Question: Will current gas prices curb the distance of your trips?

[Greg H]

$4.16 and $4.22 at the two stations in Study Butte, Tx.

[Larry Tenhage]

No, gas prices will not affect our trip plans. As a matter of fact, we're going to be driving even further than we ever have with our Trillium. About 1000 -1100 km one way. Oh, it'll hurt a bit, and the pontiac firefly might struggle a bit with... KIDDING!

We have Toyota minvan as our tow vehicle

[Rvicsvol]

I'm actually going to be doing a lot more driving this year and once I get my home I'll be in it full time so will be doing quite a bit of traveling. What else have I got to spend my retirement savings on?

[james kent]

$1.39/litre at the Canadian Tire gasbar today. Guess we'll have to head south to take in their cheap gas.

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by nikljones

I'm actually going to be doing a lot more driving this year and once I get my home I'll be in it full time so will be doing quite a bit of traveling. What else have I got to spend my retirement savings on?

That's easy, send me some!

[Alf S.]

Hi: all...People always ask me "Why do you go to the US camping all the time"? Simple!!! Gas is cheaper and so are camp sites. We'll be in the Finger Lakes again this summer. We love N.Y.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Kip in Ga.]

There is a state campground about 40 miles from us. It is clean and well kept. Cost is $22 a night for seniors with a "Friends of Parks" pass. Fuel for the round trip runs us about $20 at $4 per gallon. So we spent about $10 per day for fuel for our last 2 day/night outing.

We fish in the lake, fish in the river, ride our bikes, walk our dogs, meet other campers and their pets. Most of all we relax!

We like to camp near the entrance to enable us to watch all the different rigs arriving late in the day while we are eating supper in front of our camper.

At one time we had considered getting a motorhome and "SEE the USA".
But that thought passed a while back when we realized we haven't seen much of our state of Georgia. We have mountains, plains, swamps, and sea shore that we haven't fully investigated. There are many State and Commercial RV Parks. We will strive to visit a selection of them and see their local attractions, but in reality most of our time there will be spent fishing, riding the bikes, meeting new people and their pets, relaxing and watching other rigs arrive. Hmmm...!

Interesting that last weekend , by a sizable margin, most of the campers were local or at least had Georgia tags. A rig that parked next to us was in the 40' range with 2 AC units, and a diesel pusher engine. It was a beautiful motorhome and likely expensive, but there they were camping locally next to our 17' Casita.

Could it be that fuel prices are keeping folks closer to home? FWIW there were very few sites available, maybe 6-10 by 8PM both nights. That park has 103 campsites. So folks are still camping and enjoying the camping experience, but maybe not traveling so far to do it.

TRUTHFULLY we get 14-17 mpg towing with our Honda Ridgeline. Calculated at the pump, depending on terrain and head winds. Probally the longest distance we will travel will be to an FGRV rally. Not that going farther would break the bank, but we would rather be camping than driving.

Other folks want to travel longer distances for their own personal reasons. Maybe to visit friends or relatives or see something special. That is a good thing too! And it is a lot less expensive in a FGRV!
Kip

[Rvicsvol]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

That's easy, send me some!

Hehe. I really do wish there was some to spread around but what I have will suffice to allow me to travel a bit, camp a lot, and then travel a bit more.

[Carol H]

A great little app that works on an iphone, windows or android phone is Gasbuddy:

GasBuddy Mobile Applications

Its really worth checking before filling.

[honda03842]

To top it off 'O' is suggesting an addition to the gas tax, the installation of electronics in your car to 'track and tax' each mile driven.

Norm

[Carol H]

Here we have had gas taxes for a long time. We also have a regional transit tax which is to encourage us to use public transit which is added to the cost of gas at the pump - in my area its 15 cents a liter. That is about 57 cents a US gallon or 68 cents an Imperial gallon.

The rate is different in each region - all depends on how much public transit you have so gas is often cheaper 30 miles down the road.

The total amount of various taxes we pay per liter here is just under 40 cents or $1.50 a US gallon or a $1.81 Imperial gallon.

[Greg H]

Originally Posted by honda03842

To top it off 'O' is suggesting an addition to the gas tax, the installation of electronics in your car to 'track and tax' each mile driven.

Norm

And if that doesn't start the revolution what will?

[Carol H]

The return of Arnold?

[BigLew]

Here in PA we are drilling for natural gas like there is no tomorrow. Our state doesn't charge any tax on the gas that leaves this state. There's enough gas alone in this state to take care of all the cars in this country if they would switch them to a NGV (natural gas vehicle). Honda makes the NGV Civic, and it was only available in New York and CA for many years. Now it is available in many more states. The problem is that there are very few natural gas stations as far as a network goes. Even here in Lancaster County, PA we have NO stations available to fill a NGV. What's with that? It seems to me that the oil companies and gas companies are all in cahoots to scalp us. What else would be the reason for not going with NGV throughout this country? When you compare the price of natural gas to the same amount of gas from oil......the price of natural gas would run between $1.60 - $2.00 a gal! Think about that. You can buy a phill station for your garage ......connect it to your natural gas supply that you use for your gas furnace and fill your car overnight. Then a tank normally will get you about 200 miles until the next filling. Also, it takes no longer to fill your tank at a natural gas station as it does at a normal gasoline station. Believe it or not......NG is safer than what you use in your car now. Another point I would like to make is that NG is much cleaner to burn! Almost no pollution what-so-ever.
So with that rant......this is the solution to our problem now......but I don't believe our country will change to this.......simply because big oil ownes us and our nation.
Sorry for the long post......I had to vent.
Thanks....Lew

[Carol H]

Well Lew if it makes you feel any better those of us north of you cant figure out why we pay more for gas than you do in the USA as we are the ones supply you with a big chunck of it. Go figure that one! :-)

[BigLew]

Yes.....I understand that to be true Carol. I also believe that most of our oil from Alaska goes to Japan.......and we import from the middle east......go figure. I think I read where the oil going to Japan is a better grade and we make more exporting and pay less for the other from the middle east.
Honestly......we as a nation need to stop buying the oil from the terrorist nations. It's crazy to be supporting these countries so they can kill our troops and citizens using our dollars from oil to do so.
But back to natural gas.........why does our nation not use it since it is much cleaner and much more available? I'd love to hear O on this one.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by BigLew

Honestly......we as a nation need to stop buying the oil from the terrorist nations. It's crazy to be supporting these countries so they can kill our troops and citizens using our dollars from oil to do so.

I agree! Stop buying from them other guys and buy it all from Canada. We are after all are already your largest supplier of crude and refined oil at about 21% of your imports and we supply you with 87% of your natural gas imports as well. So why not just buy it all from us. :-)) It would help our economy and our troops are being killed at an alarming rate along side yours fighting the terrorist.

[Greg H]

If we would just uncap the wells from Tx. to Mt. we wouldn't need to import from anybody.

[Kip in Ga.]

Originally Posted by Greg H

If we would just uncap the wells from Tx. to Mt. we wouldn't need to import from anybody.

As someone said earlier, oil and NG need to be regulated like a utility.
If it comes out of this ground it stays here and not exported. And it needs to be a "DO NOT TOUCH" to speculators. Darn near everything we do is related to oil in some way and we are seriously paying dearly, and it is going to get a lot worse.

But as our president said a while back when we loaned Brazil $200 Million of borrowed money for oil exploration, "Brizil wants to be an oil producer and we want to be their customer".

My understanding is that Brazil has made agreement to sell most or all their oil to China.

Really pisses me off that our government, this administration, and our congress know what is going on and do nothing about it.

Kip

[Greg H]

Kip one of my favorite sayings, "That's your government at work".