Fuel expenses

[SeaDawg]

14 minutes ago, geO said:

I've found owning an Oliver gives me more options on places I can fill up at. 

Totally agree.

[rideandfly]

Best fuel prices I have seen in our area lately, photo taken today, Newton, NC:

[SeaDawg]

Wow! Been a long time since I've seen a "3" in front place. Awesome !

[rideandfly]

21 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

Wow! Been a long time since I've seen a "3" in front place. Awesome !

It may take a while, but looking for a 2 next! 👍

[2008RN]

I would be thrilled for a 4 in front.  Kinda sucks being here on the Left coast

[rideandfly]

Fuel prices at Crossville TN yesterday:

[Frank C]

When I first bought my flex-fuel F-250 in early 2020, gasoline was relatively cheap so I didn’t use E-85 then.  All our trips with the Ollie had been done using gasoline.  Now that gas has gone way up, I’ve switched to E-85, but haven’t done any towing trips yet with it.  Only $2.99 a gallon for E-85 here in my area.  With gasoline I was typically getting about 11.0 to 11.5 mpg when towing our Elite II, so I’ll see what the impact is on towing mileage/range & performance when towing the Ollie.  E-85 has lower energy content per gallon than gasoline so mileage will drop, along with range, but at only $2.99 a gallon (or less) for E-85 it looks like a bargain.  I’ll post results after some future trip. 
 

[SeaDawg]

@rideandfly, I was excited to see $3.85 here in Florida at a Costco. That's awesome.

Well, as awesome as it gets, these days.... 😁

[Nancy K.]

I paid $3.79 for regular this morning.  Fuquay-Varina, NC (south of Raleigh)

[Patriot]

On 4/3/2022 at 7:21 PM, topgun2 said:

Current prices for fuel certainly cut down on "fun" money but will not stop me from any of my planned summer trips - to include the annual Owner's Rally in May.

Bill

I agree with you Bill, if one has to begin to study fuel prices and/or counting mpg’s they just might be in a hobby that maybe too costly. Whether driving a motor coach or pulling a travel trailer and all expenses that go along with it, suffice to say, RVing is not by any stretch a money saving endeavor. 
We looked at long range costs closely before diving in to pulling a TT, camping and travel and planned accordingly. Like you and others we are not going to let fuel prices keep us from traveling and fulfilling retirement travel goals and dreams. Fuel prices are what they are at least for now and we are just going to absorb it. 

[rideandfly]

Always enjoyed checking fuel economy MPG even when gas prices were less than $1.00 per gallon. For me it’s fun to  check our camping rig economy that helps understand how one might reduce fixed operation cost to save money for other hobby adventures.
 

Retirement is so busy, hard to have time do everything, but having fun trying, hope we maintain our health. 🙂

[rideandfly]

On 6/2/2022 at 5:42 PM, SeaDawg said:

It seemed very strange to be happy about finding regular gas at "only" $4.14 as we did yesterday, at a Murphy's near the Asheville Airport. We "saved" 25 cents a gallon filling up there, as most stations near us were $4.39.

My brother reported $4.76 in Florida,  today. 

If I owned that diesel pusher at 5 mpg/over $1 a mile, it would have a for sale sign in the window. Or, trade it in on a nice sailboat. The wind is free. 

 

 

Thought you posted somewhere about a gas app you use for finding gas stations with the best prices?

[dhaig]

To my knowledge, GasBuddy is the reigning champ of apps to find the lowest price fuel.  We have used it for many years and find it very easy to use.  You can specify the type of fuel you required, including diesel.  We search ahead when on road trips and plan our purchases to get near the lowest price without significant departure from our route.  It is available for iPhone/iPad and Android devices, as well as a browser based website.  GasBuddy relies on crowdsourcing for updates on prices.

[rideandfly]

9 minutes ago, dhaig said:

To my knowledge, GasBuddy is the reigning champ of apps to find the lowest price fuel.  We have used it for many years and find it very easy to use.  You can specify the type of fuel you required, including diesel.  We search ahead when on road trips and plan our purchases to get near the lowest price without significant departure from our route.  It is available for iPhone/iPad and Android devices, as well as a browser based website.  GasBuddy relies on crowdsourcing for updates on prices.

Will get that app! 🙂

Thanks

[mossemi]

22 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

@rideandfly, I was excited to see $3.85 here in Florida at a Costco. That's awesome.

Well, as awesome as it gets, these days.... 😁

WooHoo!  Costco $3.74 this morning in Wesley Chapel, FL.

Mossey

[SeaDawg]

$3.49 today at the Costco gas stations in Pooler, GA (Savannah), Columbia and Spartanburg,  SC. 

Nearby sams were similar. Murphy, higher.

Yes, I use GasBuddy, and have for years. And, we have both sams and costco memberships. Gas savings pay for the cards, easily. Everything else is a bonus.

😃😃😃

[CnC]

Our Arizona to Colorado trip found us paying in the area of $4.50 for 85/87 last weekend. 🤑

[rideandfly]

On 7/25/2022 at 10:03 AM, CnC said:

Our Arizona to Colorado trip found us paying in the area of $4.50 for 85/87 last weekend. 🤑

Been thinking about traveling in those areas, thanks for the report.

[Frank C]

Had my first chance to do a long range experiment of gasoline vs. E-85 in my flex fuel F-250.   Recently towed the Ollie about 1500 miles so I had a chance to compare mileage over several tankfuls each of both gasoline and E-85.  I typically get about 11.5 mpg towing the Elite II on regular gasoline (which can still contain up to 10% ethanol).   On E-85 the mileage dropped as expected (due to the lower energy content of ethanol) to about 10.0 mpg.   But now to look at $/mile, with gasoline at $4.49 per gallon here in my area of PA, and E-85 at $2.99 per gallon.  So on gasoline it’s costing me about $0.39 per mile.   On E-85, it’s about $0.30 per mile.  So the E-85 wins on cost per mile, but a downside is the loss of range of about 50 miles on a full tank.   I’ll keep using E-85 when it’s available, but now that I’m looking for it I did discover that it’s hit or miss at gas stations if they have E-85.   It’s nice to have the option of both though.  We can have a separate debate about the environmental impact, the government incentives for ethanol blending, etc.  🙂. 
 

[SeaDawg]

$3.14 for regular at Costco, Columbia, SC this morning. 😁

 

[mossemi]

Krunch got gas at BUC-EE’S near Valdosta this morning, $3.19.

Mossey

Edited August 11, 2022 by mossemi
Spelling correction

[ShallowGal]

$1.85 in Wawa, Ontario!

A liter. 

🤯

[SeaDawg]

Costco regular gas $2.99 in Columbia SC, and Pooler GA. 

Only by a penny, but finally under $3.

[dewdev]

I thought E85 was not recommended for most vehicle gas engines.

What is the  story there? 

[Frank C]

1 hour ago, dewdev said:

I thought E85 was not recommended for most vehicle gas engines.

What is the  story there? 

It has to be a flex fuel vehicle specifically designed to allow the use of E85.   My F-250 is a flex fuel engine.  Flex fuel vehicles will have a yellow gas cap like this that indicates it can use E85 or gasoline.