What's Your Annual Rv Usage/mileage?

I was mistaken in what I said so I have removed my post so that I don't confuse everyone else.

 

My bad. Actually my post is a month after Jerry's because I didn't see his update 'til now. Maybe we can have a comprehensive "On the Mend" thread for site members' health updates so they won't get overlooked or buried in posts about other subjects? Just a thought...

 

OK, let's get this straight before everybody gets confused:

My last post was dated August 17th.
GandJ responded to it on September 16th.
TXBobcat thought both posts were September 17 which isn't here for a few hours.
Texasrvers thought both my and Gand J 's posts were from August - not so.

As for the idea of a "healing" thread, I started this thread years ago and I have been using it as a my own "update" thread for my travels as they relate to the gas cost of traveling. It just happens that this year my travelling and thus total mileage, has been significantly reduced by medical issues. Prior to this year, I haven't had a year with my RV mileage under 12,000 since my retirement over 15 years ago. Before the prices started to go nuts 10+ years ago, my yearly average was over 18,000 miles a year. The two trips I have managed to take so far this year have totalled a measly 5,500 miles - half what I normally have by this point in the year. If the medical appointments of the next 2 weeks go well enough, we may try to get a third trip in but I doubt that it will, at most, be enough to get us over 10,000 miles for the year.

 

I am so glad Jerry has the eyesight to see what the dates really were and the brainpower to explain it to the rest of us!

 

Hi TX,

Thanks for the compliments but I'm not sure they are deserved. As I fast approach 65, my eyesight has been faltering in recent years and I was able to explain the misconceptions only because I was part of the scenario.

Back to the topic. The last 3 or 4 days of my recently (we got home this morning) concluded trip showed a significant rise in gas prices. My understanding is that the increase is a reflection of the current middle east violence toward the US supposedly because of some anti-Moslem film trailer on the internet. I went from paying $3.60ish in SD to almost $4 in southern WI. I passed on the $4+ in IL the last 100 miles home. I know WI and IL gas is more expensive than SD, but it wasn't this much a week ago. It is sad that the gas companies can get away with raising prices because something happened that MIGHT increase their costs sometime down the road. They've been pulling this stunt (and others) for over a decade.

 

The trouble is that the gas companies use this both ways. Price of crude goes up: "oh, we have to raise the prices right now because we'll soon be paying more for crude". Price of crude goes down: "oh, we can't lower the prices right away because we're still selling gas produced from the more expensive crude." Uh..... But until I can figure how to run the rig on water, we're stuck with their fuzzy economics.

 

Our travel depend upon what we want to do and see. Take Alaska for instance, that was a 9,000 thousand mile trek, and covered 56 days. Our last big trip was 7,500 miles and we traveled in 14 states. This year we only were out 4 times, for a total of less than 500 miles. Our next big trip?

 

Well, we managed to get on the road for a full 5 weeks for our fall trip. We made it all the way to southern Utah and enjoyed some of its' spectacular scenery (Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef National Parks along with Cedar Breaks National Monument and Monument Valley (think all those John Ford movies of the 1940s/50s starring John Wayne. We went from IL to MO and then AR, TN, MS, LA, TX, NM, AZ, and finally UT. We came back pretty much the reverse route state wise and managed to put on over 5,000 miles. So, we did crack the 10,000 miles total for the year.

There were no major price fluctuations during the trip except for a bit a a rise after a refinery fire in Califronia. Fortunately, we were home before Sandy struck the northeast. I heard yesterday that prices were actually falling because of the drop in demand for gas as a result of the way Sandy froze travel in the northeast.

How long is it until next May?

 

To answer the final question of my previous post - it is three weeks and a few hours until May. I almost added a post to this thread over a month ago when that still unexplained half a buck jump in gas prices took place in February. After paying $3.50-3.60 a gallon in January,my last two fillups have been over $4/gal. Chicago prices are on the high side. Prices seemed to have stabilized in March. I'm still waiting for the, what I believe is bogus, price rise due to the spring change to "warm weather" gas. This usual spring price jump may put most of the country at or over the $4 mark. It could be an interesting to see what the gas prices do the next few months leading up to the main travel season.

