Running On Paddle Power
Here's another way people are changing their plans because of the tall gas prices: They're taking much shorter vacations. For evidence of that, visit the Sly Park Recreation Area in Pollock, Pines, Calif.
We spent time with Mike Morrasy, his wife Karen, and their grandson Brent. Mike bought a 38-foot RV ten years ago. For a decade he and Karen have been traveling around the country. They like to go on long distance rock-collecting trips, especially to Colorado.
On this trip, though, they're not going very far at all—only 3 miles away from home. The tank in Mike's RV needs 75 gallons fully juiced, and the vehicle gets just 7 miles a gallon. At $3.90 a gallon, which is what Mike's paying these days, it costs him $292.50 to fill up. Mike says he doesn't even keep track of exactly how many miles he drives anymore. He'd get too angry if he did.
Nearby, in Coloma, Calif., we had brief chance to get our mind off the road—by getting in the water. We went whitewater rafting, down the south fork of the American River!
Even businesses like this, if you can believe it, are getting hit by the high cost of gasoline. Don Koolmees, who owns Whitewater Connection, may not use any fuel to get people down the river on his inflatable rafts—that's all paddle power—but he does have to get them to the river in the first place. Koolmees brings some tourists in all the way from Los Angeles, and he sets his rates in December. After he signed a contract with a busing company, he says they added a 15 percent fuel surcharge, a cost Koolmees has to soak up himself. That cuts way into his profits.
Tomorrow, we'll be going from Nevada, to Utah, and then into Wyoming. See you then and remember, you can track our up-to-the-minute progress right here and track our gas use and costs on this interactive map.
