Gas prices cut into recreation, too
By Michele Linck Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2007
Eight miles per gallon; $3.39, $3.60 per gallon. Hmmm...
Midwestern gas prices -- which were the highest in the nation this week for the first time ever -- are giving recreational gas users pause. Some RVers and boaters say they'll probably cut back a little, take fewer trips or stay on the water fewer hours. But no one is saying they'll skip their summer vacation and stay home.
Those who make their living from the boaters, fishermen and campers say they're not worried. But all agree that everyone is talking about gas prices.
Julie Mau, co-owner of Mau Marine Inc., on East Lake Okoboji, said her high-octane boat gas is $3.99 a gallon. She said the price hasn't seemed to impact sales.
"I don't think anybody's really pleased about it by any stretch of the imagination." Mau said. "But I think people are starting to be desensitized to it. It's amazing, but people are still going to take their summer vacation. Once they get here, they're still going to rent their Sea-Doo or take their boat out. It's summer. The kids are little only once. It doesn't really matter how expensive the gas is."
Perhaps.
"This summer's going to be ugly," said Mark Schmith, a lifelong visitor to the Iowa Great Lakes who bought a place on West Lake Okoboji four years ago. "By the end of the summer, I suspect there will be a lot of people not boating much."
Schmith and his family share a boat with his mother and his brother's family.
"We've already had that discussion, how much the boat gets used," he said. "There won't be just open boat rides whenever."
And, many boaters tow their craft to the water each time, so they have to think about the cost of hauling it behind that half-ton pickup, as well.
Sioux City Journal editor and outdoor writer, Larry Myhre, said a typical fisherman will make about 10 trips to the lakes in a season. He figured two days of fishing with 150 horsepower motor and pulling the boat behind a truck from Sioux City will cost about $600 more in gas this year.
"That's when it starts to hurt," he said, adding the good news is that you don't pay for it all at once. Myhre predicts people will fish closer to home and probably won't go as far on the water when they fish the large reservoirs.
Pat Kilburn, who manages the Mlr Tym Marina on the Missouri River in Sioux City, said the boat gas there is $3.60 a gallon. Everybody checks the price, she said, but boating is their summer vacation, so they pay it. But, she concedes, "They usually go upstream, then float back."
And, she said, the marina itself is like a vacation home; slip renters know one another and sometimes party and cook out without even leaving the dock.
Campers towing fifth-wheels, or those driving motor homes, or RVs, are in the same boat, so to speak, when it comes to fuel prices.
Campers staying put
"Whoooo-oo, don't ask!," said Fred Hayden, who was setting up his 36-foot RV at South Sioux City's Scenic Park Campground on Wednesday. He said he paid $1.92 for the stuff that was already in the tank when he and his wife, Bev headed out from their Dallas-Fort Worth area home a few days earlier. Granted, it had been in the tank since last season.
Hayden said he paid $3.28 a gallon when he stopped to fill up in Kansas. Their motor home's tank holds 80 gallons and the vehicle gets 8 miles per gallon. Even at $3.20, Siouxland's lowest price on Thursday, (in Le Mars, Iowa), that's $356 a tankful.
"Just get an FHA loan," Bev joked. The couple, formerly of Sioux City, stay at Scenic Park for several weeks each summer. They'll use their car for side trips to Yankton, S.D.
"We're just curtailing longer trips," said Audrey Lambert of Sioux City. She and her husband, Jack, had their RV set up at Scenic Park, as well. They also use it to winter in Texas. Lamberts said they typically pay about $2.85 a gallon for the diesel fuel for their RV, which holds 90 gallons and gets 8 miles per gallon.
"We are reducing travel. But I wouldn't call it a sacrifice," Jack Lambert said looking around the park. "This is very nice."
But Bill Foster, a tower builder from Sioux City who lives in his fifth-wheel while on the road when working, was camped in South Sioux City for pleasure. In between jobs, he said he can hardly afford to go anywhere, due to high gas prices.
Another camper, Bonny Anderson, of Kimmer, Wyo., said she'd camped in a tent for years before buying her fifth-wheel just a month ago. Visiting a daughter in Hastings, Neb., she said gas prices will determine whether she stays an extra week or goes back home to work.
Sue Brown, one of the campground's hostesses, said campers come from all over, but many are local. "People aren't venturing very far," she said. A farmer from Jackson, Neb., who camped there this week told her gas was $3.19 last Friday. But when he drove in on Monday, it was $3.49.
Politicians' fault
Steve Pfleuger, owner of Oh Shucks Bait and Tackle, on Iowa Highway 86 in Milford, Iowa, said Wednesday he was selling premium gas at $3.61 a gallon and the ethanol blend at $3.39. He said he couldn't guess what it might be over the holiday weekend.
The big reason for the high prices is that he has to pay a lot more to transport it from farther away due to supply interruptions. Pfleuger said customers complain. "They keep mentioning politicians," he said. "Not so much Bush, but politicians in general.
"They're blaming politicians for not taking hold of the situation, letting the refineries get by with what they're doing," he said. "They think the politicians are involved in the oil business and that they should be building new refineries."
Pfleuger said despite the price he'll still sell a lot of gas over the holiday weekend. He's just a mile from the Emerson Bay boat ramp. And, he said, the price on the water is usually about 75 cents higher.
