High gas prices crimp RV lifestyle

[depakid]

When Hubert and Barbara Walsh retired seven years ago, their first RV trips from Florida to Oregon cost $390 one way. Last month, it cost $1,180.

The Walshes have made the RV journey from their home in Tallahassee, Fla., to Hubert's mother's place in Tigard at least twice a year since they retired in 2001.

Now, the couple say they may have to cut back their visits to once a year or come up with a different mode of travel.

"With the cost of fuel being what it is, I can buy plane tickets round trip for less than it costs to come one way," said Hubert, 62, a retired accountant and former financial manager for the Department of the Army. "It's very disappointing, because this is the lifestyle we love, and we'd planned to live it throughout our retirement."

Evidence of the RV industry's slide is everywhere -- from recent bankruptcies of two RV builders in California and Washington to the sparsely filled RV campgrounds along the Oregon coast over Memorial Day weekend. RV dealerships across the state are dealing with a glut of unsold units. For 2008, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association predicts that -- because of higher gas prices, a slowing economy and the credit crunch -- sales will decline to 305,000, a 30 percent drop from 2006.

<snip>

For many RVers, finding themselves priced out of their passion stings deep.

"Wall Street is cheering when the cost of oil goes up because they're getting paid commissions on the trade," Hubert Walsh said. "But I feel ripped off."

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/121236994911330.xml&coll=7

[AndyA]

1. We ALL feel ripped off.

And the only ones happy about this situation are the oil companies and their cronies, and the speculators who are driving up the prices. :(

[Warpy]

4. Even the oil companies are unhappy

because they know if they pass on 100% of the cost of anything they have to buy on the spot market, they're going to have their customers defect to competitors who are still using contracted oil.

The gas prices are only slightly above where they should be due to the fall in the value of the dollar.

Most oil is bought via long term contracts. Those contracts have been renegotiated since stupid GOP fiscal policies caused the dollar to lose over half its value. Our prices should be higher than the $1.69 they were for many years after 2000. They should be a little more than double, and surprise! they are.

[AndyA]

6. I'm not buying it.

Companies do not make the kinds of profits the oil companies are making, quarter after quarter, year after year, just by "passing on the costs" to consumers.

That's bullshit. And people are beginning to figure it out. If the oil companies were just passing on the increased costs, their profits should be STABLE, not quarduple what they were just 7 years ago.

World oil consumption has not quadrupled in the last 7 years.

Their excuses are bullsh!t.

[4_TN_TITANS]

8. I agree...

We're talking about record PROFITS - above and beyond expenses that apparently haven't changed much.

[pscot]

10. I'm surprised you didn't see this coming

The handwriting on the wall has been warning us about this for at least the last 3 or 4 years. We've been getting a lot of our oil from Mexico, and their biggest oil field, Cantarell, is pumping 25% less oil than it was 4 years ago. They've got nothing to replace it with. Three years ago it cost $150,000 per day to rent a deepwater oil drilling rig. Today it costs $600,000 per day, and every rig in existence is bespoke. Things aren't going to get any better, ever. Congress can kick the oil companies around, but most of the oil is owned by countries. WE've tried kicking Iraq around and that hasn't worked out so good. Meantime, China and India are bidding up the price.

[AndyA]

11. There are still things we can do.

STOP supporting China. Charge them exactly what they charge us for imports. Make it FAIR on both sides.

Even though expenses are up, the oil companies now make profits in 3 months equal to what they made in one year just 8 years ago. That is not just passing along the extra costs.

If rigs are in such short supply, perhaps the oil companies need to explain why new ones haven't been built. With the 50-60 billion in profits they've made the last couple of years, they can afford to buy more.

It would seem the constant short supply of refineries, oil rigs, other equipment, etc., could have been done intentionally to raise prices and keep them high. And that's illegal.

If we'd stop outsourcing all our jobs to India, their economy wouldn't be booming, and the demand for fuel would be much less over there. Same for China, especially since their government regulates the price of gas.

There are things we can still do here in America.

[onehandle]

2. RVers are overwhelmingly flag waving Bushies.

I have a client that deals with them in his business.

How will they vote in November now that their lifestyle is crippled?

[depakid]

3. Non-negotiable lifestyles

are suddenly becoming negotiable- and people are looking for scapegoats.

[phantom power]

5. Boats and RVs. About the same gas mileage.

[Speck Tater]

7. There's an R.V. park across from the truck stop

at the closest freeway on ramp to where I live (I'm out in the country). Last time I was by there (yesterday) I noticed the R.V. park is empty. Not sparsely populated, but empty empty. In all the years I've lived here I don't ever recall seeing it less than half full. Now there's not one single R.V. or camper parked there. I suspect it won't be long before it just gets shut down for lack of business.

[Greyskye]

9. Additional impact...

I live near Sacramento CA, home of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. This was it's 35th year. I heard a local news report that attendance was expected to be down significantly this year, as a very large number of the attendees travel here by RV, and use their rigs to stay at during the festival.

I'm sure that the local economy didn't get as much of a boost as it usually gets from this great event - even though the weather was exceptional over the Memorial Day holiday this year here.

[phantom power]

12. (...)

[pscot]

13. We've always used tents

but it's gotten to the point where all the more popular parks cater to the RV crowd. They've become little RV cities. If you pitch a tent you're regarded as a real curiosity. Some RVers set up semi-permanent residence in the parks, like homesteaders. Camping out isn't exactly the wilderness experience it used to be.

[phantom power]

14. I know what you mean. Although national and state parks are still good.

My family tents. My parents have been using an RV for the last few years. Here's a neat trick: find a place for RVs, and that also has nice tent sites.

RV confession:
The last time we were out, we had a night of remarkably constant 50mph winds. I was only about 90% sure that our tent wasn't going to actually blow away with us in it. The stakes were pulled out before it was over. When it got light out, we took shelter in the RV.

I sat up most of that night, unable to sleep. I witnessed a really intense meteor shower while the wind howled, and I wondered if my family was safe where it was sleeping. It was a weird experience. I might as well have been sitting in a cave, 40 thousand years ago.

[pscot]

15. Great, wasn't it.

WE do it for the sheer pleasure of being rained on, blown down, bug bit, sunburned, half-froze, food poisoned and chased by bears, not to mention the rare pleasure of maybe setting tent, self and all your gear on fire. I have photos where it's clear that the only happy camper is the Bulldog. The rest of us look like survivors of the Bataan death march. Nothing like getting back to nature.

[tom_paine]

16. Good.

Excerpts from the Dead Kennedys' song "Winnebago Warriors".

Stopping traffic up the hill
30 gallons to the mile
"Honey, quick the Polaroid!"
Winnebago warriors!

I'd print the entire set of lyrics, but for the first time I can ever recall, I cannot find the lyrics on the Internet to a song I know exists!

Wow, that doesn't often happen.