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Gas Prices Impacting Your Geocaching?


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With prices in south Jersey upwards of $2.20 :anibad: a gallon for regular, and seeing as how my 2005 Jeep Liberty comes in at 16 miles/gal. average, I have come to think twice about going on cache raids or spending a day driving from cache to cache. It's getting rediculously expensive to keep my SUV full (about $40 a tank) :lol::rolleyes: .

 

Have gas prices effected anyone else on thier cache runs?

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The gas price doesn't affect me at all. My bike runs on my energy, but my knees are killing me. I'm riding all over town, at least 5 miles a day. Yesterday I was out for 4 hours and rode 11 miles, plus climbing up hills to get to caches.

 

Gas here (San Diego, CA) is somewhere around $2.35 I think.

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National prices in August last year were $1.88. National prices are now $2.20, that is only $6.40 more then last year. I think I will pack a lunch and skip Mickie Ds. and keep on Caching.

 

There was something about seeing the cost of filling a tank going over $40.00 that has some psychological effect on us.

 

Cheers

 

Muddler

Edited by Muddler
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Lots of great replies! There really is something about that magical $40.00 mark on the fuel pump that just strikes a cord I guess. :lol:

 

Thats a really good point about checking caches while doing other errands!

 

Funny thing is, my 97' Camaro SS, on premium fuel, gets better milage than my Jeep :lol: I wonder how that will do while hitting the trails in Wharton State Forest :anibad::rolleyes::lol:

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Nope, I drive a Honda.

The higher gas prices could potentially impact caching. Soon the 200+ horsepower crowd won't be able to afford to get out and place more sweet micro caches. Eventually, it will be up to us lowly fuel misers to sustain all of geocaching. As you already know, its lucky we can even get up a hill with our tiny little engines. We will be forced to drive to 2Wd accessible trailheads where we will have to hike all the way up to beautiful locations just to find boring old traditional caches :rolleyes:

 

excuse me while I zip away from the flames in my geoHonda

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I just started so it doesn't matter to me right now what it costs to play :unsure:

 

Might make a diff in the future but I have to do something with that money I earn slaving away all week, right? My Liberty doesn't get great mileage but I love it just the same.

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Now we'll see if the SUV nation ever learns...

"Learns"? WTF does that mean? Has it ever occured to you that SUV drivers probably don't care much about gas prices or they too would probably be driving a cheap beater?

 

Guess what? I drove mine 500 miles on Saturday - just to go to a zoo and back, no particular reason. Musta burned through 30 gallons of gas and $65.00 or more.

 

Bet that really pisses off hybrid-nation, eh?

 

edit: sp

Edited by ParrotRob
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Not so much the gas prices but my wife is going to school 60+ miles away so I get the crap car that I am afraid to drive farther away from home than I walk. 1981 Datsun (yes, Datsun) Maxima with 224,000+ on the original motor. One of my state trooper buddies got it at auction, let his kids abuse it, then sold it to me for $50.00 when my 84 Trooper II cracked a head. She gets the family bus, nice Windstar van. I also live in the middle of nowhere cache wise (99169), not may to walk to from here. I have asked for stock options at the local station for dropping $80+ per week in gas for my wife's commute. I got the "That's original" look when I asked.

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Now we'll see if the SUV nation ever learns...

"Learns"? WTF does that mean? Has it ever occured to you that SUV drivers probably don't care much about gas prices or they too would probably be driving a cheap beater?

 

Guess what? I drive mine 500 miles on Saturday - just to go to a zoo and back, no particular reason. Musta burned through 30 gallons of gas and $65.00 or more.

 

Bet that really pisses off hybrid-nation, eh?

LOL you go Rob! My Jeep and house are paid for, I don't have credit cards, I work 40+ hours a week and I'll spend my money any d@mn way I please!

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Now we'll see if the SUV nation ever learns...

"Learns"? WTF does that mean? Has it ever occured to you that SUV drivers probably don't care much about gas prices or they too would probably be driving a cheap beater?

Most of them can only afford to drive SUVs because gas has been cheap. Just look back on history: during the oil crisis in the 1970s, lots of people abandoned their pickup trucks in favor of more fuel-efficient, small cars. Then when the oil crisis ended and gas prices came down they switched back to the pickups and started to buy SUVs. Had it not been for the low gas prices, the SUV would never have become popular in the first place, and I bet that as gas prices continue to increase, more and more people will eventually get rid of their humongous gas guzzlers and buy more fuel efficient cars again.

