Life on the Road

Our motorhome takes diesel fuel and has a 100 gallon tank. It gets, on average, about 8 miles to the gallon. I know, that’s terrible, but when you consider that your home probably gets 0 miles to the gallon…. okay, okay. But the fact is, we drive less now than ever before. We work from home, we go for walks, and we each have a more-or-less-functional bicycle. We try not to move the motorhome more than once a week, and we haven’t moved from our current spot since June 8th.

Diesel is very close to $5/gallon right now. By the time we fuel up next time, it will probably be well over $5/gallon. When we fuel up, we use the truck stops because there’s enough room to maneuver, and we frequently have to either go inside and hand over the credit card, or re-start the fueling every $50 to $100. For those playing along at home, with a 100-gallon tank, that can mean re-starting 4 or 5 or even up to 10 times while fueling. Why? I mean, I understand wanting to keep “drive-offs” to a minimum, but seriously. If I’ve put in my credit card and there’s money available, even if I drive off, you have the credit card. I suspect it’s to prevent drive-offs with stolen cards– limiting the possibility of chargebacks. But the fact is, if I just put my card in a second and third time, I can keep refueling. And if I’m a crook, the credit card is still stolen during all three charges (and potential chargebacks).

People have asked me how we’re coping with the rising price of gas. How do you think? We’re coping the same way you’re coping– by bitching about it and digging into our savings.

Thankfully, people don’t ask me how we cope with the rising price of food. For us, it’s more like the falling price of food– California may produce more food than anywhere else, but they also pay more for it. I think California’s been subsidizing the cost of tomatoes in Iowa.