$4 per gallon gasoline

[JimGolden]

I just read on the news that one station in Orlando is charging $4.09 per gallon of regular gas now.

But what's worse, they had several economist types on there saying we may hit $4 per gallon this summer nationwide.

Where I'm at, it's gone up 80 cents in the last four weeks. It's ludicrous IMHO. Why? I heard it was because of the war, well we'd been over there for at least two years before it started going up. So I'm not buying that argument. Then I heard it was supply in demand because China is developing. OK, China is using more than they did ten years ago, but not enough to make it triple in price over here. I've heard "Europe has always been high so we are just getting in step." Well Europe is artificially high due to excessive taxation.

So why is gas going up so much?

$4 per gallon is brutal. It'll affect my trailer traveling

[Goin camping]

I'll drive less during the week so I can run free on the weekend.

[n2916s]

Saw on Bloomberg that the fundamental problem remains instability in the Middle East coupled with political problems in Nigeria. Throw in Hugo Chavez threatening to cut off Venezuelan crude shipments to the USA and the commodity market is getting very jittery.

Big oil doesn't care -- they are on a streak of record profits.

Most anaylysts believe retail average price will peak at about $3.20 in July and then start sliding back.

Me, I'm hooking up my Sovereign and heading out regardless. Have 6 months so should rack up thousands of miles. Say I tow 6000 miles, my Titan gets 10 mpg in harness = 600 gallons. So the difference to me between $2 gas and $3 gas for this trip is $600. That is not going to keep me home. Just have to budget for Budweiser versus Heineken.

It's the pits but on the bright side I was in France last October and unleaded regular was $5.15 a gallon.

mike

[Mac1]

That's what I like, a man with his priorities in order.

Mac

[moosetags]

Gas is pushing $3/gal here in the Florida Panhandle. Since we are getting ready for an extended Airstream adventure to Yellowstone, Glacier, and other points of interest in the Great Northwest, I'm sure gas will hit $4 in time for our trip.

I'm going to pay it, but I'm not going to like it. There was the recent price increase due to the British Marines being taken hostage by the Iranians. Then there was another price increase because they were released; go figure.

I believe that oil/gasoline prices go up to insure that oil company executives can make their idiot children rich. It is my hope that alternative fuels on on the immediate horizon, and these idiot offspring will be relagated to their rightful place working the Taco Bell drive-thru.

[bikrmikey]

Gas is high because it has limited suppliers and supply, the suppliers realize what the market will pay. The marketing guys are giving the other excuses (war, China, etc.). Gas in Europe is going up as well. Record profits at oil companies - I think this tells you where the extra money is going. Why don't the majority of US drivers demand more fuel efficient vehicles? They exist even outside of Hybrids. Ever see a Dodge mini van, diesel?, it exists in Europe. How about a diesel Hyundai Santa Fe? Super efficient Turbo Diesels are all over the world, some would be happy pulling an Airstream. In Europe there are tiny economy cars pulling sizeable travel trailers. Why are our trailers so heavy? Even a current Airstream is heavy. Look at the weight of the 50s Airstream trailers, do we need the extra weight today? Many of the 50s trailers are still around.

Of course I drive a gas engine and have a somewhat heavy Airstream so I better not cast the first stone.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by moosetags

...It is my hope that alternative fuels on on the immediate horizon, and these idiot offspring will be relagated to their rightful place working the Taco Bell drive-thru.

Amen to that. and I am SO tempted to make a crack that will undoubtedly tick-off um....50.01% of the population.

But I won't. 'cuz being a moderator, I'm supposed to set a good example and all that.

[Pick]

Gas and diesel is already at $3 here at some stations in N. Central Florida.

[overlander63]

I remember hearing gas prices were going up because of increased demand, then I heard the price was going up because demand had dropped, and they had to pay to store the gas (pure BS).
I do know that gas is more expensive because more states and locales are specifying different blend gas, custom-made trailers cost more, so it stands to reason custom-made gas does as well. That is only one reason gas costs more. Tighter emission standards for the fuel, added to demand, added to China's demand for petro products, all are helping drive up prices.
My own attempt earlier this year to keep my fuel costs down ended in disaster. While I'm dreaming, I'd like my F250 to get 50 mpg while towing...

[Wabbiteer]

NIMBY - a major cause of gasolene price hikes worldwide....

The inability of US refiners to keep up with demand is a constant nusance to the world gasolene spot market. No one in the USA has made a new refinery in 20+ years; and expansion and renewal at operating plants can't happen when they are working 101% capacity; so we are stuck paying commodities traders top dollar to make-up real or perceived shortfalls, and the trading houses love to feel important so act on every news-byte that is uttered... And don't even think about muttering 'Hurricane"!

A energy chicken-and-the-egg conumdrum...

[ibgl6]

2.85 a gallon Regular Unleaded today in Party City haha thats what them springbreakers call it us oldtimers call it Panama City Florida....

