Fuel costs for upcoming trip...

[Desert_Captain]

A retired old guy with time on his hands and a calculator :S
We are going to Buckskin mountain State Park on the Colorado River north of Parker Arizona from our home in Payson for a 4 day 3 n night trip next week. From home Buckskin mountain is 254 miles and side trips on our Can Am up to Oatman to visit the wild Burros and enjoy a nice stretch of old Route 66 adds another 81 miles the second day we will ride up to Laughlin and try our luck at a couple our favorite casinos which is 98 miles. Both side rides are awesome bike roads and the weather looks to be fantastic.

We will be driving our 24'Nexus Class C and towing my 6 X 10' {8' tall} cargo trailer hauling our Can Am Spyder. When towing I get 8.5 mpg as the tall cargo trailer does add some windage to the equation. Riding the Can Am "briskly" :B I get 40 mpg. Total mileage for this trip will be 966 miles, 508 driving our coach and 458 on the Spyder.

Gas is currently $4.49 for regular and the fuel for the coach will be 60 gallons = $269. Fuel for the Can Am will be 9 gallons = $40. Total fuel bill at $4.50 a gallon = $309. If gas was a dollar a gallon less the whole trip would come in at $241 for a difference of $68. Our combined mileage nets out at 14 mpg and I can live with that.

We all want to see lower fuel prices but $68 is not going to keep me home when we can be out enjoying one of our favorite trips...and no, this is not our first time. Add in the State Park fees and the whole trip rings in at right at $400 which is a lot of fun for not all that much money.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Can Am Spyder here is shot of ours, a 2017 Spyder RT next to the coach:



:C

[bobndot]

That’s cool. Tnx for the info. My wife will probably try to adopt one.

BTW, she is on a Spyder kick now.
We sold our full dress BMW after 125,000 m , but now she is liking the 3 wheels .

[Desert_Captain]

They are so sweet and gentle and smarter than you might think. When you walk up to the booth selling alfalfa pellets to feed them they follow you. We always bring a bunch of carrots to feed them and they love it. If you come to see them know that they usually don't come down out of the hills until after noon. On an early morning visit they will often be a no show.



They own that little town and other than a couple of bars and a lot of tee shirt shops the burros are the only game in town. If they decide to lay down in the middle of the road don't even think about honking as they have the right of way for as long as they like.






:B

[bobndot]

DC, don’t forget to put a light on your helmet, those burros are used to being around miners ??
Enjoy and stay safe,
B n D

[Desert_Captain]

Grit dog wrote:
First off, Like Button for the Spyder! I want to take one of them for a rip one of these days! I generally stick to off road toys, snomachines, snobikes, dirtbikes, but those look fun!

Yep, the Spyder is a lot of fun. I traded my Indian Springfield in on it about a year ago. As I closed in on 70 the 875# Indian was getting to be a lot to push around. The Spyder is all about comfort but with awesome performance {1330 cc Rotax 3 cylinder in line motor scoots but is very smooth and quiet}. The semi auto trans, electric adjustable windshield, adjust on the fly air suspension, heated grips fore and aft saddlebags and front/rear trunks, all work well and what the heck... it keeps my knees in the breeze!

For off road fun I have a nice little Polaris 570 Rzr SXS that like the Spyder just fits inner cargo trailer.



Here is the Rzr on 1/26/21 and yes it is a blast in the snow!:



:B

[stickdog]

We canceled our volunteer position this summer $5.00 diesel 0n a 3000 mile round trip adds $650 to the fuel bill. I regret canceling but retired and fixed income this temporary inflation is doing a number on the budget. $300 increase on the RV insurance and haven't got the increase on the vehicles yet.

[delwhjr]

We just finished a 1000 mile trip. Gas was up but the memories are worth more. We will continue to travel as we want. Time can not be saved and not going eats into that time.

[ernie1]

According to "Market Watch" diesel prices are expected to rise 25-35% in the coming weeks. Hold on tight!

[Grit_dog]

On the upside, AV gas 100LL and race gas is comparatively cheap right now, around here at least.
AV hasn't gone up since the fuel price jump. Just filled up some cans for $5.73/gal and a buddy got a barrel of Trick 110 for under $7/gal.

[Sandia_Man]

We have done a couple of trips over the last few weeks and noticed fuel costs were roughly $60 more than last year. We all desire lower fuel prices, but hotels prices have skyrocketed as well, thusly I will continue using my RV as our preferred method of traveling, if I can help it I only use hotels on business.

For those who have 1000+ mile trips planned for this year it may be a game changer where they might hold off and stay closer to home, hopefully fuel prices will relax some in the next few months. Enjoy your time at AZ state parks on the Colorado river, we love the area as well and always make a stop in Laughlin.

[Grit_dog]

First off, Like Button for the Spyder! I want to take one of them for a rip one of these days! I generally stick to off road toys, snomachines, snobikes, dirtbikes, but those look fun!

[RetiredRealtorR]

I fully agree. That additional $68 for a 4-day trip shouldn't keep any of us from enjoying it.

However, that $68 for 4 days, annualized, is well over $6000, and that DOES make a difference.

No, we wouldn't drive the same number of miles in the same vehicle that gets 8.5mpg, but the point is still the same.

I still can't figure out why, when diesel fuel started to become more costly at the pump than regular . . . and then a LOT more than regular . . . why wasn't there a tremendous uprising? It seems as though everyone operating a diesel-fueled vehicle sort of sat there and took it, even the long haul truckers.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that diesel fuel takes far less refining than gasoline, yet the prices climbed and climbed with little or no pushback. (sorry, got off the subject there, but just felt like venting a bit :C)