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How Has The Price Of Gas Affected Your Caching.


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Since I have not purchased me gps yet. Watching the news saying that gas is going up made me wonder how far I would travel to go do some geocaching. If gas goes over $2.50 gal I would have to say I would be doing very little or none at all. But since it is about $2.05 I think about 50-75 mile radius is what I will be doing unless I am going to go visit my sister. I think for right now I will save the ones that are closer to home for when the gas starts to get close to the $2.50 mark.

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I seem to be the one that drives the most since I have one of the more capable vehicles (4x4 and the like). I usually offer rides to friends when the passenger seat is free. I guess the bottom line is that when the price of gas goes up, so do the monthly charges on my gas card. ;)

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The price of gas is going to make me adjust my schedule. Instead of going into town periodically to run errands and get groceries and catch a few caches afterwards, I'm going to get up earlier so I can get more caches as long as I've made the 15-mile trip into town.

 

Maybe the price of gas will also encourage me to plan a little better ;) and plot a route on a map so I don't end up driving around unfamiliar residential areas looking for that elusive access point to a park hiding some caches.

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It could be worse. We could live in a part of the world where gas is 2x and 3x our low 2.05/gal average. I think most of Europe is running $4-5/gal and Sweden was about $8/gal along w/ Japan last I checked.

The price of gas will continue to rise along with bread, milk, and everything else. Hopefully prices don't rise any faster than wages, so it all stays relatively the same. The only real change in my habits has been to try to combine multiple small trips into one (groceries & shopping stuff) otherwise I still recreate just as much...it just costs a little more.

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For me it is not so much the cost, as the unexplained price swings. It seems that there is a 10 - 20 percent price swing for no apparent reason. It usually goes up, but then does not go back down at the same rate. I know the price of oil per barrel has some effect, but I find it hard to believe that the gas I bought today came from that barrel of oil that the price just went up on. I would think there would be a week or two lag between international oil prices and what we pay at the pump.

This will effect how I cache, and will try to do them on my way somewhere, not making a special trip.

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For me it is not so much the cost, as the unexplained price swings. It seems that there is a 10 - 20 percent price swing for no apparent reason.

I now top off the tank whenever I am in town. I'm so afraid if I wait, I'll end up paying $.20 more per gallon.

 

I should have topped off the tank yesterday, but I thought I was going back into town today to meet a friend and show him how to use his GPSr.

 

Bad weather eliminated that trip . . . now gas will be $.20 more when I get in town again. ;)

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The price doesn't bother me, I rarely even notice the what the price is. The US has about the cheapest gas prices in the world--at least that I'm aware. I think we're all better off the higher gas prices get, to a point.

 

Jamie

Edited by Jamie Z
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Wow, do you realize how very fortunate you are in that way?

 

When I got my present car in 2003, I decided to keep track of the gas I bought and the gas mileage I was getting. Back then, gas was $1.59 per gallon. Now it is close to $2.20.

 

However, in the last two years, my income has not increased by that percentage. Unfortunately, the price of gas will affect my caching. ;)

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I plan my trips (use GSAK and mapping programs) to minimize the driving around and maximize the caching time, and I usually combine caching with other stuff I'm doing (e.g. shopping, visiting, vacationing).

 

IMO, planning your driving trips is the socially responsible thing to do, regardless of the price of gas. It's also in your self-interest because it saves time and money (I grew up in a rural area, where failure to plan ahead was a real pain in terms of how long it took to get to the store, etc, so it's a habit I picked up early in life).

 

As a result, I don't see the price of gas effecting my caching.

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I spend just as much time caching, but I've had to give up some luxuries, like food and life insurance. It's all a matter of priorities. ;)

 

Actually, it's starting to hurt. I've cleaned out my local area, and now must drive farther on each caching expedition. I try to bag several on each trip to make it worthwhile. When that monthly gas credit card bill comes, it's an eye-opener.

 

Still--compared to some hobbies I've had, geocaching is not expensive. And it's legal!

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Considering that I drive a land-yacht, gas is a priority. Prices might be restrictive, but I'll still cache. I will just insure that the other half works longer hours and buys less Gatorade, all in the name of making sure the family still gets to go out and find Tupperware.

