Freedom Lost
I've been somewhat oblivious to the rising gas prices this past year.
My attitude has been, "What am I going to do about it? We still have to put gas in our car."
Last winter, I had planned several long road trips for the spring and summer. Nothing was going to make me change those plans.
Besides, every time I filled up my gas tank, the price didn't seem that bad. It was always around $40.
That's because I haven't been letting the tank get less than a quarter full before filling it up again.
Last week the car was running on fumes and I finally experienced pump shock when the total price hit $65.
Wow, welcome to reality.
Now I start making sacrifices!
This will be our first summer in five years that we don't go on leisurely drives up into the mountains or down through the Palouse country. All of those little 100-mile road trips, exploring the backroads of North Idaho and Eastern Washington, will have to wait until next year.
We'll be walking and biking more, sticking close to home. All of a sudden the family car doesn't look like freedom.
Has the price of gas affected your travel plans?
My attitude has been, "What am I going to do about it? We still have to put gas in our car."
Last winter, I had planned several long road trips for the spring and summer. Nothing was going to make me change those plans.
Besides, every time I filled up my gas tank, the price didn't seem that bad. It was always around $40.
That's because I haven't been letting the tank get less than a quarter full before filling it up again.
Last week the car was running on fumes and I finally experienced pump shock when the total price hit $65.
Wow, welcome to reality.
Now I start making sacrifices!
This will be our first summer in five years that we don't go on leisurely drives up into the mountains or down through the Palouse country. All of those little 100-mile road trips, exploring the backroads of North Idaho and Eastern Washington, will have to wait until next year.
We'll be walking and biking more, sticking close to home. All of a sudden the family car doesn't look like freedom.
Has the price of gas affected your travel plans?
Permalink posted by Idaho Dad at 12:07 AM
19 Comments:
Not yet, but it won't be long now. Prices over here are crazy - I pay about £1.35 a liter for my diesel using car. That's $10.22 a gallon in US terms.
A lot of that is tax, which I personally approve of although 99% of the country disagree with me.
Yikes, $10 a gallon?! Maybe I shouldn't complain about having to pay $4 a gallon.
No wonder you're walking so much. Think of all the money you'll be saving next week.
Instead of driving from CA to British Columbia as we had originally planned, we're going to explore Southern Oregon instead--hiking, biking and rafting after we get to our destinations. Flying anywhere would have cost even more. This road trip will be it for a while, as we walk and bike more around our little community while we wait for that day when the electric car becomes affordable for all.
I haven't paid $65 to fill up in weeks. It usually takes me about $80.
We haven't really changed any plans, but we do take the VW instead of the SUV now.
I don't think prices are going to be any lower next year.
I'm fairly insulated from gas price shock, what with my Prius getting 60 miles per gallon, but even that has been costing nearly $50 to fill up (every other week).
It's time to discover what's great around where we live.
I divide the price for each trip by 5 (the number of people in the car) and it makes everything seem more reasonable.
We will still make the big family trips. I bet we would make those even at $10 a gallon. It's the limited opportunity, we would regret it later, how much would you pay for a week with your kids once their off to college, and all that jazz.
I do think twice about jumping in the car myself and driving somewhere to do something I'm not super excited about, and we don't drive around just for the heck of it anymore.
At one point we were thinking hard about buying a RV. Fuel prices have really changed the economics of that decision.
We aren't making significant changes just yet--but we're definitely not planning any long road trips either.
I'm not so sure the price of gas is going to be any less next year.
Aussie fuel now in Perth travels between $1-55 to $1-61 per litre, almost $100 to fill our Ford up.
It hurts.
Actually thinking about selling one of my two cars. We would have to get into a daycare that is on my wifes way to work, since she doesn't have a bus route to her job.
Once we do, I might sell the deisel since it is a Jetta and small for the family, but it gets 40 MPG. Even at $5.00 a gallon, that is a bit more economical than the CRV. We also have oil heat which is really just deisel, so it will be expensive to heat this coming Winter. Lot's of heavy coats for us, I guess.
We were looking into taking Amtrak from L.A. to Seattle. It would cost almost $900 for the family and take 34 hours (one way). THIRTY-FOUR HOURS.
We'll just go to Disneyland instead.
Yep its $10 a gallon over here so I would love to be paying your prices lol......
x
It cost $126 to fill our van at Costco. Their gas was 17 cents cheaper than the gas station at the corner. I'm thinking of asking Henry to bike to work.
Hello from down in the Palouse where my dear husband and I just paid $65 to put half a tank of gas in our van (OUCH)! We used to think nothing of driving to Spokane every Sunday to go to church there and then head over to CDA for the summer concerts in the park on occasion. Earlier this month we headed to Montana for 10 days to stay with my parents at their lake home and we took our little economy car that does not have working AC. It was a hot ride over but cost about 3/4 less of what it would have cost to take the van with the working AC over.
No more heading down to the river a couple of times a week, running into Pullman to have lunch with my grown children or my husband and no more Sunday afternoon drives that we used to enjoy so much.
Yesterday I filled up the gas tank in Bothell, Washington, just north of Seattle. $73. Now I won't complain about the $65 it costs me in Idaho.
We have cancelled at least two weekend trips, and I foresee more. The cost of a commute factored heavily into my acceptance of a nearby job offer at half-time versus a FT position 70 miles away. The cost of LP this winter will be scary, too.
My car costs about $85 to fill up, but I don't use it as much as my husband uses his...luckily for us he drives a little Hyundai and it doesn't cost much to fill. We haven't changed our vacation plans much, but then we don't have to drive very far to feel like we're somewhere else. We are only one hour from the White Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
You should see my fuel bill from moving. Hooo yah.
If you ask me, US fuel prices are still not nearly high enough. It's good that people think twice when stepping into their car.
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