restricted to camp close to home

[capucine]

With the price of gas going out of control every day I am wondering what will happen to long trip camping? Most of us are living on a budget and the extra money it is costing to pull trailers really affect our wallet. And it can only get worse before it get better. Too bad because camping is part of our living lifestyle to rejuvenate our body before we go back to the busy worklife. For us we will start camping close to home and forget the planned long trip.

[jimh]

what we are going to is combine 2 or more of the trips we would have done and spend more time parked at each one.
will also make a couple short trips, 150 miles or less as fillers.

see the fuel price as something that i can work around. what will ground me will be stations running out of gas (like the late 70's) or goverment imposed limits (~1980). either way, i will not go.

[BigRed]

I informed the wife of the same concerns. Then I thought about it for a while, If I leave the DW at home I'll save more than enough to cover the increased gas cost and even be able to get a few add on's for the camper too. What do ya think??? Good idea or bad? Havent told the DW yet. Thought I'd see what everyone else thought.

[grhodes50]

Originally Posted by BigRed

I informed the wife of the same concerns. Then I thought about it for a while, If I leave the DW at home I'll save more than enough to cover the increased gas cost and even be able to get a few add on's for the camper too. What do ya think??? Good idea or bad? Havent told the DW yet. Thought I'd see what everyone else thought.

As long as she hasn't moved someone else into your spot at home while your gone, it may be alright!

We'll be staying close to home this year as well.

[BigRed]

Oops.....didnt think of that.

[Steeljag]

We have four trips planned / reserved to June. All withing 75 miles of home.....state parks here are really nice for swimming / snorkeling / canoeing / biking !

Just have fun / relax and enjoy your stay.... whereever you are !

[Goomph]

Well it sure effects my camping plans. But not when I don't want it to. I had budgeted a Christmas trip to Florida again (From Ontario) but had to cancel it because of kids scheduling conflicts. I knew gas would cost me handful, but I was working it into monthly chunks and stashing the money away.

If you want to work around it, you can still have a few long trips. we used to go without considering the cost of gas anytime we wanted, and sadly those days are gone ....

Last year our gas cost to Florida and back was 800 dollars, and this year it would be 1,000 dollars (@3.75 a gallon). Surely 200 dollars wasn't going to be the deal breaker. But it has to come from somewhere else of course ....

[sherdep]

I have been staying close like within an hour or two or within a 100 miles - I may use only a tank for that weekend ($100 for a 36 Gallon Tanks)
there are alot of state parks by me and are descent priced as far camping ($18 to $24) for a night compared to the private camps ($35 to $45) a night.

I can feel your pain on this one but I do not see anything wrong with camping close to home - for me the purpose of camping is to get out of the house and un wind from work and spend quality time with my daughter.

[SaskCampers]

We drove to Ontario last summer and gas cost $2000.00, our trip this year down through Montana, SD and ND will only cost abt $1400.00 so we added a couple more trips. We budget our camping money in the years budget and we won't be held prisioner to the gas prices, we just adjust our spending and travel with the wifes sister and hubby and that is where the Megacab comes in handy.

[Labzy]

This our first trailer so we dont know what our MPG will be when towing yet
Our gas price is $1.25/L and our tank holds 122L (30 gallons US) so I'm anxious to see how much we will use.
We have booked campsites close to home, but did splurge and reserve a place 5 hours away.
The way I figure it is, it costs money to travel no matter where you go. I'm saving money by not having to spend it on hotels, restaurants etc because of the trailer.
Do I hate spending gross amounts of money on gas??
H#%l yes!!!!
Do I think the reasons for the rise in prices as a bunch of BS?
H#*l yes!!!!!
Do I still want to go camping?
Oh yeah!!!!!!!!

Btw... if it goes up really high, we always have our driveway to camp on.

[sherdep]

Hey Kim
Here is some food for thought

I average between 8 to 10 mpg with my truck setup - I average 12 to 14 without a trailer because most of my driving is highway and not much city driving.

If I had to guess on your setup since you are in stock form you will drop 2 to 3 mpg so figure 14 to 15 mpg (culd be higher but am guessing) as long as you keep your speed under control (55 mph to 60 mph)- remember the faster you go the more room for error and the more gas it takes to move faster.

[rockwood06]

We had concider the fuel price last year for this coming camping season as well. We camp about an hour and a 1/2 from home every weekend. We were at the right place at the right time, we bought a 12x36' log loft cabin park model that used to be rented, we bought it for $4,000 bucks and it included everything. Now i have my camper at home and can take it other places, but one thing about the cabin, i can take my car instead of my tow vehicle which get 34 mpg instead of 10 mpg.

[cfsoistman]

We'll still do our one long distance trip, Myrtle Beach for a week, around 500 miles one way. All other trips will be under 175 miles away, unless I hit Mega Millions. There are plenty of campgrounds within a 2 hour ride that we really enjoy so we'll be going there most of the time.

[tentcamper1]

it also concerns me, last year we drove about 4000 miles and if we do the same it will add about 400.00 to the expenses or about 65-70 more a month ( based on 6 months) which breaks down to about 15.00 to 17.00 a week. for some of us thats a lunch out for 2. I hate to pay the extra for the gas and it kills me every time I fill up now, but think its worth the extra to get out and camp and unwind.

[jimh]

that's abt the way i look at it, any place is a change of scenery. that is all i'm really after.
my truck gets abt half when towing. the other side of the coin is that towing is a small percentage of my total driving.
the price is simply supply and demand. on the last price hike, we were lead to believe crude and gas was short. i was working in the industry at the time and didn't understand why with such good prices we were cutting back. it was explained that we were full and everyone else was as well. we couldn't figure why the price was still rising. the speculators were having a field day.
ever notice the spaces at the pumps fill up right after a price hike?
i figure once the panic leaves, the prices will drop.

[Char_n_Kath]

The current costs of gas won't affect our plans, just slightly increase the cost of camping. At 10 mpg and gas at $3.50 gal, it costs me .35 cents per mile to pull our trailer, versus .25 cents per mile when gas was at $2.50 gal. To me, that equates to $100 more for every 1,000 miles that I travel. A bit more of a cost, but not enough to change our plans, as we usually will take the TT to a state or national park, stay put and explore the surrounding area, and then return. With the many locations to visit in New Mexico and the southwest, we find lots of places to go both near and far.

[blatch70]

We do most of our camping around home anyway. However, we are taking two long trips this year. We already had money set aside for the first one. As far as the second one, we plan on being gone for about a week and a half, and we plan on moving to a few different campgrounds. This isn't going to take place until October. So we are reserving our site to one this month. Then we will wait till next month to make another reservation to another campground and so forth. That way it spreads it out, and that's one less cost on the trip itself.

[flyrotor]

Originally Posted by BigRed

I informed the wife of the same concerns. Then I thought about it for a while, If I leave the DW at home I'll save more than enough to cover the increased gas cost and even be able to get a few add on's for the camper too. What do ya think??? Good idea or bad? Havent told the DW yet. Thought I'd see what everyone else thought.

So what day will be your funeral? We all need to know ahead of time to plan for the fuel expenses.... it's inevitable if your wife sees this. LOL

[Big Dawg]

We are really blessed here in Ohio, there are a bunch of state parks, and private camp grounds in less than 2 hours from us. We try to stay close and have our favorites we visit each year. We still have new places to try, and will for a long time.

[BigRed]

Flyrotor----------spit my coffee out laughing at your post ! Forgot I posted this.......shhhhhhhhhhhh she hasnt seen it yet !! Been looking at new campers, she's been wondering where the money's coming from.....have had the heart to tell her that its her !!