[Boondocker]

I have been watching this with an increasing gut level response. I am planing on an extended trip this summer in the south west and rockies. $4 gas would be painful, but not going would be worse. Not knowing what the future holds, there is no telling if I will have the chance again. I plan on doing every bit of the trip I can. I'm also looking at the bright side; maybe the campgrounds will be less crowded

[JimGolden]

Well I already drive a diesel pickup. I know a guy who tried to run filtered french fry grease in his JCB backhoe. It blew the injector pump. Replacement part only cost $4K

I do get disgusted when I think of the whole thing. I'm all for alternative fuels. But, I know a little bit about science myself, and "they" (of which I count myself) will not have any kind of suitable replacement along with infrastructure anytime soon. So in my opinion, we should be building more refineries to hold us in the meantime. Unless a time traveler brings us the flux capacitor along with "Mr. Fusion" tomorrow, it's gonna be awhile until we have hydrogen powered vehicles.

Ah well, sorry to be a rain cloud. Just struck me hard that gas could go to $4 per. I drive a cruddy 4-cylinder Cavalier to work every day that gets 35mpg and I'm still paying a fortune to feed it.


I do have an idea for a lightweight highly aerodynamic commuter car that I believe could get close to 100mpg. It's entirely doable....GM built a car in '82 that got 100mpg. But to do it, the car has to be very light weight, and so will nowhere near meet current safety regs (the main reason most cars are so heavy today). You hit a Super Duty with my little car and you'd be toast. About like a motorcycle. So I don't know how well it'd catch on...not sure I want to drive 25,000 miles a year in it.

Ah well, we had a pic nic in the Stream last weekend in my back yard

[Silvertwinkie]

At $4 gallon, I may have to rethink where I go. To fill my burb would cost $160!!!

11mpg means only about a 440 mile range.

[jimmini]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

NIMBY - a major cause of gasolene price hikes worldwide....

The inability of US refiners to keep up with demand is a constant nusance to the world gasolene spot market. No one in the USA has made a new refinery in 20+ years; and expansion and renewal at operating plants can't happen when they are working 101% capacity; so we are stuck paying commodities traders top dollar to make-up real or perceived shortfalls, and the trading houses love to feel important so act on every news-byte that is uttered... And don't even think about muttering 'Hurricane"!

A energy chicken-and-the-egg conumdrum...

You are 110% right.But not in my back yard has not help when you can not build or expand refineries because no one wants one in there back yard and all the Gov green fokes take years to get one approved if you lucky. Commodities traders they serve no usefull purpuse.

Jimmini

the squarestream family

You at us because we are different.
We at you because you are all the same.

[ScottW]

$267.9 at Sam's in Southhaven, MS, today...

[bfred]

After reading all these posts, everyone forgot about the election. Did anyone notice the decrease just before and after? You might buy all that BS the politicians and oil marketing people want you to believe. If it is supply and demand, no one buy gas or fuel on the weekend and see if the prices go down.(not) As a construction trades crane operator, I have worked on too many oil refineries for that capacity thing to hold any weight. The oil companies like the drug companies have all the government people in their back pocket and can do and charge whatever they want. The commodies market know what they are doing too.(record profits). If everyone on this thread would call their congressmen, it might do some good, but the election is over. I called all of mine last week and only one took my address. Before the election, those that were running called me back personally and expressed a desire to solve the problem and they all agreed that it might be just greed on the oil companies part.(go figure)
Good luck to everyone and happy camping.

[robert claus]

Pulling a 19' Bambi with my Sprinter last fall, I averaged 17 mpg (my normal mileage is 22-23). Diesel fuel has become a premium product, though.
That's about the max I can pull - 5000#, however,and that's pushing the rating to the limit. It felt just fine, though, and the trailer only made itself known on hills. What I'd love to have is one of the Airstreams they've started selling in Europe. Check out http://europe.airstream.com/product
About 22 ft overall length, just over 3000#. A bit narrower, and the only tradeoff from our Bambi is that you have to make up the bed from the dinette every day. I think it's not actually Airstream that's building them, but probably a European licensee. A/S will need to sell them here as fuel becomes more of an issue, IMHO.

[dpandorf]

I just priced Fiji bottled water by the case: $8.35/gallon.

Haven't heard too many people complaining about that.

Milk's approching $4.00/gallon haven't heard too many people complaining about that.

The last time I checked it's way easier making clean water and getting milk than it is gasoline.

The company making the most money per gallon of gasoline is the US Federal Govt. What work have they done to collect a nice percentage of the work required to produce the fuel we use?

[safari57]

My wife paid $3.26 gal for regular gas on I-5 north of Seattle on Saturday. Regular gas in BC is around $1.209 per L. (3.785 L per US gal). Exchange rate was $0.891 to go from Canadian to US$, or US$ is worth 1.1223 to a Canadian $. That puts us over the $4 per US gal mark. Not a pretty sight, but it's a fact of life.

For us the easy way to get around this is drink Rotten Ronnie's coffee instead of Starbucks and cook in the trailer a few more times than we would normally and it all evens out the cash flow. At least we're out in the trailer enjoying life. Also shorter driving trips which means less wear and tear on the vehicles (and us) as we enjoy the areas everyone else comes to see. One advantage of living in the mountains on the coast is you don't have to go too far to feel like you are far away from home.

Barry