price of fuel

I'm not sure what we are going to do this summer. Suburban only gets 7mpg towing the camper. And the Jeep only gets 11mpg period.

We are pretty close to state land about 15-20 miles north of us. So I think we might be doing more Boondock/Dry Camping this year. No campground fees, and not much gas if we stay close to home.

Might only have two or three big trips planned with the camper or Jeep. Other wise cheap and close to home trips will be what we do.

I am actually avoiding the purchase of a camper because of the price of fuel.

I had a situation where I was ready to buy fall through for me last year, and now I am glad it did.

I am not stereotyping or anything, but the typical person who camps is not someone who makes millions of dollars every year. The price of fuel hurts everyone except the VERY wealthy.

There is going to be a trickle down effect of people holding out on purchases like I did, or staying closer to home like roadhouse is planning.

This "stimulus" check from GW is going right back in my heating oil and gas tanks.

Its not limiting us too much right now. I still tow with a gasser, and 87 octane here is around $3/gallon give or take.

So, we are already limited by the tow truck, because its a 2000 Ram and doesnt have the tow gear. I have to tow in drive, and when I am pulling the camper down the interstate at 60 plus MPH, i am turning over 3000 RPM and it is burning some gas!! Its just not fun towing like this for long distances. The fartherst I have gone is 4 hours, and I swore I wouldnt do it again with that truck.

So,I plan to get a diesel next year. I dont know if it will limit our travels, but I doubt it. We will only go so far on a normal weekend anyway. On long weekends we will go further, but that is only every once in a while, so I dont think it will deter us any.

just paid $4.05/gallon diesel

Outch :bang:

That is rich for my blood.

Of course, I guess it all depends on mileage too. I pay $3 plus a gallon for gas, but I average about 8 MPG when towing. If diesel was $4 a gallon, but I got twice the miles per gallon, it may not be so bad. A few friends have dodge ram diesels and they said they get 15-17 mpg towing. I could live with that.

Save more

We are just trying to save more, and offset the costs of it.

We are not willing to give up our camping, or let it keep us from going as much. For now, we are just going to pay it, and keep on camping. We may not be as many "toys" for the RV to help save on fuel prices though.

Well what is happening for my family is now instead of taking alot of long weekend camping trips, we are planning fewer trips with longer stays. So instead of going to the beach camping for friday- monday about 4 times a year we are going once this year for 10 days, so thus saving us gas money to and from.