price of gas

The Price Of Gas As We Travel, & Finding Ways To Keep It Under Control! Day 147

When you have paid for 1,172.9 gallons of fuel in what is now 19 states, you begin to get a good feel for the price of gas. And of course, how quickly it changes from state to state!

Paying for fuel is one of the bigger expenses of our trip. In fact, it comes in 3rd, behind only food and campsites.

Chevy Silverado and Camper - price of gas
The camper’s aerodynamic shape and lighter weight help with fuel mileage

But we knew from the very beginning it would big part of our bottom line, and planned accordingly to help keep it under control.

Built In Fuel Advantages

For starters, we are fortunate our T@B 400 teardrop is both lightweight and aerodynamic. It is a big key in being able to maintain a robust 13.9 mile per gallon average on the trip so far. Which, for pulling a camper, is pretty amazing.

The Chevy has been a beast so far on the trip with helping to get the best fuel mileage possible.

That figure is also helped out by our Chevy Silverado truck as well. It uses an active fuel management system to deactivate cylinders when they are not needed to conserve fuel.

It didn’t come into play too often out west and in the mountains. But lately, it has been huge driving the flatter roads of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas & Louisiana.

In fact, while in Louisiana, our truck has been pulling the camper with 4 cylinders way more than 8. It is a huge savings in fuel for sure!

Keeping the camper as light as possible by keeping tanks empty is a big help to fuel mileage

Finally, we are also very careful to be pulling as little extra weight as we can. That means waiting to fill water tanks until we get to a campsite. And, always having our grey and black waste tanks empty before ever hitting the road.

It is actually amazing at how much that extra weight keeps fuel mileage down.

The Price Of Gas State By State

But at the end of the day, it is the price of the gas you are buying that affects the bottom line the most. And has it ever varied from state to state!

We use an app on our phones called GasBuddy to help us always locate the best price at nearby pumps. And it has worked wonders in steering us clear of excessively high prices.

price of gas
The lowest price paid so far on the trip was $1.93 in Louisiana

Gas prices can vary in wide ranges from just one side of a town to the other. Case in point, Bakersfield, California. On one edge of town, fuel was 4.35 per gallon. On the other side, $3.65!

The Highs and Lows of the Cost of Gas

So far, the highest we have paid for fuel was $4.15 outside of Seaside, California. The lowest was just this past week in Livingston, Louisiana at $1.93

The most expensive state to date has been California by far, with prices per gallon usually hitting at or near $4.00 per gallon at every fill-up. Both Oregon and Washington were expensive as well, especially near the larger cities.

Glass Beach
California had some beautiful views, and some expensive fuel! The price of gas there was by far the most of the trip.

One interesting little fact is that we have spent almost 1/4 of the money we have shelled out for gas so far in just those 3 states! Guess it is a good thing they had a lot of beautiful things to see and look at. 🙂

At least in Oregon, you do receive a little more for your dollar at the pump. It is one of only two states (New Jersey the other in some places) that you are required to have someone pump your gas for you.

Both of us being creatures of habit, have had to on several occasions be told to get back in our cars as we reached for the pumps.

But best of all, we haven’t ran out of gas yet, although we did come close! (See : South Dakota Close Call)

Happy Traveling! Jim and Mary

CURRENT TRIP STATUS TO DATE:

  • Day 147 of 365
  • States : 19/50
  • National Parks / Monuments : 20
  • Stayed In : Long Beach, Mississippi
  • Miles Driven : 103.3
  • Total Trip Miles To Date : 16,303.7
  • Total Gallons Used : 1,172.93
  • Biking Miles : 0.0
  • Biking Miles To Date : 158.4
  • Hiking Miles : 2.2
  • Hiking Miles To Date : 331.8

1 thought on “The Price Of Gas As We Travel, & Finding Ways To Keep It Under Control! Day 147

  1. Caryl J Bohn

    It’s the gas taxes imposed by each state, and then the gas regulations for fuel mixes added to that.
    Some states don’t have 19 different fuel blends and a boatload of regulations and oh my the taxes, road tax, fuel tax etc.

    Happy to live in an ethanol using, lower regulation, non specialty blend state!

    Reply

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