Rant-
Is has for years now. Before the 2000 election(?) I had a discussion about what would happen with George as Pres and we concluded that gas would go up 2.00 per gallon. Never did I imagine that it would go this high.
Everytime a Yukon Denali passes me doing warp factor five I just have to say 'thanks'.
Yes it has affected my trips and if I did not live where I do I am not sure how I would cope. 60 miles to a dog friendly wilderness. 50 miles to this side of the Smoky Mountains. And several other areas still within reach. I have considered a motorcycle or a stripped down Subaru as alternatives. I thought about getting a tiny little pickup and striping down to the bare bones, sorta UL style. Like cutting the tags off your clothes, but to the extreme. But if you do the math on specific 'hiking' vehicle with insurance and maintenance it is hard to justify it. A motorcyle would most likely get stolen and are not dog friendly.
I am sure that if you took all the unnecessary equipment off of an already fuel effiecient vehicle that it would only get better mileage.
Why is no one doing this? I could even sacrifice the radio and ac to get more savings at the pump.
If Subaru/toyota would make one of their more fuel efficient models in a super efficient model with all the safety features, but none of the fluff I would buy one. I would also imagine that it would cost less with less of the comforts and amenities -the spoilage.
My wife is from Germany and we got an email the other day that (already converted) their gas was $ 8.00 american per gallon. So look out. They are not done with us yet. One day gas will be only for the rich. And I have children that will not get to enjoy the freedoms that I did.
But how about minimum wage people that are just trying to survive and feed their families? How about a single mom that has to tell her kids that there is no dinner because she has to get enough gas to get to work and back again. Maybe some billion dollar CEO could give her some of his left overs, or let her root around in his trash. I'm just saying...