How much more (gas $) to SoWal and back?

[Kurt]

I think prices are up about a dollar a gallon from last Summer. Just wondering if it is a real hardship or more perceived and inflated by media. I realize times may be tough for people and don't mean to make light of anyone's hardship so I apologize for hurting anyone's feelings. just wondering if travel plans will be altered.

I fill up about once a week and hold about 12 gallons so I figure living in SoWal is costing me about $50/month more than last Summer.

How much more will you pay for gas getting to and from SoWal?

 

[GoodWitch58]

from what I heard from AAA, Memorial Day travel was down more than ever since they have been keeping records...not sure exactly what that mean.

My gas expense is up...and I get 32 mph ! I find that I consolidate trips more. It's not just the cost of gas, but the cost of everything else--especially food--is up too.

 

[Mermaid]

For you, Kurt, I'll do some arithmetic.

750 miles to SoWal from Indianapolis
20 miles a gallon (might get more but the calculator isn't handy)
37.5 gallons of gas each way

$3/gallon equals $112.50 each way
$4/gallon equals $150.00 each way
$37.50 more in 2008 or $65.00 round trip

The difference between this year and last is the price of a dinner, give or take.

 

[BeachSiO2]

Considering the demographics of visitors to Sowal, the fact that gas prices are also hitting airlines, in the past few years people have been taking shorter vacations that are conducive to automobile trips, people are still going to take vacations, and other factors, I will go out on a limb and in my big ol run-on sentence and say that Sowal will have its biggest year ever with numbers in the order of 8% more than last year. However, all bets are off if we have another active hurricane season with impacts in the Florida panhandle.

In other words for Sowal visitation, I don't see the gas price increase as an issue in the coming year. If it gets to $4.50 a gallon it could be a different story.

 

[Gypsea]

I know mass transit is up for commuters. So much so that some cities are having a hard time keeping up.

If its affecting people just going to work you would think that the gas prices would also have to make some people think twice before they head to the beach.


By Larry Copeland and Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
Michael Rhoads, an engineer who lives near Albuquerque, saves $160 a month taking a commuter train. Mike Elder, a motorcycle salesman in California, cut his daily gas expense from $30 to $10 by switching from a pickup to a motorcycle. Jeff McCutchan, a quality assurance engineer in Snoqualmie, Wash., saves $14.25 a day through the vanpool he formed two weeks ago.
Commuters across the USA, pushed to the wall by soaring gas prices, increasingly are turning to alternate means of getting to and from work:
? Ridership on mass transit is up sharply in many cities, and the heftiest increases are on commuter rail lines. Transit officials say the increase is directly related to gas prices. Daily ridership on South Florida's Tri-Rail, which runs parallel to Interstate 95 from near West Palm Beach to Miami, was 28% higher last month than in April 2007, says Bonnie Arnold, spokeswoman for the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.
It's a pattern repeated over and over: In places where commuters have a transit option, they're taking it. Ridership on the Southern California Regional Rail Authority's Riverside-Fullerton-Anaheim Metrolink line was up 8% in March over March 2007, spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell says.
Philadelphia's transit system saw an 11% jump in March over March 2007 on its 13 regional rail lines, says Felipe Suarez, spokesman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Ridership is up significantly on the Maryland Transit Administration's MARC commuter trains. "Clearly, gas prices are driving it," says John Porcari, secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation.

 

[Gypsea]

There are three high school students in Kentucky that have started riding their horses to school. The commute takes up to 45 minutes each way. I wonder if that is how they pick up their dates.

 

[GoodWitch58]

Just heard that GM is closing four plants due to reduced sales of trucks and SUVs..due to high gas prices;

and, that airlines are cutting back drastically on the number of planes they are flying, especially to some of the smaller airports

Now I wonder what effect gas/fuel costs will have on the new airport?

Anyone?

 

[DD]

For you, Kurt, I'll do some arithmetic.

750 miles to SoWal from Indianapolis
20 miles a gallon (might get more but the calculator isn't handy)
37.5 gallons of gas each way

$3/gallon equals $112.50 each way
$4/gallon equals $150.00 each way
$37.50 more in 2008 or $65.00 round trip

The difference between this year and last is the price of a dinner, give or take.

What Mermy said. And thank you Mermy, for your calculations. It's about the same distance for us. I figure I can forgo a few meals and some other tiny things to make up for the difference. It wouldn't keep me from coming to SoWal. Now, if anyone wants to buy a perfectly wonderful Nissan Pathfinder, please pm me. :roll:

There are three high school students in Kentucky that have started riding their horses to school. The commute takes up to 45 minutes each way. I wonder if that is how they pick up their dates.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

Even as a local in DeFunk, if gas was cheaper, I'd come hang out with everyone more on the south end. So prices even affect what I do locally, much less long trips.

 

[InletBchDweller]

Considering the demographics of visitors to Sowal, the fact that gas prices are also hitting airlines, in the past few years people have been taking shorter vacations that are conducive to automobile trips, people are still going to take vacations, and other factors, I will go out on a limb and in my big ol run-on sentence and say that Sowal will have its biggest year ever with numbers in the order of 8% more than last year. However, all bets are off if we have another active hurricane season with impacts in the Florida panhandle.

In other words for Sowal visitation, I don't see the gas price increase as an issue in the coming year. If it gets to $4.50 a gallon it could be a different story.

I have talked with several rental owners and companies in the last few days and they said that they predict a good rental year. (barring no 'canes) I also think that people are driving to close destinations this year..

al. Now, if anyone wants to buy a perfectly wonderful Nissan Pathfinder, please pm me. :roll:

would it come with or without a cornhole load of sowal stickers all across the back?