There have been lots of comments on the emotional response of people who stop driving their motor homes because the price of fuel has gone up $1.00. If you drive it 5000 miles a year and average 10 mpg, that's only $500 extra a year. Seems simple to just suck it up.
Problem is that there are some folks that live on a fixed income that is very small, maybe social security and a small pension. For those, it's not just the price of fuel in your Barth or car. It's the price of everything. Bread, milk, ground beef, drug insurance premiums, etc. So if it's going to cost me an extra $60 for fuel to go to Chatanooga, I have to figure out where that money is going to come from. Do I take it away from my food budget? Nope can't do that because I can't hardly keep on my food budget anyway. It's not like folks that have a limited income have a printing press in the basement that they can just turn on if they need some money. Our electric coop has announced that electricity costs will increase 50% in 2008, and we're part of the TVA system. My point is simply this; You have to look at the whole picture. If you're in the upper middle class or above, you can handle these increases. If you're in the lower middle class and below, you're in trouble. I would like to remind all that in the last 10 years, 73% of all income gains have gone to people making over $372,000 a year. Those are government statistics. We have become a nation of haves and have nots. Sorry to bother all of you with my preaching. We've had to park our Barth, and it will stay that way until prices come down or I go out and get a job rather than spend time with my grandkids. I'd rather be with my grandkids. They don't care about the Barth. They just care about me.
Jim

Up here in the "Land O'Taxes" diesel is around $1.45 a litre. Last week it was $1.39 ... next week ... it will be $1.50!! At about 3.8 litres to the American gallon and our dollars near par, ... well you can do the math!
It will cost me OVER $500 to fill the Barth's 100 gallon tank.
Happy motoring!
Don

I am a young retiree also. living on a company pension. This pension pays all the bills and food. It doesn't pay for all the trips, fuel , and Barth maintenance.
As a hobby I have been a cabinet maker all my life. Since retirement, during the winter I build customized cabinets and furniture for clients that a couple of interior designers bring me.

For me, this is the perfect setup. During the winter Barth is in storage. This is when I do this. People don't renovate during the summer.
When summer comes I close the shop and hit the road. All these expenses are paid for with the winter work.

As for the extra cost of fuel, yes it's a concern, but not enough to prevent us from travelling. The extra cost this year will be about $500.

We just came back from a 2500 miles trip to Myrtle Beach. I figured it cost me about $180 more than it would have cost me last year. The memories of this two weeks trip are priceless. We will make smaller trips this summer, but do not plan on cutting in the number of trips we make.

I realize that we are among the lucky ones.

When I consider the cost of fuel, I also consider the alternatives. Certainly, an RV weekend is cheaper than staying at home. But, when other forms of entertainment or vacations or just activities are compared, it becomes a little different.

For example, we drove up the coast for a son's graduation. I compared our expenses against other family members', and, owing to the high cost of hotel/motel, restaurants in the Stanford area, we came out ahead. Of course, those who drove up one day in a car and stayed only one overnight were ahead, but most hotels required a three-day minimum for the weekend, which evened things out considerably.

A Disneyland weekend, even a Disneyland day, a golf weekend, or a Las Vegas weekend can be more expensive, as well. While in Monterey, on the way back, we met with friends doing the golf weekend thing at Pebble Beach. OMIGOD!...... The funny thing was, they were the ones who brought up the high fuel prices and our RV expenses. Even dinner and drinks can cost more than a whole RV weekend. Many couples spend more for a weekend than we do for a two-week trip. And they don't get free fish or venison.

Heck, we fly for free, but the rental car, restaurants, hotels, and pet boarding expenses all balance out the Barth thirst for high-priced fuel.

Having said what I have, the United States is, has been, and will continue to be the greatest country the world has ever known. If you're down, you can pick yourself up. If you're up, you can help those who are down. And we can shine that light of what real freedom means throughout the world. We're far from perfect, we continue to try to be better, and we try our best to show the rest of the world who we truly are, a nation of good people who do our very best to help each other and other people.

High fuel prices have forced me to make adjustments in our travels, but adjustments need not be earth-shattering......

