We plan to keep on trucking! We just did Tampa to Portland via Phoenix. 3200 miles and haven't counted the fuel yet. Didn't hit $4 a gallon for diesel until I got to Phoenix.
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Beagle-Maggie
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It's not. We're driving over to CA in a couple of weeks. We were supposed to go to Mexico (closer) but decided to head to Sea World instead. So clearly, fuel is not an issue. Diesel prices are outrageous but we forge on. We also just booked two trips up north for the hot months!
we haven't taken delivery yet of our fiver (it's due in 18 days. not that I'm counting or anything!) but the current gas prices won't really change our plans. we had been discussing whether to take the fiver on a 1,700-mile trip we'll have to do in August to finalize our adoption of our son and making a week-long vacation out of it instead for the heck of it, but we might end up flying instead since it looks like the cost will be similar and why burn the vacation time doing mostly driving to and fro. but that's not really a change in plans because we hadn't decided yet if we wanted to drive.
the gas prices are a slight influence on our thoughts about driving vs. flying, however. if we had the time to stay longer once we got there, more than three days, we'd still do it. but 2-1/2 days of driving each way and only three days to enjoy the sights and spending $$ on about 3,500 miles of gas? seems like too much trouble. at even $4 a gallon, assuming we get about 8mpg, that's $1,750 in gas. And I think diesel is already $4.07 a gallon in our area, so we could pay way more than that on the road since our gas prices are less than some other places. Plus, I have no idea what the gas mileage will be in our truck with the fiver attached. my husband changed something on the exhaust as soon as he bought the truck in February and that upped his gas mileage from about 12mpg to 14.5mpg. but when we pulled a full, 16-foot utility trailer the other day our gas mileage was 10mpg. so guessing it will be a bit less than that with a heavier fiver.
Airline tix will be about $1,200 for the three of us and less if we carry the baby on our laps, so we might as well just fly and enjoy the extra time in the city we're visiting instead of driving.
but we have already booked a trip to Gatlinburg for the summer months, which is about 6 hours from our house, and we plan on doing plenty of shorter Fri-Sun weekend caming trips which by their very nature would need to be within a two or three hour drive of our house to make it worth our time. We don't really have enough spare time this summer to do any more longer trips other than the long trip for the adoption.
Flying? Then you miss everything that's in between.
We always considered the drive from here to there as part of the vacation. One reason we have always driven. When the kids were growing up we could afford gas and hotel rooms, but, not 4 airline fares, so, more driving (thank god for mini-vans!). Now days we'd not consider flying and cost is not the issue. When we take the same route we just stay at a different town. Sometimes we take a slightly longer or out of the way route just to see what it is like.
charlie
2006 Toyota Tundra Crew Cab
2003 Skyline Nomad 24ft Fiver
Me and Wife
Maggie the Old English Sheepdog
The sky is NOT falling at our house. Last year we did every other weekend trips but this year we plan on most weekends. Winter in ND is too long so we will enjoy RVing as much as we can in the summer.
Every meal is a feast, everyday is a parade and every paycheck is a fortune!
Winter is not far off, the misery begins
Made one major adjustment. Had planned on heading to Branson in June for a week. Just can not justify the miles from NJ to MO for only one week with diesel here at 4.19 and getting 8/5 mpg. We plan to fulltime starting 2/09 (provided house is sold) so lots of time to travel at a slower pace. However, we are going to Scotland in Sept. Can not imagine what we will pay for petro in Great Britain.
portablevcb wrote: Flying? Then you miss everything that's in between.
We always considered the drive from here to there as part of the vacation. One reason we have always driven. When the kids were growing up we could afford gas and hotel rooms, but, not 4 airline fares, so, more driving (thank god for mini-vans!). Now days we'd not consider flying and cost is not the issue. When we take the same route we just stay at a different town. Sometimes we take a slightly longer or out of the way route just to see what it is like.
charlie
yeah, but when time is an issue, sometimes the drive isn't that important. especially when we've BTDT five months ago to be there for our son's birth and back home again. if we were retired, it'd be a different story, but DH gets three weeks of vacation a year and we pick and choose where to use it up. and used up all of it for our son's birth and the wait for approval to leave the state with him so there isn't a full year's of vacay stored up yet for DH. and he's already been to NASCAR twice this year and has plans for two more NASCAR trips and then there's family visiting from Cali, etc, etc...vacay time is precious.
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if we were retired, it'd be a different story, but DH gets three weeks of vacation a year and we pick and choose where to use it up. and used up all of it for our son's birth and the wait for approval to leave the state with him so there isn't a full year's of vacay stored up yet for DH. and he's already been to NASCAR twice this year and has plans for two more NASCAR trips and then there's family visiting from Cali, etc, etc...vacay time is precious.