Personally, I've had another physical setback this late winter/spring that may delay my hitting the road this May. Long story fairly short: recurrance of leg problems led me to believe I was having tendon problems again but it turned out to be spine problems (spinal stenosis is one of the terms used). After over a month of pills, a epidural steroid injection in the lower spin, and more pills, I am back to being fairly mobile and able to drive. While nowhere near 100%, I've progressed well enough that the neurosurgeon has put off back surgery for now. I see him again 4/30 for a followup and hopefully will be able to hit the road in May. Fingers and toes crossed.

 

So sorry to hear about your recent health problems. I sure hope that you heal quickly and that you are able to get on the road as soon as the weather lets you.

 

Jerry, to comment on you last message about gas prices, we recently took a week+ trip to CA from home state of CO. We encountered reasonable prices, anywhere from $3.45-3.65 in most states, but got sticker shock in CA at $4.15. I was proud we put over 3500 miles on our old '89 Southwind, with only a couple of minor problems.

We usually total about 5K miles per year.

Hope you feel better soon, and can get back on the road soon!

 

I'm going to make you guys cry. We just saw $3.23 here in south Texas. The problem is that sounds great. But it is not when you consider how much lower it used to be and should be!

 

We are finally on the brink of our travel season. We head south tomorrow for our usual spring trip to MS and LA. The gas prices here in Chicago are still unbelievable. A local news show a few days ago said we have the highest city prices in the lower 48. They are still well over $4 everywhere locally and I even saw a station today whose lowest priced gas was $4.57/gallon. Considering the amount of gas I used over the winter keeping the batteries and generator up, I am hoping to get a couple hundred miles south of here before I have to get gas. I'm certainly looking forward to relatively cheaper gas during this trip.

 

We have WAWA gas stations opening all over Central Florida and I've noticed that anywhere one of them has opened, the other stations have had to lower their prices. Gas is the cheapest I've seen in a long time. Luckily we're only heading to North Carolina and maybe Virginia this summer, so our gas consumption will be WAAAAY down (we usually put 13-15,000 miles on the truck in our 4-5 months on the road).

 

Well, our 4 week trip to MS and LA is about to end and we will be back to $4+ gas prices at home. Once we got out of IL and into MO 4 weeks ago, we paid between $3 and $3.40/gal. in MO, AR, MS, and LA. There were some guys in the RV park office this evening talking about gas prices north of here (Effingham, IL). They were saying that it was $3.80 in Champaign, IL and well over $4 in Joliet, IL. We usually top off around Kankakee, IL, so I'm guessing that our last fill will be over $4/gal. What lies ahead when we hit the road again in July?

 

Excellent thread!

The price of fuel really does influence our driving anywhere decisions...not just pulling the Travel Trailer.
We just came through a siege of over 3 weeks in our Northern Midwest area where the cheapest gasoline was in excess of $4.30 per gallon. Pulling the camper with the truck was out of the question. We actually limited our driving even into town for groceries to one trip a week which is combined with mandatory scheduled Dr. Appointments.


Both my husband and I are retired and our only income is Social Security. We do not delve into our retirement savings except for large purchases (cars) etc. We choose to live out of our monthly income. This involves saving up for trips lasting a month or more.

Fuel costs are the largest expense we encur while traveling with the RV.
Campgrounds are our next biggest expense.
If we are sightseeing intransit then entrance fees and tour tickets are our next biggest cost.
(We compensate for the high fuel costs by rarely eating in restauraunts)
We buy groceries locally and don't encur any more cost than if we were at home.
We carry a motor scooter with us, and use it for transportation while in a campground.

Gal from the North Country

 

It is hard to believe that we've been home for almost 5 weeks and will be leaving for our summer trip this Sunday. The local gas prices here have finally gotten down to around $4/gal. I was paying over $4.40 in the middle of June. I know almost the entire rest of the country has been cheaper than our general area (IL, WI, MI, etc.). It would be nice if we didn't have to pay anywhere near that for our entire 2 month trip. It is a long way out to Washington/Oregon and back. We usually put on about 7,000 miles on this kind of trip. We haven't been all the way out to the Pacific in 4 years.

I need to start adding to my review total since the are a couple of others on this site who have been cutting into my lead since the beginning of the year. Folks who travel all year have a big advantage over those of us who are only on the road 4 or 5 months a year.

 

Well i amswered this in 08 and i was at 165k now I am over 300k so the travel continues and I am still putting on 25,000 miles min a year.

 

New trailer this year, we are shooting for 40 nights but since it is all in New England the miles do not add up that much, trips are anywhere from 50 - 240 miles round trip for the most part.