Community Forums

j2detoit · 03-23-2005, 02:28 PM

A thought came to mine the other day , and I was wondering just how much everyone feels would be their fuel price lifestyle changing price Let's hear what everyone thinks. I myself feel that once gas hits 5.00 a gallon that I may have to reevaluate a few transportation issues Thank goodnes its starting to get nice up here ,I can start riding my bike to work

j2detoit · 03-23-2005, 02:28 PM

A thought came to mine the other day , and I was wondering just how much everyone feels would be their fuel price lifestyle changing price Let's hear what everyone thinks. I myself feel that once gas hits 5.00 a gallon that I may have to reevaluate a few transportation issues Thank goodnes its starting to get nice up here ,I can start riding my bike to work

FatDog · 03-23-2005, 03:06 PM

The price of fuel is starting to bump my nerves a bit right now as well, I'm not used to seeing diesel at $2.60.
But my lifestyle will certainly change at $5/gallon

but I suspect if anything we'll see MORE RV's on the road. More people will ride their bicycles and motorcycles to town, they will take public trans to work, and they will walk the 500 yards to the grocery for milk, but vacations do not get put on hold for anything. The cost of airfare should just about price everyone out so we'll pack up the rig and drive 300-1000 miles from the house at what will still be resoanably affordable vacations for the family.
(The riding my bike to and from work has me scratching my head though.)

Gary RVRoamer · 03-23-2005, 04:37 PM

It's a good point about airfare prices - fuel is a major expense for airlines and reflects heavily in the ticket price. One interesting thought: airlines are also a major consumer of fuel. Remember how gas prices dropped after 9/11? That was because air travel nearly stopped and suddenly there was a surplus of fuel available. Something like 600,000 gallons (or barrels?) a day, if I remember correctly. If the fuel panic gets bad enough, the gov't could conceivably shift fuel from planes to local transport so people could get to work and buy groceries. Probably wouldn't set aside much for RVs, though!

We can all economize some on local trips and might have to do so in the future. We live 13 miles from town but still run "in to town" at the drop of a hat. We could plan better and make that 1-2 trips a week if fuel hit $5/gal.

It would probably take $5 to make a serious change in our life style. Even then, it might be to drive some place and then stay put, rather than voyaging around a lot. We may get to find out...

Ken Lenger · 03-23-2005, 04:41 PM

I was just talking about this with the wife a couple of days ago. What I decided I would do if it got to that point would be to move the camper to an RV park of choice and pay an annual fee for the spot. Selling the RV and truck at that point would be out of the question as their resale value would be zilch anyway.

Kablewizard · 03-23-2005, 08:50 PM

I have to agree with Ken, We have thought about full timing, and I would have to get the camper, Pay Ken to move it to a park untill I get the Truck, and we would use the Goldwing for all the running around.

RV Wizard · 03-24-2005, 01:46 AM

I don't think it will take $5 per gallon to change our lifestyles. Everything revolves around fuel. If the prices gets to $3.50 a gallon (as a national average) you will see the price of everything go up conciderably. Then salaries will have to go up and the next thing you know we could have runaway inflation.

Brigadoon · 03-24-2005, 02:45 AM

I agree with the Wizard on this. Long before it gets to $5/gal there would be hugh changes in many aspects and costs of day to day life. However, it will not get that high if we the people would not put up with it, but fuel costs will go higher since people are not complaining all that much now (other than to each other, such as we are doing here).

Rick A · 03-25-2005, 03:14 AM

That time is now for some of us. Young families on fixed incomes are already feeling the crunch and changing certain aspects of their lifestyle because of it. As said before, it affects a lot more than just how much we pay to travel. I for one already know we will be doing less traveling and camping this year. We have already resolved ourselves that we probably will not be taking a family vacation this year.

Toby · 03-25-2005, 01:38 PM

I'm thinking that if gas gets to $5, America cannot compete on the wage scale with other countries, so raising wages will be difficult, so we'll have to do something different. With the price this high. There will be incentive for Americans to do it differently, i.e., figure out how to mfg the H gas effectively; make better hybrid cars, MHs, and trucks and etc. However, I don't think the $5 gas is too far off, so I'm hoping we Americans can do it again--for the world. I'd hate to have to give up traveling and camping. We're giving 2nd thoughts to a trip this summer to Or, Calif and Wash states now, I guess until we can get use to the gass prices. Put in 63 gals this aftn from our trip to the FMCA Rally in Perry GA in our MH at $2.06 a gal ( in Ga-- we live in Fla). s/Toby

Bob Bligh · 03-28-2005, 10:32 AM

We pulled our 30' 5th wheel from Vermont to Denver and back in August of 2001 with a V10 that got 6 mpg. This summer we are making the same trip with another Dodge except this is a diesel that I get 13-15 mpg when towing. So if diesel doesn't get over $4.25 a gal, We're still making the trip for less.

Bob & Anita

Dodge Ram 2500 CTD with 4' exhaust, Chip, and Jacobs exhaust brake
2004 Keystone Sprinter 37' triple slide
2 retired Greyhounds I'm taking lessons from to learn what retirement is all about.

Eddielee · 03-28-2005, 01:28 PM

17 years ago I set fire to my Suzuki GS850L. It's been stored with all the parts to repair it eversense - I think it's now time to resurrect the old gal. It got 48 mpg two up the last time we rode.

h2guy · 03-28-2005, 07:15 PM

Well, if everyone cuts back traveling/camping like they say, its really gonna be great out here. Just like the old days.

WRV of Tennessee · 03-29-2005, 08:09 AM

We are so spoikled in this great country. When we travel in Europe or the Orient, the cost of a gallon of fuel is going up and they are already paying $6/gal in some of these places.
As countries like China and India demand more and more fuel to run their growing economies, the cost of fuel will remand high. However, once the Federal goverment stops buying oil for the reserves they are buying now and through June, there is a possibility for prices to start dropping in the July time frame.
But we better just get use to prices that seem high to stay high and just look for ways to cut back on our consumption.