 

I agree, we have to get our priorities straight, even if it means using our money to lube the PTB's tight grip on the fuel economy.

 

^ doesn't that suck?

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A few folks here are in denial. We feed our cache addition as much money as it needs. If the price of gas jumps up 20% tomorrow you might hesitate a bit as you plan your cache run, but you'll be doing it just as planned. Granted you'll be mumbling stuff about shortcuts, routing efficinecy, skipping lunch, etc, but you will feed the cachemobile whatever it needs.

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A few folks here are in denial. We feed our cache addition as much money as it needs. If the price of gas jumps up 20% tomorrow you might hesitate a bit as you plan your cache run, but you'll be doing it just as planned. Granted you'll be mumbling stuff about shortcuts, routing efficinecy, skipping lunch, etc, but you will feed the cachemobile whatever it needs.

Yeah, what _he_ said!

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For what it's worth I heard a report just tonight that some "experts" think we can possibly see gas hitting that $5/gallon mark here in the US within the next few years. If this happens, for me, driving will become a luxury, and caching, if I do it at all, will be done by biking or walking.

 

As much as I enjoy finding Tupperware in the woods, I could not justify spending $5/gallon for a hobby (unless I can get 10 caches/gallon) ;)

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The high cost of gas! Oh my.

 

Momma Marauder likes to tool around in her Lincoln Town Car (which, by the way, was a gift. I teach school - ya think I'm rich?)

 

Anyways, getting ready to load in the car this morning to ride to the aforementioned school, I noticed the smell of the aforementioned gasoline. Looking under the car, I saw an ever-widening dark spot of this fuel. Two pinholes in the gas tank - no wonder the gas mileage kept going down, down, down! ;)

 

On topic - when driving with a gas tank that actually HOLDS fuel - I'm willing to spend a little to travel - not many caches in my area we haven't found yet.

 

SWAG for the caches = $20 (give or take a few)

Tank of gas = $24

Not blowing up on the way to school = Priceless!

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Pssst, It is all about the biodiesel!

If you do it right a full tank of gas is cheaper then lunch.

Speaking of diesel (okay, you weren't exactly), but that reminds me of what I did many years ago to my 1976 Honda Civic. I went to a different gas station than usual and started to fill up. I happened to look down at the gas nozzle and noticed how dirty it was. ;)

 

That was when I realized I had picked up the diesel nozzle from the gas pump that had nozzles for both gas and diesel. I stopped pumping and went inside to pay for that amount of fuel and have them turn on the pump again so I could finish filling the tank with gas.

 

That car ran, and ran, and ran on that gas/diesel mixture. I got about 50 miles to the gallon.

 

Of course, once I finally used up that tank of mixed fuel I had to replace the plugs because they got pretty fouled, but that was one way to get more fuel economy.

 

I doubt if that would work with today's fuel injected cars . . . ;)

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I just take my smaller car that gets better mileage instead of the truck. And I tend to do more caching while traveling for work, in their vehicle that they pay the gas on....after all, if they want me to travel, and I have to stay overnigh in places, I shouldn't have to just stay in the motel room watching tv, right? :blink:

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I wouldn't mind too much if they price went up to 3 dollars a gallon. then the SUV's would be sitting in the dealer lots and people would buy something sensible. You should see all the Hummers with BLING BLING wheels cruising around Seattle. good thing they are 4 wheel drive! You might need it on an urban micro!

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This happens every year and doesn't seem to affect my caching. We have our Cache Across Maryland event that runs from 3/25-4/30 this year... apparently during (or close to) peak pricing for gas. Last year's event was the same way but we still had great turn-out. Most folks averaged about 1000 miles to complete the "tour". Just had to plan ahead and hit a bunch of caches along the way, and carpool when possible to avoid having to put the entire 1000 miles on your own car.

 

This is also a situation where I'm glad I've left most of the caches close to me alone. The caches I've found have tended to be farther from my house so I still have a bunch near me if gas gets to be too crazy.

