Gas price increase affecting your travel plans

[Campincarters]

Hello fellow RVERS. Just wondering what is the price level that will cause you to rethink planning a 7 to 10 day trip for price and distance. Mine is $4.00 per gallon and 500 miles in distance each way max. At my 8.5 mpg it would cost me about $500 in gas and if I drove one of my cars it would cost much less but I would have to compare others costs such as hotel or house rental and how much I could cook at the location. But I do know it will not be as much fun. I have learned that in my 3011ds I do not necessarily travel light. May be staying in the northeast in 2022 for my travels again.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Campincarters

Hello fellow RVERS. Just wondering what is the price level that will cause you to rethink planning a 7 to 10 day trip for price and distance. Mine is $4.00 per gallon and 500 miles in distance each way max. At my 8.5 mpg it would cost me about $500 in gas and if I drove one of my cars it would cost much less but I would have to compare others costs such as hotel or house rental and how much I could cook at the location. But I do know it will not be as much fun. I have learned that in my 3011ds I do not necessarily travel light. May be staying in the northeast in 2022 for my travels again.

I am currently planning a 45+ day trip that will take me over 3500 miles. I plan on traveling at a conservative speed which gives me best fuel mileage. Also plan on avoiding restaurant meals and even RV parks as much as possible. Between Harvest Host stops on the road and boondocking for up to 14 days at a time on BLM land I will be saving an average of $50/night for the stay and a similar amount per day on restaurant meals.

Can't do much about the cost of gas but preparing my own meals and real camping goes a long way towards cutting the other expenses.

Short trips are fine but if one wants to travel farther, staying at the destination longer when boondocking makes the cost per day less.

Will work for some, not for others.

[Timtation1]

To me this is the old story: If you have to ask, you can't afford it

[Nick Danger]

At 8.5 MPG I would think you knew gas was going to be among the most significant costs for RV travel?

You don't appear to have chosen your camper for the fuel efficiency. Gas prices are slightly higher than pre-covid levels. Did you ever think prices would go down?

Do you travel more at lower gas prices?

[NJKris]

Originally Posted by Timtation1

To me this is the old story: If you have to ask, you can't afford it

Not all of us are dripping with cash, yet still RV.

[Campincarters]

This is not about what a person can afford. I was simply asking if the cost of higher gas prices will have you traveling closer to home and putting off trips of farther distance. For those who are planning to travel for a longer time and travel around the Us and Canada I do not think it will because I believe they may have planned their trip for quite some time. I do use my RV for 3 to 4 week long vacations a year a several shorter trips. I budget and plan my trips ahead so that I can afford to travel. This is not about who can afford to or not but a question as to will you adjust your trips and plans and how creative can you be to minimize your expenses.

[5er_tom]

I don’t think fuel costs will change our RV lifestyle very much. I recall paying $4.59/gal several years ago. We still went. We may stay in one place a few extra days to reduce miles driven but we will still go.

[NJKris]

For me up here, it’s more about the tolls. I just discovered that crossing the bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania over the Delaware river, which should be $3.50, cost me $13.50, even though I am towing a small single axle trailer under 4000 pounds. The $13.50 fee is the same cost as a two axle motorHome Pulling a trailer! So why do I fit in that category? Scum bags at the toll authority have declared that any vehicle over 8 feet in height be charged at that rate. That is virtually every travel trailer made except for teardrop trailer. And we just have to sit back and eat it.

[Jim34RL]

In 2008 on a trip out west I was paying $ 4.75 a gallon for diesel. I am still traveling and I just add my fuel cost to my RV budget. It is what it is, I still enjoy RVing so, I pay the cost.

[D W]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Not all of us are dripping with cash, yet still RV.

X2. Here in Alaska, camping is a lot different than that of the lower 48. The majority of Alaskans use camping as a vehicle for sport and subsistence fishing and shellfish harvest. The object is to "fill up the freezer". Even with the fuel prices increasing weekly (gas at $3.50, diesel at $3.25), we're still saving money compared to paying grocery store prices for Trout, Salmon, Halibut, Crab etc. Most places we go, hotels/motels don't exist so that is not an option. Besides, if there was a hotel available, the rates are normally twice what they are in the off season because it's a "tourist" thing. We plan to keep on doing what we have been doing. If we have to cut back on some things, we will, but we are not going to quit.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by NJKris

For me up here, it’s more about the tolls. I just discovered that crossing the bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania over the Delaware river, which should be $3.50, cost me $13.50, even though I am towing a small single axle trailer under 4000 pounds. The $13.50 fee is the same cost as a two axle motorHome Pulling a trailer! So why do I fit in that category? Scum bags at the toll authority have declared that any vehicle over 8 feet in height be charged at that rate. That is virtually every travel trailer made except for teardrop trailer. And we just have to sit back and eat it.

Sadly it's all because the system has to be simple. Unless you put a toll taker in the booth that can quickly decide, based on weight, number of axles, length, etc, what toll you should be charged toll systems will remain as they are.