Our weekend trip limits used to be within a 250 mile radius....Now they're within 175 miles. My fuel budget remains a constant, and I figure it will still take a few decades to visit everything there is to see & do within those limits - some of our most enjoyable times have been an hour or less from home.......

Combine that with burgers instead of steak, Pabst instead of Michelob, an occasional WallyWorld instead of KOA and pretty soon it all adds up....

Big Oil, OPEC, and/or gov't incompetence simply ain't gonna ruin my travels!

quote:

- some of our most enjoyable times have been an hour or less from home.......

Lee, I agree with you I live within 30 minutes from the rocky mountains and there is so many places to go. Fun in the Barth does,nt have to be far. Bragg creek and area is 40 minutes away, great place to go for antiques as there are many artists and shops, not far away are many campsites near or on the elbow river, check out the site and have fun exploring, more to see in this area than you can imagine, from shopping ,eating, camping , fishing, hiking and biking, Ing,s mine which is a great ice cave and the list is endless, so why travel far?
http://www.braggcreek.ca/

No, we don't have a Barth. Yet.

Our Hurricane gasser gets about 8MPG. We'll probably cut down some on our long distance trips, but not much.

I hate the fuel prices being where they are, but hate the corresponding increases in food and other necessities that are related to the increase in petroleum costs. Is there a way around it? I'm sure there is, but it's at a completely different level than I'm at.

We're fortunate to live near Lake Allatoona and there are a lot of COE CG's nearby. We were going to them before the fuel prices hit where they are and will continue.

Jeff

Not being one to back out on a plan, I was really worried about the Boat Race trip that we planned with Ed &Deb last year. Talked to Ed today and found out it wasn't a big hassle to bow out, as he really couldn't swing it either, and the kicker was that a lot of the "Big Boys" aren't going to be there because they just can't afford the expenses. This is a trip I looked forward to for the better part of a year, but due to present circumstances would have stretched me pretty thin, so I was glad to hear it wouldn't be a big hassle to bow out.
Talladaga is a definite this year, along with a weekend trip down to see Ed&Deb,[only about 75 miles], but next year may see the end of a 15 year era, because I can't spend a Grand on gas alone just to get to a race. Nascar is already reeling and will soon be gasping due to the price of fuel. Those thousands of coaches at every race will be sorely missed. And if you think there aren't thousands of coaches at Dega, you haven't been there.
On the plus side, if I happen to sell something,[a boat or a truck or a Harley], Suzy and I might make it up to Chatanooga. A long shot for sure, but not beyond possibility.
Whatever happens, I think we all need to do as much as possible while we can, and if things happen to get better, great, but don't wait around for it to happen, cause it ain't lookin' that way.

It's all about limits. Like Lee adjusting the radius of his travels. You know what might be kind of fun? To make a list of all the things we(we,as in the United States), do that we only do because of cheap fuel. Like school busing which was an outgrowth of the school consolidation movement that started in the late 40s. Small neighborhood schools were consolidated into bigger ones and the kids had to be bussed. No problem, gas in the late 40s was less than 20 cents a gallon. Now schools are curtailing services, cutting teachers etc. because they have to find extra money to pay the bill for fuel. Any others? Bill, do you think this ought to be a new thread?

quote:

Originally posted by Jim and Tere:
Bill, do you think this ought to be a new thread?

Why? We're just shooting the breeze here and we aren't walking anywhere that is sending a post off topic in an area like "Tech Talk". So, no... I see no reason to move this. Besides, you started the thread.

I only move a thread for "Continuity's" sake and Continuity never asked to be moved. So, I'll leave her alone

Here's another one. Commuting by car, one person per car, one zillion cars. Looks like that's already starting to change. Over a million are commuting by bicycle, and some companies and government agencies are going to a four day work week. Amazing how we can figure out how to deal with this.

Are we that short of memory or just dumb? We took the coach up to the North Georgia Mountains this week and I bought fuel at $4.46 a gallon. I thought that was a good deal because only a couple of weeks ago I paid $4.79.
Nick

Things we do(or did) because of low fuel prices.
Put stuff on trucks and transport them from
California to New York, instead of developing a
system of cross continent rail delivery with local
(within a hundred miles) delivery by truck

We used to have that. Railway Express Agency. I always wondered why they shut down.