Midwestern gas prices -- which were the highest in the nation this week for the first time ever -- are giving recreational gas users pause. Some RVers and boaters say they'll probably cut back a little, take fewer trips or stay on the water fewer hours. But no one is saying they'll skip their summer vacation and stay home.
Those who make their living from the boaters, fishermen and campers say they're not worried. But all agree that everyone is talking about gas prices.
Julie Mau, co-owner of Mau Marine Inc., on East Lake Okoboji, said her high-octane boat gas is $3.99 a gallon. She said the price hasn't seemed to impact sales.
"I don't think anybody's really pleased about it by any stretch of the imagination." Mau said. "But I think people are starting to be desensitized to it. It's amazing, but people are still going to take their summer vacation. Once they get here, they're still going to rent their Sea-Doo or take their boat out. It's summer. The kids are little only once. It doesn't really matter how expensive the gas is."
Perhaps.
"This summer's going to be ugly," said Mark Schmith, a lifelong visitor to the Iowa Great Lakes who bought a place on West Lake Okoboji four years ago. "By the end of the summer, I suspect there will be a lot of people not boating much."
Schmith and his family share a boat with his mother and his brother's family.
"We've already had that discussion, how much the boat gets used," he said. "There won't be just open boat rides whenever."
And, many boaters tow their craft to the water each time, so they have to think about the cost of hauling it behind that half-ton pickup, as well.
Sioux City Journal editor and outdoor writer, Larry Myhre, said a typical fisherman will make about 10 trips to the lakes in a season. He figured two days of fishing with 150 horsepower motor and pulling the boat behind a truck from Sioux City will cost about $600 more in gas this year.
"That's when it starts to hurt," he said, adding the good news is that you don't pay for it all at once. Myhre predicts people will fish closer to home and probably won't go as far on the water when they fish the large reservoirs.
Pat Kilburn, who manages the Mlr Tym Marina on the Missouri River in Sioux City, said the boat gas there is $3.60 a gallon. Everybody checks the price, she said, but boating is their summer vacation, so they pay it. But, she concedes, "They usually go upstream, then float back."
And, she said, the marina itself is like a vacation home; slip renters know one another and sometimes party and cook out without even leaving the dock.
Campers towing fifth-wheels, or those driving motor homes, or RVs, are in the same boat, so to speak, when it comes to fuel prices.
Campers staying put
"Whoooo-oo, don't ask!," said Fred Hayden, who was setting up his 36-foot RV at South Sioux City's Scenic Park Campground on Wednesday. He said he paid $1.92 for the stuff that was already in the tank when he and his wife, Bev headed out from their Dallas-Fort Worth area home a few days earlier. Granted, it had been in the tank since last season.
Hayden said he paid $3.28 a gallon when he stopped to fill up in Kansas. Their motor home's tank holds 80 gallons and the vehicle gets 8 miles per gallon. Even at $3.20, Siouxland's lowest price on Thursday, (in Le Mars, Iowa), that's $356 a tankful.
"Just get an FHA loan," Bev joked. The couple, formerly of Sioux City, stay at Scenic Park for several weeks each summer. They'll use their car for side trips to Yankton, S.D.
"We're just curtailing longer trips," said Audrey Lambert of Sioux City. She and her husband, Jack, had their RV set up at Scenic Park, as well. They also use it to winter in Texas. Lamberts said they typically pay about $2.85 a gallon for the diesel fuel for their RV, which holds 90 gallons and gets 8 miles per gallon.
"We are reducing travel. But I wouldn't call it a sacrifice," Jack Lambert said looking around the park. "This is very nice."
But Bill Foster, a tower builder from Sioux City who lives in his fifth-wheel while on the road when working, was camped in South Sioux City for pleasure. In between jobs, he said he can hardly afford to go anywhere, due to high gas prices.
Another camper, Bonny Anderson, of Kimmer, Wyo., said she'd camped in a tent for years before buying her fifth-wheel just a month ago. Visiting a daughter in Hastings, Neb., she said gas prices will determine whether she stays an extra week or goes back home to work.
Sue Brown, one of the campground's hostesses, said campers come from all over, but many are local. "People aren't venturing very far," she said. A farmer from Jackson, Neb., who camped there this week told her gas was $3.19 last Friday. But when he drove in on Monday, it was $3.49.
Politicians' fault
Steve Pfleuger, owner of Oh Shucks Bait and Tackle, on Iowa Highway 86 in Milford, Iowa, said Wednesday he was selling premium gas at $3.61 a gallon and the ethanol blend at $3.39. He said he couldn't guess what it might be over the holiday weekend.
The big reason for the high prices is that he has to pay a lot more to transport it from farther away due to supply interruptions. Pfleuger said customers complain. "They keep mentioning politicians," he said. "Not so much Bush, but politicians in general.
"They're blaming politicians for not taking hold of the situation, letting the refineries get by with what they're doing," he said. "They think the politicians are involved in the oil business and that they should be building new refineries."
Pfleuger said despite the price he'll still sell a lot of gas over the holiday weekend. He's just a mile from the Emerson Bay boat ramp. And, he said, the price on the water is usually about 75 cents higher.
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