Now that we've entered the realm of gas and pot, I recall these commodities were somewhat different in price in the early '70's—fill up the tank for a lot less than an ounce cost (one time $8 for an oz., but usually somewhat more; "a youthful indiscretion"). The pot was imported, though no import tariffs were collected, but a lot of gas still came from the US.
Now to fill up a tank can cost $75-90 (more for diesel) and almost all is imported. An earlier post said pot was $200/oz., but it can go for half that. Most of that is now grown in the good old USA, though it also comes from our friends in BC (NAFTA has no effect on this commodity).
It seems the ratio has changed and pot is now relatively less expensive than gas and you can get more miles from an oz. than from a gallon. That's good old American ingenuity keeping the price down and in the spirit of those colonist smugglers who made the colonies free in the 1770's.
No doubt if China produced either of these commodities for export, unleaded gas would have lead in it and the pot would come in pewter bags.
Certainly commodities produced close to home have lower transport costs and fewer bribes must be paid. So pot, which produces oxygen while growing, but like gas, is burned, has a smaller carbon footprint than gas.
And, finally, I do remember the '60's and '70's, I know I was there, "it was a long strange trip", and now I can go "truckin'" with my Airstream.
Heading home with our Airstream last light from the river and reg gas was up tp $3.64 a gallon. What amazes me is that the gas in the ground tanks is still them same gas it was on Friday, so the cost is the same as the delivery but because our wonderful media, newspapers, evening news, and even our web providers home pages tell us look out gas maybe $4.00 a gallon in a few weeks, guess what? Everystation owner in America is going to make sure he is charging $4.00 dependant on what it cost him. There are a ton of reasons for the increase of gasoline some real most not. Someone somewhere is making money hand over fist but us concumers are getting hit real hard. And not jst at the pumps either. Everything we purchase as comoditites arrives at the stores via trucks, and those trucks run on diesel, hence the awfull increase in diesel prices. Oh there is a master plan and we seem to be getting real hard in the you know where. Gas is off the scale, milk is more per gallon than a cow, fresh fruits and vegetable rising in cost and right now it is almost impossible to give employees any type of raise to help keep ends meet. Sure, I will admit it is a lot worse in othe countries, but this is not the American way, lining ones pockets while taking the bottom out of fellow Americans.
__________________ J. Rick Cipot Sandi Gould NEUNew England Unit Airstream Life Magazine WBCCI #3411 AIR #17099 2009 Silverado 2500HD 2004 22' Safari 1960 24' Tradewind
I have avoided the this thread in the past because of the impending pain that I knew it would cause!! Kidding aside, I had to laugh at the prices at the start of the thread in 2003 and how people were complaining when gas went up to $1.70!!! Little did we know what we were in for......
__________________ Brian & Donna 08 27' Safari FB SE 03 Avalanche 2500 WBCCI #1199 - AIR #23847 NEU LIFE IS GOOD
At our local Shell station this morning he was $3.74 for regular. On the way home last night he was at $3.56. You can't tell me that he had a tanker there last night and the delivery was charged to him at May Future pricing! This is becoming legalized robbery of innocent folks and no one is doing a darn thing about it. Yes, we have been spoiled over the decades over low fuel prices but what kind of society allows a privilaged few rape those of us who are dependant on our cars just to get to work?
__________________ J. Rick Cipot Sandi Gould NEUNew England Unit Airstream Life Magazine WBCCI #3411 AIR #17099 2009 Silverado 2500HD 2004 22' Safari 1960 24' Tradewind
I have avoided the this thread in the past because of the impending pain that I knew it would cause!! Kidding aside, I had to laugh at the prices at the start of the thread in 2003 and how people were complaining when gas went up to $1.70!!! Little did we know what we were in for......
A-friggen-men!
Do you realize that towing my 25' 325 miles last week cost me $315, including about 100 miles of local driving once I got to my destination?
On average in the greater Louisville area the lowest I could find 87 octane was $3.49.
Got back to Chicago and 87 octane was $3.69. One place had diesel for $4.39
...and from the sounds of it folks, over $4 for 87 octane is going to be the norm, more than the exception as it is now.
For me it's not a jet/hotel vs RVing type thing as a number of our friends feel. It's never really been that kind of comparision to me (mostly for the reasons we all know here), but I now find myself asking the question if it makes sense to do 3-4 trips a season compared to just 1 or 2, or maybe just 1? At some point, even the most robust of budgets has to rethink spending several thousand dollars for fuel costs for a season's 3-4 trips, which is entirely possible in today's climate.
__________________
Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 11/91
I wanted to add my comments regarding costs per mile. I ran some numbers on what it cost to travel per mile with our rig back in 2002 when we first bought our Airstream, and currently in 2008.
This includes our tow rigs depreciation, registration, insurance, maintenance, and fuel per gallon.
Also I calculated in the difference in annual miles driven which in 2002 was 14,000 miles and today the tow rig is down to 3,000 miles annually.
August, 2002 = .225 cents per mile
April, 2008 = .65 cents per mile
Jeff
87 octane in Langley, BC today was $1.29 Liter. We are close to the $5.00 US per gal mark and the expectation is we'll hit $1.40 during May which equates to close to $5.25 US gal.
On Saturday 87 octane in Mt. Vernon, WA was $3.69 US gal. People wonder why we Canucks thing you folks south of the border have it made and you folks think we must be crazy to pay what we pay.
I'm just glad I invested in the oil companies when they were cheap so at least I see some of it returned on the back end. Not enough, but anything is better than nothing.
Barry
__________________ You never hear of people dieing in their Airstream, only at home and in hospitals. So, live long by getting out and enjoying your Airstream.
Barry & Donna Life is short - so's the door on an Flying Cloud (ouch)
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Haven't been able to make it to a Forum Rally yet....
But I have an idea why everyone says there so much fun.
If you can remember the 60's, you probably weren't there
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