37,500 mile road trip

[Carol White]

Hi Mark -

All the stats (highs-lows; best-worst; etc.) for our trip are still up on our original travel website - http://home.att.net/~retirement_lifestyles -- it is still fun for us to look back on all the fun we had during that year.

Our average for motels was $79.50 including tax and including at least a dozen nights over $100 (New York City, Washington, DC, Sanibel, FL, etc.)

Our most expensive night was for The Greenbrier Inn in White Sulphur Springs, W VA -- a place I had long dreamed of staying and it was truly a magical experience and worth every dollar of the $500 tab -- including meals and the spa -- yes, that was one night! You only go around once -- and we figured we may never get back there.

Our high gas was $2.35 a gallon near Death Valley, CA and our lowest was $1.22 in Georgia -- our average was $1.56.

Gas was our 5th largest expenditure and 5% of our overall budget. I recently recalculated it at $2.35 a gallon -- it would still have been our 5th largest expenditure and 8% of the total cost. PLEASE EVERYBODY, DON'T LET THE COST OF GAS KEEP YOU FROM DOING A LONG TRIP OF A LIFETIME - there are so many other factors to consider.

Live Your Road Trip Dream!

Carol White

[Mark Sedenquist]

Our high gas was $2.35 a gallon near Death Valley, CA and our lowest was $1.22 in Georgia -- our average was $1.56.

Carol, Thanks for the field report. An average of only $1.56 per gallon is really a reflection of the "good ole days" -- I find myself shocked when I can ever find gas for less than $2.25 per gallon on the road.

PLEASE EVERYBODY, DON'T LET THE COST OF GAS KEEP YOU FROM DOING A LONG TRIP OF A LIFETIME

Don't worry, we are keeping an informal straw poll about the "real" effects of higher fuel costs on the average roadtripper and there is surprisingly little direct correlation. Like it has been the last two decades -- (the lack of enough) time is always a more controlling factor or parameter for planning purposes. Now, when gas reaches $5.00 per gallon -- maybe we will see some impact.

Thanks for the report!

Mark

[PNW Judy]

The estimated cost of fuel used on a roadtrip is one of the things I like the most about MS Streets & Trips. Up here in WA State, we had a controversial raise to our gas taxes last year. It will rise incrementally over the next several years until it's an additional 9.5 cents in 2009. The money is earmarked to our DOT for maintenance and improvements of roads...always a good thing, imho. Anyway, last year, it went up the first 3 cents. People were calling into radio stations complaining like crazy about how this makes it impossible for people to drive their cars and how they can't afford to go places anymore. Yada yada. I live near the coast which depends on tourism. People called up saying how nobody would travel to our coastal area anymore because of these gas hikes.

Since a good chunk of our weekend tourists come from the Seattle area, I was able to run a route from Seattle to Ocean Shores and back again (about 271 miles roundtrip). I input a vehicle getting a lowly 10mpg and 4 cents a gallon for gas (to reflect the 3.5 cent tax which the program rounded up to 4 cents). It would cost another $1.10 for the roundtrip if someone was driving this 10mpg gas hog.

I then did the same for the 9.5 cent total increase. It would cost another $2.72 roundtrip.

So, I called the radio station and informed them of this. You wouldn't believe the number of callers who were amazed it only made that much difference. In their minds, they were thinking it would add $10-20-30 to the cost of the trip!!

Anyway, while I'm all for saving a buck and paying the least I can for fuel, this just goes to show that increased fuel costs really don't impact a trip as much as some people think it will.

BTW, just for fun I just ran a trip from Seattle to Miami, driving this hypothetical 10mpg vehicle, and an extra 10 cents in gas costs would make this trip cost a whopping $33.38 more. I would hardly think that's a dealbreaker on whether or not one could afford this trip.

Thanks for the report, Carol. It's an interesting topic.

[Syv]

I'm planning a little jaunt from Ontario Canada to NEW MEXICO, up to WYOMING, and back to Canada. Any one from these states that can let me know approximately what to expect for gas prices per US gallon?

Thanks,
Sylvia

[Mark Sedenquist]

I'm planning a little jaunt from Ontario Canada to NEW MEXICO, up to WYOMING, and back to Canada. Any one from these states that can let me know approximately what to expect for gas prices per US gallon?

Sylvia, you can find accurate gas prices for (just about) any location in North America by following the links on the fuel calculator page. But the quick version can be seen here for Wyoming, and New Mexico All other states are current within 60 hours on our page.

Mark