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RVing and Higher Gas Prices

Do you dread filling up your RV?  How have the higher gas prices affected your RVing lifestyle?

With gas prices on the constant rise across the country, RVers are faced with huge gas bills when it comes to going camping and  traveling in their RVs.  Especially affected are those who want to travel further distances, rather than just go to the more local RV parks.

Every year my own grandparents look forward to coming from Washington State to Southern California to visit with their grand kids and now great grand kids.  In previous years, when gas prices weren’t so outrageous, they would come down in their RV and enjoy having their own private living space while here, hence extending their stay for an even longer period of time.  Now, with gas prices as they are, they are looking at paying a couple grand if they want to make that same trip.  Unfortunately, they can’t afford this more expensive travel, and therefore leave their RV at home and either fly or drive here in their economical car instead.  When I asked them if they were going to bring their RV this year, my grandma thought it was funny that I would even ask.  Unfortunately their RV trips have been restricted to only RV parks within their state, and usually no more than 150 miles from their home.

Even with filling up at Costco, which is oftentimes the cheapest gas you can find, RVers across the nation have had to scale back their vacation travel plans each year.  Sadly some just leave the RV behind, like my grandparents.  While others just can’t afford to travel as far, still others just don’t stay as long as they would have liked.

Some full timers won’t let the economy and rising fuel costs stop them as they continue to pursue their dreams of RVing across the nation.  They, like everyone else, just do what they can to limit the miles driven each year, stay in less expensive RV parks, and don’t eat out as much as they used to.  Here are some more quick and easy tips for making the most of your gas mileage:

• Pack lighter (reduces weight of RV and therefore uses less gas)
• Drive slower and steadier (don’t stomp on the gas or the brake, as it burns more gas when you do)
• Maintain the proper tire pressure in your tires
• Ease up on the gas earlier when you see cars stopped or a red light ahead                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Across the board, all RVers are affected by rising fuel costs.  It’s something we can do little to nothing about, so most just adjust their RVing in a way that works for them and others just avoid looking at the numbers go up as they fill up yet another tank of gas.

Last 5 posts by Cynthia Baum

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