You don’t buy an RV to explore and travel our beautiful country because of the gas mileage!
As 2024 comes to a close, many people with RVs have already had them winterized and stored for the winter. For other people, they are preparing their RVs for the trip south for the winter. These are the “Winter Texans” or “Snow Birds”.
If you bought an RV, you probably bought it thinking an RV would be an opportunity for family fun, travel and enjoyment.
What seems mildly amusing is the number of people on social media feeds who will complain about the cost of gas and/or the gas mileage of their RV, Jeep or truck. It is entertaining to think about someone standing at an RV dealership having a discussion about gas mileage with the sales person!
If you are like most people, when you bought your RV, you were probably looking at
the floor plan:
- Will there be enough sleeping space for 8?
- How will I be able to bring my motorcycle/bicycles/golf cart/ATV/kayaks?
When you bought your Jeep Wrangler to flat tow, were you really thinking about gas mileage? Or were you thinking about all of the fun you would have trail riding, cruising the beach or going to places where there isn’t another soul for miles?
We are not thinking about gas mileage in a Jeep when there is the comradery of the “Jeep wave”, or the delight of coming out of a store and seeing a little yellow rubber duck sitting on our door handle. We are not thinking about gas mileage in a Jeep when we are in heavy traffic and need to be in another lane. Another Jeep person will ALWAYS let another Jeeper in front of them. We ALWAYS do the same!
No, owning an RV and a Jeep is not about the gas mileage.
Money Comes and Goes
Yes, money is important. There is no question about that. It pays the bills. But something important to remember about money: money comes and goes.
Once you pay your bills, put some money in savings, and invest some more, you always have choices about what you do with the rest of the money. In some weeks, months and years, you might have had a negative balance after you paid your bills and paid yourself (savings and investing).
If you have an RV, chances are that you are not in, or are no longer in, that category. Let go of worrying about gas mileage!
Who is Controlling the Gas Prices?
Good question. There are a lot of answers to that question, especially depending on which political party you affiliate with.
Some of the many factors involved in setting gas prices include, but are not limited to:
- state and federal taxes
- oil companies
- hedge fund operators
- Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- political decisions
- supply and demand
What we do know is that we are paying more per gallon now than we did when we started our full-timing adventure in 2018. We can also tell you from experience that gas is the most expensive in the northeast and California. When we were in Needles, CA, gas prices were $6.98 per gallon. We crossed the Colorado River into Arizona, less than 1 mile away, and paid $3.50 for the same octane.
Ways to Control Your Gas Mileage
If gas mileage is important to you, you could become a hypermiler. A hypermiler is someone who increases their gas mileage sometimes by as much as 20% by just doing a few “small” things.
These are some of the ways we have been able to accomplish improved gas mileage:
- Speed limit: Following the speed limit, maybe even a little less.
- Tires: Paying attention to the air pressure in our tires.
- Maintenance: Regular oil changes, air filters, spark plugs, our mass air flow sensor and our vehicle’s oxygen sensor.
- Tow haul mode: Our tow haul mode acts as an auxiliary braking system. Using brakes can decrease our gas mileage.
- Weight: Paying attention to the weight we are carrying in our RV and IN or ON our tow vehicle or our toad (tow behind), for example, kayaks and roof racks. If we don’t NEED it, we eliminate it!
To read our full blog on hypermiling: https://rvingnomads.com/improve-your-fuel-mileage-by-being-a-hypermiler/
Take Away
Enjoy your travels. If you are concerned about gas mileage, RVing may not be the adventure for you. Use your RV the way it was meant to be used, rolling down the road! Life is too short to do anything else.
Your partners in travel,
Kathryn and Dave
RVing Nomads
It’s a lifestyle
Thank you so much for reading this blog. If you enjoyed the content, please check out my other blog at:
https://rvingnomads.com/blog/
https://relationshipsrelearned.com/my-blog/
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| No person, business or attraction has paid us for an endorsement. AI has not been used to create any of the content in this blog or website. All of the photos in this blog and website were taken by Dave or Kathryn Harrington. |
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