Edited by robert
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The "real-terms" cost of gas (say, the number of hours you need to work at average salary levels to pay for 10 gallons) is still less than it was 30 years ago, in almost every country, and even more so when you factor in the better mileage most of us get now (I have no sympathy for V8 SUV owners here!).

 

Oil is a commodity, and all commodities become cheaper over time, more or less by definition. (If they start to become scarce or expensive, we develop technology to replace them, and they are no longer commodities.)

 

However, it's a characteristic of most medium- and long-term trends, that we tend not to notice them happening, because they aren't displayed daily in foot-high letters 15 feet above the sidewalk like gas prices are.

Edited by sTeamTraen
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Fuel economy was one of the reasons that I bought my Subaru Forester a few years ago. Even then, I'd sometimes take one of the motorcycles caching to save on gas. Yeah, it hurts the wallet. People with the big incomes can care less about the price and suck the fuel up in their guzzlers but we don't live in a vacuum. They drive the price of fuel up for everyone.

 

When there was the oil embargo in the early 70's, AMOCO had ads saying if everyone used a gallon less per week, there'd be no gasoline shortage. I believe that holds true today. Less demand, lower prices.

 

I've got my eye open for a Volkswagen TDI wagon. I've decided AWD isn't really necessary for my caching.

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I know the price of oil per barrel has some effect, but I find it hard to believe that the gas I bought today came from that barrel of oil that the price just went up on. I would think there would be a week or two lag between international oil prices and what we pay at the pump.

Why would there be a delay?

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as long as the mileage stays the same in my van, i don't care. i paid way more for gas living in canada, if i plan a trip to cache outside my work/home route, i make sure to check for all the caches close enough for me to hike to for the day. this spring through fall, i'm definitely going to be involving the motorcycle.. all day on $10!!! almost makes me wanna get a dualsport and then i can bypass the 4x4!

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petrol like diamonds don't folow the proper capitalist theories. ie increase demand equals higher price etc etc

 

both are artificially limited supply. the producing companies or countries can restrict how much they release keeping prices higher than they should be. greed motivated in both cases.

 

then we've huge taxation in uk! bloody government. something like 80% of cost is tax! ridiculous.

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petrol like diamonds don't folow the proper capitalist theories. ie increase demand equals higher price etc etc

 

both are artificially limited supply.

Globally, yes. However here in the colonies, we have the capability to be energy self sufficient. People just don't want it bad enough. This is apparent from the responses indicating that the rising price of fuel is not causing them to reduce their use of it.

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I find it hard to believe that the gas I bought today came from that barrel of oil that the price just went up on. I would think there would be a week or two lag between international oil prices and what we pay at the pump.

Coincidently, this very topic was brought up recently in my economics class. It works like this. When the price of oil goes up, the value of gasoline goes up, and will therefore sell for a higher price immediately. Those convenience store owners do not sell gasoline based on the price they paid, but based on the value of what they bought.

 

Let's say for example, you bought some gold. Then tomorrow the price of gold doubled. Even though nothing has changed about your gold or the price you paid for it, you could sell it immediately for twice as much.

 

Jamie

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but how does that explain the delay between when the price goes down to when they finally pass that reduction at the pumps? oh yeah i remember it's because the gas companies are bloodsucking parasites!

 

like i said though, our main prob over here is that the government sees us as a cash cow. so every year we see the price of motoring go up disproportionately. would be great if they spent the cash on roads, but they don't. ho hum

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In the past I would go on many pointless, but fun, joyrides on my motorcycle (60+ mpg). Geocaching now gives me a purpose behind my motorcycle joyrides. :( Geocaching on a motorcycle is a great way to save gas!

 

Unfortunately the fact that it is a dual-purpose motorcycle actually probably makes it more impractical for geocaching than a regular motorcycle. I have realized that very few geocaches are located in areas where off-road motorcycles (or 4x4 SUVs or pickup trucks) are required (or even allowed for that matter) to get to them. Instead, I tend to limit my motorcycling geocaching to a 30 mile radius because the knobby tires and suspension tend to beat up your body on longer trips. :(

 

Doug.

Edited by medoug
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