on top in another. In general the lowest price fuel (lowest octane) hardly ever creates a profit for him. And times like these aren t necessarily good for his bottom line. As the upper grade fuels reach a  certain price, that moves people to the lower grades where there isn t the profit margin if there is one at all.
 
 So yes there are probably owners out there gouging what they can, but many are trying make on honest living dealing in a volotile commodity. That s why they want you to buy those fountain drinks at the counter. They can make money on 4 cents of soda that they charge $1.65 for.

[camperkam]

 chasd60
Well. the back yard is starting to look real good to us this year.  we have an acre
 of woods and a swimming pool, all we need is a fire permit and we are there.  We are taking shorter trips this year because of the the economy in general.  Anyone want to join us.  We could probably get a few popups in our yard and we are 25 miles from Atlantic City.  Maybe this is a career move.
 
 Kathy & Don  []

[Watchman]

 bearbait

The F150 gets about 25 mpg highway(I-6 AOD 4X4) and the Caravan gets about 27 mpg(V-6 AT). Both run good on regular unleaded.  

WHAT?  Are you joking![]

[campertime]

 bearbait
check prices....
 
 become a spotter....
 
 http://www.gaspricewatch.com

[whippetwrun]

 chasd60
So far it hasn t dampened any trips.  We only have 3 trips planned but they are 2 hour or more drives away.   Anything else will be closer to home since DH will be out of vacation time and most likely spur of the moment.

[Camper Dan]

 chasd60
Hi everybody[],
 
 When we hit the road with the Kiwi...we get about 7 to 8.5 MPG.  We ve only had the Kiwi about 9 months...so we really haven t developed a camping/traveling pattern, yet.  When we towed a popup we got almost 19 MPG.
 
 We have driven up to 7 hours a day (390 miles) to tent camp in West Virginia, but then we have a SP CG we really like only 37 miles away...in Indiana.   We have one County Park CG about 7 miles from home...that s the closest CG and another about 18 miles away.  There are about a dozen State Park CG s within 75 miles of where we live near Cincinnati.
 
 As long as I can work the overtime to keep the gas " account"  full for trips, it won t make any difference.  The only long trip we ve talked about...is going down to Tennessee to camp at Bandy Creek CG, Scott State Forest, Big South Fork NRRA.  That s about 250 miles...a 4 1/2 hour drive when tent camping...maybe 5 to 6 hours with stops for gas and trying to tow the Kiwi about 55 MPH ( a lot of steep long hills)[].

[Miller Tyme]

 chasd60
Watchman-
 Hit the wrong button. That should be 15 for the F-150 and 17 for the Caravan.[8D]

[Opie431]

 bearbait
We have two major trips planned.  We live in Michigan and will be going to Kentucky with the PU right after Easter and to Utah in the fall.  If the gas gets up over $1.90 we might change our mind.

[camphost]

 Opie431
We are pretty lucky in that we are Camp Hosts and get to leave our PU in place.  So, we drive the 200 mile round trip each weekend but we do not have to tow the PU.  Plus, the town where the CG is has MUCH better gas prices than where we live so the last thing we do before leaving there is fill up the tank.  We LOVE being Hosts and count the days all week to be at the park, it would take a lot to keep us away.

[SactoCampers]

 Opie431
Gas prices here in my Northern California town are at $2.04/gallon. Don t intend to change my camping plans even if they stay there. Not much you can do about the prices and I m not going to just let the camper sit in the garage because of it. Glad I bought a 35 mpg car for commuting, though [].

[g-whiz]

 Opie431
We have a month long Pop-Up vacation planned for September/October.  Maybe if gas goes up to $6.00 a gallon, we might change our minds.  I rather give up one meal a day than give up our trip!

[Bearnkat]

 bearbait
Hi All,
 
 Since our popup is our " escape"  from the high sress of our everyday lives, we re not going to let the gas prices keep us from going camping. We ll just budget the gas prices in as part of the vacation costs.