Well, gas prices have sure put a crimp in my plans! On my last trip to the mountains (before the hurricane hit the New Orleans area) I did not pull the little popup camper thinking I would save a couple of miles per gallon and stayed in the tent. But no savings in that I drive faster when not towing the camper and there goes the mileage!

I drive an '02 GMC Sierra pick-up, regular cab, short box, 2 whl drive, automatic with the small V-8 (4.8). Found the sweet spot for the best gas mileage to be 62 mph on the highway, and not towing at that speed will deliver an honest 21 1/2 mpg (have a low profile fiberglass truck bed cover that helps improve highway mileage). Just increasing speed to 65 will drop the mileage better than 1/2 mpg. At 70 it will drop to just under 20 mpg; ff course, getting into the high country and it will drop another 2 mpg. Towing the little camper in level country will give 19 1/2 mpg, dropping off in the mountains another 3 mpg.

With gas prices in the neighorhood of $3.80/gal, can't afford to go anywhere, towing the camper or not! If it's not one thing, than it's another, to keep me from my favorite fishing holes!

Dale

I filled up last Monday, 29th of August at 9:30 a.m. Regular unleaded was $ 2.359. Prices began to climb the next day. They finally peaked at $ 2.99 for regular unleaded.

Went camping for the labor day weekend (traveled only 40 miles and stayed around camp). I didn't even hike as I usually do because the trail was several miles from the campground.

The campground had been reserved to capacity, but there were many cancellations,I'm sure due to the gas prices.

They are beginning to come down now, in fact, yesterday the
price dropped by $ .25/gallon in two hours! Maybe now they will come down to reasonable.

Jo

Hey Jo - gas prices really dropped over this way, too. They really have their excuses now for raising prices (gouging a better word), but over the years the prices always shot up over the summer holidays; Memorial Day, the 4th, Labor Day. But the beach traffic was way down this Labor Day so I know that put a lot of hurt on those whose living is based on the vacationing public. Have not been to town today but understand they are now under $3.00/gal.

If they would get anywhere near "reasonable" I'd make another run up into the mountains for a fall try at the trout!

Dale

I just got back today from Callaway Gardens and Charleston, SC. On the way , 8-31-05, the prices went from 2.35 to 3.29. Just E of Atlanta some stations were out of unleaded and some only had unleaded. I couldn't figure that one out.We made it into Pine Mountain, GA 9-1-05. The gas was 3.29, the next day it was 3.09. In Charleston the prices ranged from 2.99 to 3.29. On the way back at the Kangaroo station on 95 by Fayetteville they would only let you have "20" of gas. It didn't say gals or dollars. I took it to mean 20 gallons cause I put in 34 dollars. In Carthage, NC its 3.09 and across the street its 3.07, a good reason to cross the street now days.

The last price I saw around here (northern Virginia) was $2.95 for regular, but I have to use premium. I'm planning to take trips to Beaufort, SC, Gaspe and New Brunswick (or maybe New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), and finally Texas in the next 8 weeks. Maybe 8,000 to over 10,000 miles. The good part is that I get 45 to 50 miles a gallon.

Brian - now I know your going to bivouac out on those trips and not retreat back into the comfort of some motel! Right? (LOL)

Dale

I pay about $ 2.91 regular and $ 3.10 for premium (high-compression Harley 95" V-Twin)in San Diego. Here in the West we are forced to burn oxygenated fuel from Alaska, so when we pay more for Louisiana refinery woes it's truly gouging. However, in the other states who don't burn CA/AZ/NV fuel, the causes are also litigation from environmentalists who have prevented refinery construction, offshore Gulf & West Coast drilling moritoriums and ANWR drilling resistance over the past 30 years. There is a 2nd cause, India and China are moving crude values up considerably as their industrial growth demands ever-increasing fuel amounts. I think we need to get used to it or start voting Republican. :)

Dale,
I spent most of the time on this last trip in a house in Beaufort, but did camp three days. Two of those days with Carol in different campsites in South Carolina on lakes. One night we were the only ones in the campground, full moon over the lake that was steps away and warm enough to be very pleasant to swim in. On the way back I camped along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was OK, nothing special, and I packed up in heavy rain and had to deal with riding the motorcycle in dense fog the first two hours getting back to interstates.

I found out that two of the Thermarest Guidelites (full length but 20" wide) were OK for two people, but on the way back I was by myself and one was definitely not good enough for me alone. I ended up rolling the second one out in the middle of the night. I'll either always carry two, or switch back to a Thermarest LE Long when by myself. We'll definitely use the LE's when car camping, they are slightly more comfortable and, of course, roomier.

On the other hand, switching from the Eureka Timberline 4 to a Sierra Designs Sirius 3 tent worked well. We'll keep the Timberline for car camping, but I'll exclusively use the Sierra on the bike.

The only other new piece of equipment was a GSI Lexan 30 oz coffee press. Makes much "cleaner" coffee than the Nissan Stainless, and is lighter and slightly more compact. I still have the GSI 10 oz, may just throw out the Nissan...or keep it for when we need regular and decaf at home, and use an extra post coffee-making filter.

The trip to Nova Scotia was a victim of the motorcycle being in the shop for over three weeks while the dealer and Honda (including an engineer specifically for the ST1300) figured out why the rear brakes were locking up. I finally got the bike back a couple of days before I was planning to head to Texas. I suppose the good news is that the bike was flawless for the 5,000 mile trip and that the experience cost me nothing since I have a 7 year unlimited mileage warranty. Well, it did cost me the trip to N.S. This is the first year since 2000 I haven't made it up there. I had a great ride down to Austin and back, visiting with my college senior daughter and even taking in a KucKooKlan demonstration. I passed out about 70 "ONE HUMAN FAMILY" stickers to a bunch of people who were really happy to get them. One guy said he was a grand wizard with the KucKooKlan, so I offered him one, but he didn't seem to like it.

Because of the weather (including some snow, now that is NOT fun on a motorcycle), I only got in two days of camping, but really enjoyed it. I'm becoming more and more fond of the little candle lantern, and it is great camping when the campgrounds are nearly abandoned and so quiet. Temps were around 30 degrees at night, which is about the lowest I have the equipment to handle.

Just returned from a trip to Charleston, SC, late this afternoon (medical stuff to take care of), and on the way back topped the gas tank in Georgetown (Jo, have I got your attention?) - and the gas there was $2.05/gal - the best price for the whole stretch.

Brian - lucky the brakes did not go bonkers while you were on the road! That would have been a real BIG lay over!

Once upon a time I did quite a bit of camping in colder weather (for hunting and even trout & salmon fishing), but these bones are getting to where I've just got to have some reasonable weather. I can make my little popup fairly comfortable down to around freezing but from there, it's an uphill battle to keep the little camper cozy.

Dale