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Too bad this is turning into a slow burning SUV vs. hybrid/honda,VW,mazda POS war. I bought the SUV, because I can't cram a family of 6 into a toyota whatever. And a minivan can only take you so far down the back roads. Then there is the whole snow factor. Not to mention the fact that my SUV saved my life when I tangled with a drunk driver. I got into caching because it didn't require additional stuff or fees. Very few sports can say that. I am willing to pay a few extra dollars each time at the pump. It's not like your fee went up $100 each week.

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I'm still all confused about this.  Gas is a commodity.

 

If ground beef suddenly jumped from $2.99 a pound to, say, $349 a pound, would you look for alternative food?

Mmmmm, this parrot tastes just like chicken!

Heh, have you actually tried to BUY a parrot lately? Parrots cost even more than gas does. Unless of course you're in some places in Australia, where they're like robins are here.

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I'm still all confused about this.  Gas is a commodity.

 

If ground beef suddenly jumped from $2.99 a pound to, say, $349 a pound, would you look for alternative food?

Uh . . . I don't know how much money you earn, but some people have limited or fixed incomes. Gas is $2.45 a gallon here. Two years ago when I got my Toyota Matrix (30 miles to the gallon), gas was $1.59.

 

How many people's incomes have increased by that percentage in that time?

 

Something has to give.

 

I don't usually eat ground beef, but if it went from $2.99 a pound to $349 a pound, of course I'd be eating something else . . . :D

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In Washington State you pretty much need an SUV to take the logging trails to geocaches. Granted you can hike in too.

 

My suggestion? Get into carpool geocaching. Many group excursions here have been well received. Everyone meets at a park and ride and takes a larger single vehicle to the trail. In some cases we park one vehicle on the far end of the trail so we can do a long 1-way hike. Split the gast costs.

 

Just drive smart. Plan several errands around your cache hunts to save on gas, and so forth. You can both have a big vehicle and be fuel efficient if you use your noggin'

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I'm still all confused about this.  Gas is a commodity.

 

If ground beef suddenly jumped from $2.99 a pound to, say, $349 a pound, would you look for alternative food?

If people can't look for the alternatives, then I say they are victims of addiction, gouging, brainwashing, or combinations of various negative factors like these. :D

 

In areas with good public transporation infrastructure, I've ditched my car and cached by bus and train. Having a bicycle helps, too. Whenever I travel by air, I try to rent a subcompact or compact car.

 

For people living in areas with very little transportation choices, the high gas prices are tough since there are no other viable choices yet (LPG, LNG, Biodiesel, etc). If you are curious, do a web search for "National City Lines" and find out whether suppliers have really met your demand. :D

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The gas price doesn't affect me at all. My bike runs on my energy, but my knees are killing me. I'm riding all over town, at least 5 miles a day. Yesterday I was out for 4 hours and rode 11 miles, plus climbing up hills to get to caches.

 

Gas here (San Diego, CA) is somewhere around $2.35 I think.

Most of my getting around during the summer is by bicycle, even before the price of gas went stupid! I drive maybe 30 miles a week, if that so it shouldn't affect me much, but I'm still pretty upset that the gas keeps going up with no end in sight. It just went up to $2.45 here today in Indiana for regular unleaded.

 

I do most of my caching combined with biking trips, or I'll hunt one only if I'm going to be in the area. Last weekend I biked 38 miles round trip to find just one cache. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed both the ride and the find. :D

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I also use my bicycle, once I drive the 15 or more miles into town. In fact, I found a Virtual cache at the San Diego airport last week by riding my bicycle there.

 

You should have seen the looks we got . . . not too many people ride a bicycle by the airport terminals. :laughing:

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... Not to mention the fact that my SUV saved my life when I tangled with a drunk driver. ... I am willing to pay a few extra dollars each time at the pump. ...

You hit on the exact reason that we have two SUVs. In fact, I've been seriously considering trading my WJ in for something larger.

 

It stinks that gas has gone up, but its not that huge of a deal.

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Everytime I fill up my 1995 K1500, I think "man I need a smaller car" :anibad: as $50.00 departs my wallet. B) Then, as I drive away I think, man I love this truck, and so does my dog! B)

 

The gas price does keep me from doing cache runs across town, to some extent B) . I plan caches if I know I'll be in a certain area. otherwise, they stay on my "to-do" list. The truck gets 12-13MPG so gas disappears quickly in the city. :laughing:

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...  Not to mention the fact that my SUV saved my life when I tangled with a drunk driver.  ...  I am willing to pay a few extra dollars each time at the pump.  ...

You hit on the exact reason that we have two SUVs. In fact, I've been seriously considering trading my WJ in for something larger.

Just so you know: The occupant death rate in crashes per million SUVs on the road is 6 percent higher than the death rate per million cars.

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