Searching for diesel
Out in the western USA not all towns have gas stations and even fewer have diesel. Gasbuddy.com is worthless in these remote areas but I did happen upon a great resource on the Web. It is the onlin...
Forum Discussion
pkunk wrote:Redsky wrote:Open the GasBuddy Map and put in the Zip of where you want fuel. In the lower right corner change from reg gas to diesel. There you go.
Out in the western USA not all towns have gas stations and even fewer have diesel. Gasbuddy.com is worthless in these remote areas
Gasbuddy is the least valuable source for finding diesel. In 4 out of 5 towns on our route through eastern CA and eastern OR and up through Idaho there were no gasbuddy listings. Gasbuddy relies on individuals reporting prices and is useful for comparing costs where there are multiple gas stations.
With our rig and its 36 gallon tank our range can vary between 280 miles and 405 miles depending upon elevation gains, our payload, and the amount of wind. When planning fuel stops where I can buy diesel I use 270 miles as a safe driving distance so worst case we do not run out of diesel in the truck.
In many areas in Idaho and in southwest Idaho there are far fewer towns with diesel available as these towns do not sit on a major interstate.
The idea that areas with farmers has more diesel is dumb. Farmers use special fuel that is exempt from taxes for their equipment and most have a large fuel tank at their farm that they use. They are not going into town to buy fuel for their tractors and they are not selling their exempt diesel to RVer's and it is illegal to use in a highway vehicle.
If we stayed on major interstates we could hit the truck stops and not have a problem finding diesel. But we avoid the interstates and the value of our 4WD truck and camper is in being able to go on backcountry roads that are often 250 miles from the nearest place that sells diesel. That leaves little margin for error or for side trips in an area.
The west is a very big place if you do go exploring and get out of the big towns (like Elko for example). If we drove a motorhome or pulled a trailer we would be in a very different mode and would not be in the backcountry and not concerned about fuel stops. This should not be that difficult to understand with a little thought.
