Petrolium is a finite natural resource as is natural gas, coal, and uranmium, among others. They will all run out at some point, and as they become limited, demand will outstrip supply, and prices will soar. Supply can also be limited if the major producers decide to limit production. That is what you are seeing over the last several decades. OPEC and others have limited oil production to keep oil prices up (BTW, there are many who believe that diamonds are extremely common, but producers create an artificially low supply, but I digress). Refineries are not being built in anticipation of need, but to meet current needs (maybe). A secondary derivative market buys/sells oil options that ends up manipulating prices. The cost of gasoline at the pump is in the hands of others, but someday will become ridiculous--but when is someday? In the meantime, people like you and me are at the whims of others as it comes to gas/diesel prices. We do have some ability to control things, doubling the MPG in our cars effectively reduces our $ per mile in half. Regardless of what we do, we are only postponing the inevitable.
But enough doom and gloom. If your MH gets 10 MPG, and the distance from East Coast to West Coast is 2500 miles, for each dollar the price of gas increases, the cost of going one-way cross country increases by only $250. If you travel 500 miles per day--which is a farily high continuous rate--your additional cost is $50 per day.
