Lower Gas Prices Mean More People RVing this Winter

Gas prices have finally returned to a level that puts more people in the mood to travel. Canadians are especially finding RVing more enticing this year, and we are meeting lots of them in the park this winter. Many have not been here before.

For awhile, some RVers were hanging up their keys and trying to unload their gas-guzzling rigs, and while many are still wary of taking long trips, other are breathing a big sigh of relief and making plans to hit the road for an extensive vacation.

I can remember the early seventies, when gas suddenly spiked from an average 30 cents per gallon to around 65 cents per gallon. Sixty-five cents sounds cheap now, doesn’t it? But back then, we watched gas prices double in a very short period of time, and that was scary. What was even worse back then was that many gas stations closed, and those that didn’t had long lines because of gas rationing. We could only buy gas (according to numbers on our license plates) on certain days of the week. At that time, I drove hundreds of miles every week for my job, and in many unfamiliar neighborhoods, which often left me wondering if I would make it back to the studio, or home each day.

Then in the late seventies, early eighties, the same thing happened again. Gas was in short supply and expensive. I was still traveling hundreds of miles a week, and again everyone, including me, freaked out. I even changed hairdressers to cut down on miles.

The main thing I remember during both of those crises, though, was that RVs were practically being given away because owners thought they could no longer afford to travel!

Lesson learned: gas prices will go up, and sometimes they’ll go back down. Drivers, and especially RVers, will always react with alarm when they see their lifestyle threatened. None of us knows how long lower gas prices will hold this time, but it’s certain that they’ll go back up.

RVers learn to adapt. We either cut back on driving when prices get high, or we adjust our budgets to accommodate higher prices and keep going. The economy looks really bleak right now, and no one knows how soon it will right itself. None of us knows what will happen next. But I’m certain that no matter what, some RVers will continue hitting the road as long as they can get fuel, and as long as their budgets will allow.