Gas prices and the high cost of almost everything today has me sick to my stomach. I think
I've been living in denial for a while because of where things have been heading almost seemed
unimaginable. But reality just got real, real quick. I'm gonna vent for a minute but then I'm
gonna tell you how I plan to combat the horrific high cost of gas and give you nine ideas to help
you too so your camping season isn't ruined. Hi weekend warriors or if you're new here I'm Randi
and every Thursday I help you make big memories in small campers and if you have more ideas than what
I'm about to mention I want you to let me know. Leave your feedback and any other ideas you have
in the comment section below. People read these comments and we're all in this together so let's
help each other out. Like I said reality it just set in with me because I'm on my first camping
trip of the season and I'm at one of my favorite campgrounds in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
It's obvious why I love this campground so much, right? But I towed my Little Guy Max
trailer 296 miles to get here and when I'm towing my Little Guy Max with my Jeep Rubicon Gladiator
I only get nine miles to the gallon. So this is my third year of coming to this campground and I
looked up the National gas price averages and this time two years ago the average price of gas was
a dollar ninety six so this same trip just two years ago cost me a hundred and thirty dollars
in gas round trip. And this time last year the average cost of gas was three dollars a gallon
so last year it cost me 198 dollars to come up and camp here. But this year I paid $4.49 a gallon
so this year I'm spending 296 dollars in gas. So this means that I'm paying 166 dollars more in gas
than I paid just two years ago for the same trip. Yeah gas prices are making me sick to my stomach
because I have a lot of camping trips planned for the summer and three of them including this one
are long distance. If you saw my camping reservation secret tips video that I did
about three months ago I showed you how I scored a prime camping spot in June at the Straits
State Park also located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. And it was a little challenging getting
those reservations as you saw. Anyways this is 480 miles from my home so it's even further away.
Then in August I have camping reservations at Custer State Park and I was planning to
go camping with my dad but Custer State Park is even further away. It's 630 miles from my home.
Gas prices are horrible now but from everything I hear they're expected to continue to go
up. I'm not made of money and I'm probably going to have to cancel these reservations that I have
coming up. I guess I just don't know what's going to happen until I know what gas prices are going
to end up doing this summer. I'm sure you've been planning and really looking forward to a few
camping trips as well this year. Like I said we're all affected by this and we're all in it together.
Okay I'm done ranting at least for now so on to some solutions. But first what's your prediction?
Do you think gas prices are going to continue to climb on up or will they ever come back down? Tip
number one. Use fuel saving apps. On this trip I used the app called Gas Buddy. This app will list
all the prices of gas at the gas stations that are near you or you can enter a specific location to
find gas prices. When I did a search for Mosinee, Wisconsin you can see that there's a 34 cents
difference between the highest price gas and the lowest price gas in town. Saving 34 cents per
gallon can really add up quickly especially for longer trips. I'm definitely going to be using Gas
Buddy moving forward because every dollar saved matters. When I was researching fuel saving apps
I also came across another one called Gas Guru. I have not used it but others highly recommend
it so I wanted to mention it so you have another alternative gas fuel savings app to check out.
Most of you probably already have Google Maps on your phone but what you may not know when you
type the word gas into the Google Maps search bar Google Maps will also provide you with a map of
all of the different gas prices. When you're traveling and you want to know what gas prices are
going to be at the location you're going to type in the word gas followed by the city that you're
going to be visiting and Google Maps will provide you with a map of gas prices in that location.
Gas prices vary from location to location and using an app is a good way to scout out the
cheapest gas along your route. Ttip number two is to be mindful of the three things that do
affect fuel consumption and the first is your tire pressure. Make sure your tire pressure is
at the tire pressure that the tire manufacturer recommends. If your tire pressure is low you're
going to consume more gas. The speed you're traveling at also will affect how much gas
you're going to go through, so slow things down, don't be in a hurry, don't exceed the speed limit,
and you'll save some money on gas. And the third thing that's going to affect your fuel consumption
is the weight of anything that you're towing. So if you can reduce your load weight at all
now's the time to do it. Tip number three. Camp closer to home. Obviously the closer to home you
can camp the less you're gonna spend on gas but this leads us to the next problem. Most
campgrounds are sold out so it might be tough to make a reservation at nearby campgrounds.
With that said I have to believe that some people are going to be cancelling their reservations
but I'm also going to predict that they're probably going to do what I'm going to do
and that's to wait to see what's going to happen with gas prices. I hope I'm wrong
but if I'm not and prices continue to climb people are going to be making last minute cancellations.
If this does happen this will be an opportunity for you to nab one of those cancellations at a
nearby campground. CampNab is a service that I use all the time to find cancellations.
You enter the name of the campground that you want to monitor for cancellation. Then you enter
the date that you want to arrive. And then you set the number of nights you want to camp there.
That's it. CampNab will send you a text message to your phone so you can quickly nab that
cancellation before someone else gets it. I did a previous video about CampNab and so if you want
to learn more about this service I'll leave a link to that video in the video description below. Tip
number four. Be as flexible as you can with your camping dates and your camping locations. Enter a
few different dates and a few different campground locations into CampNab so you have the best
opportunity to nab a nearby campsite. Tip number five. Camp at first come - first serve campgrounds
that are nearby you. This campground that I'm currently camping at is a first come - first serve
campground and I've never had a problem getting a campsite here. Many County, City and State Forest
campgrounds are on a first come - first serve basis. But you need to be strategic. Because
the best time to find first come - first serve campsites is during the week. Timing is going
to be different for every campground of course but I found that if you can get to a campsite
on a Thursday or on a Sunday before or at checkout time the odds are going to be in your favor.
I think we sometimes don't even consider first come - first serve campgrounds because we can't
make a reservation. But I tell you what, you need to put them on your radar. Especially if you have
these types of campgrounds nearby you so you don't have to travel far to have an adventure.
Tip number six. Stay longer. If you find a first come - first serve camping spot that you really
like stay longer than you probably normally would. Staying longer at one location is a good way to
save gas. Instead of going camping four times a month maybe go on two longer camping trips
or instead of going on two short camping trips just go on one longer camping trip.
Tip number seven. Find places to camp at Harvest Hosts locations or HipCamp locations.
Because the more nearby camping options you have the more times you can go camping without worrying
about the high cost of fuel.. If you haven't heard of Harvest Hosts and HipCamp they both offer
some very unique and special camping experiences. I've done previous videos about Harvest Hosts and
HipCamp so if you want to learn more about either one of these services I'll leave information for
the videos in the video description below. Tip number eight. Be sure that you check campground
cancellation policies. If you do find yourself needing to make a cancellation due to high gas
prices be sure to check the cancellation policies so you know exactly how much it's going to cost
you to make that cancellation. And be sure that you outweigh this cost against the cost of gas.
Tip number nine. Offset high gas prices with free camping. Boondocking is off the grid
camping without hookups and it doesn't cost you anything. Boondocking is free. I really like these
types of camping spots. If you've never boondocked before this might be your time to give it a try.
And don't be nervous. Camping without hookups is easier than you're probably thinking it is.
And this is a video that I did that will show you exactly how easy it is. So click on this video
now and if you don't see a video up here I'll also leave it in the video description below.