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| Last updated at 9:16 AM on 03/06/08 |
RVing and gas prices 
My Outdoors:
LEN RICH
The Southern Gazette
I don’t know about you, but I have to swallow hard every time I pull into a gas station.
Like almost everyone today who has a powered vehicle, bicycles and Mopeds excluded, I have to check the bank account and credit card balance before unhinging that spout and pouring fuel into my truck.
It’s a little worse than normal in my case because in the back of my truck I have a camper that resists wind. and adds to the torment of driving anywhere these days.
I tell myself I’m saving a lot of money every day by cooking my own meals and at night I can crawl into the bunk and get a good night’s sleep.
It does make sense in a lot of ways, depending on how much time I spend driving and how long I stay in one place in pursuit of fishing opportunities or just camping by a quiet pond to enjoy the summer weather.
I began this a few years back with a 22-foot Class C motorhome. That was when gas was not so much a consideration as it was a means to an end.
The unit was in pretty good shape and easy to park. It had two bunk beds and a very cramped over-the-cab double bed that left my wife Ruby feeling claustrophobic.
Eventually I saw the need to trade this great, but undersized unit, for something more practical. I wandered into Islander RV one day and made a deal on a used pickup truck and a large tow-behind trailer that would sleep four.
That one lasted me one summer, actually one trip. On a tour that began in St. John’s and ended in St. Anthony, then back to Grand Falls-Windsor, I learned I had too much trailer or too little truck.
The gas mileage was terrible as I towed this large trailer behind the pickup. It rarely went into overdrive.
About this time my son, in his GMC diesel truck, convinced me I needed a lot more truck and perhaps a fifth wheel rig like his, so I traded the trailer and truck on a used Ford Heavy Duty with diesel engine. Islander RV was doing well by me!
Now, if only the price of diesel fuel would drop to a reasonable level!
Len Rich is an award-winning freelance writer/photographer. He is the 1991 recipient of the Canada Recreational Fisheries Award and 2007 recipient of the OWC Jack Davis Mentorship Award. Mr. Rich is also the eastern director of Outdoor Writers of Canada, website: ‘www.lenrich.net’.
For full column see this week issue of The Southern Gazette.
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03/06/08
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