Here in my State on bridges we pay by the number of axles and tolls are automated with few exceptions. (Tolled HOV lanes aka "Lexus Lanes" are just per vehicle and over 10,000# prohibited)

Until our highways go to a "pay by the mile" system we'll continue to get the shaft with rising gas taxes and tolls that don't always fit the vehicle being tolled.

FWIW, if you own a large TT like a 3 axle toy hauler or luxury Airstream you will pay the same toll as a Semi Truck-Trailer combination with 5 axles. Difference of course is "you" weigh 1/5th as much as the Semi. Depending on how you look at it, "you" are getting the shaft or the Semi is getting a bargain. Guess which vehicle is doing more damage to the highway and is paying less toward repairs and maintenance.

[jd4010]

Originally Posted by NJKris

For me up here, it’s more about the tolls. I just discovered that crossing the bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania over the Delaware river, which should be $3.50, cost me $13.50, even though I am towing a small single axle trailer under 4000 pounds. The $13.50 fee is the same cost as a two axle motorHome Pulling a trailer! So why do I fit in that category? Scum bags at the toll authority have declared that any vehicle over 8 feet in height be charged at that rate. That is virtually every travel trailer made except for teardrop trailer. And we just have to sit back and eat it.

Ah.....this is why NJKris I moved from the great state (errr....ummm) of NJ years ago. It's a beautiful state especially where I was raised (Hunterdon County) but it's so cost prohibitive these days. Taxes are off the scale. Land prices....eeeks! I feel for ya friend!

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Jim34RL

In 2008 on a trip out west I was paying $ 4.75 a gallon for diesel. I am still traveling and I just add my fuel cost to my RV budget. It is what it is, I still enjoy RVing so, I pay the cost.

Like I've told my kids, the money my late wife and I saved is going to be spent eventually. Choices are "I spend it or you spend it. I prefer that I spend what I need and you get what's left".

[timfromma]

Not yet. I'm closed down for the season. My next trip is 3rd week in April and I don't see prices getting any better.

[Rhumblefish]

Originally Posted by Campincarters

Just wondering what is the price level that will cause you to rethink planning a 7 to 10 day trip for price and distance.

A 7-10 day trip is a real vacation for me. This kind of precious trip & time away is worth a tremendous amount, so I think I'd pretty much grin-and-bear almost any fueling cost, over almost any CONUS driving distance. This answer might change if we see ever $6-7+/gal (pray we never), but I can certainly stomach the current $4-5.

For what it's worth, we get about 8-10 real world MPG dragging the TT, touching up to 12 if we are flatlanding and I am very gentle on the throttle.

[aircommuter]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Sadly it's all because the system has to be simple. Unless you put a toll taker in the booth that can quickly decide, based on weight, number of axles, length, etc, what toll you should be charged toll systems will remain as they are.

Here in my State on bridges we pay by the number of axles and tolls are automated with few exceptions. (Tolled HOV lanes aka "Lexus Lanes" are just per vehicle and over 10,000# prohibited)

Until our highways go to a "pay by the mile" system we'll continue to get the shaft with rising gas taxes and tolls that don't always fit the vehicle being tolled.

FWIW, if you own a large TT like a 3 axle toy hauler or luxury Airstream you will pay the same toll as a Semi Truck-Trailer combination with 5 axles. Difference of course is "you" weigh 1/5th as much as the Semi. Depending on how you look at it, "you" are getting the shaft or the Semi is getting a bargain. Guess which vehicle is doing more damage to the highway and is paying less toward repairs and maintenance.

I don’t know about Washington but in California the big rigs pay huge weight fees and of course the greater fuel burn also adds to the tax. But the Governor took the money away from the roads for which it was collected, again.

[RussPastuch]

Cost of doing business, or rather, cost of camping. We are planning a 8,000km trip next summer, regardless of the cost of gas. Remember the half price gas. Sigh.

[Tundra 2014]

With $100K invested in my truck and trailer, We are going. I might slow down a little, but gas price has a small effect.

[kawac14]

Originally Posted by NJKris

For me up here, it’s more about the tolls. I just discovered that crossing the bridge from New Jersey to Pennsylvania over the Delaware river, which should be $3.50, cost me $13.50, even though I am towing a small single axle trailer under 4000 pounds. The $13.50 fee is the same cost as a two axle motorHome Pulling a trailer! So why do I fit in that category? Scum bags at the toll authority have declared that any vehicle over 8 feet in height be charged at that rate. That is virtually every travel trailer made except for teardrop trailer. And we just have to sit back and eat it.

Interesting. In June, I crossed the bridge at the Delaware Water Gap with my MicroLite 19FBS in tow, and they charged me $3.25, listing the rig as Class 11. Once, I got overcharged on the I-78 toll, and I contacted the Delaware Bridge authority, and got the charge adjusted. It took about 2 months, though.

[rmac04401]

In 2008, I took a trip to Disney. Right before I left gas prices hit over $4.00 a gallon. This did not stop us, it was still less expensive to tow the camper then hotel and food.

That was 14 years ago gas prices were that high. 2022 I don’t think will be much higher It was 1000 miles each way that we travelled.

Life is short and you can’t take it with you.