Fuel prices

[Guest Ray Davis]

It seems like fuel prices are relatively cheap all across the country except California and I suppose prices are down there as well compared to the highs  .  🤑

It sure makes me think about how prices may go up after the election .   🙈  🙉  🙊

[dl_racing427]

5 hours ago, Ray Davis said:

It seems like fuel prices are relatively cheap all across the country except California and I suppose prices are down there as well compared to the highs  .  🤑

It sure makes me think about how prices may go up after the election .   🙈  🙉  🙊

All the more reason to reelect President Trump.

[Guest Ray Davis]

12 hours ago, throgmartin said:

Funny thing happened on the way home. I put on some Motown music, cranked up the volume and Ingrid and I were signing along having a great time. I didn't hear the lady on my Garmin and missed my turn near Mt. Dora. I drove the bus right down main street in Mt Dora and ended up in a residential neighborhood. I pretty much realized I was screwed at that point. I did drive through Tangerine, Florida. Never knew that town existed. 🙂

I made a mental note to next time turn down the radio - shut up - and pay attention when turns are coming up. That was 60 miles and an hour of my time I will never get back. Will make it a point to meet up this winter. It has been a while since we broke bread together. 🙂

We have done the downtown thing before and without the music , by following Miss Garmin .  Later realizing the GPS had somehow been set for a car instead of RV .   One time it tried to turn me into an alley , that time we both said I don't think so we'll find our own way .

It's really fun when there is new construction and Garmin can't figure out why I'm driving in those pastures .  Thankfully we have updates .

Still Garmin is great it keeps me in the proper lane (  most of the time )  which is priceless in heavy traffic .

Ever been in the right lane and suddenly realize you gotta be in the left lane real quick ?  Bad enough in an auto , nearly impossible

in a big RV .

Edited November 3, 2020 by Ray Davis

[dl_racing427]

I had a friend going to a race once, who told me about an alternate route to the interstate to avoid a difficult left turn.

A mile or so after we turned onto the side road, the road narrowed and we came up on a wooden bridge, marked with a 6 or 8 ton weight limit.

My coach and race trailer weighs about 35K, and there was no way I was backing the 65' combination up over a mile to turn around.

I said a prayer,  and eased across the bridge, trying not to shock load it, while praying that my axles were far enough apart to spread the load out.

I felt like I was on a Top Gear challenge.  🤣

Numerous creaks, pops, and groans later we were on solid ground again. 😥

My friend had never driven a large vehicle, and wasn;t used to even considering bridge weight limits.

Ever since then I ask specific questions before taking someone's directions.

[Dennis H]

We all have our Garmin stories. My first diesel was a 40' Tourmaster. I went from a 29' Winnie gasser to the Tourmaster. We bought it in Houston at PPL and I spent 3 1/2 hours driving around Houston in the wee hours of the morning to get the 'feel' of the new bus. Nothing like some seat time to get comfortable before heading back to California. Anyway we ended up in San Antonio and I had been playing with the Garmin and put in the Alamo. Forgetting that I had done that, I blithely followed directions like a good pilot until I ended up downtown with Garmin telling me to turn right. I should have known something was wrong by the strange looks I was getting, like 'what in the heck is this guy doing with that thing downtown', or 'that guy sure is stupid' and of course the 'I bet he's following his GPS'. Anyway we turned, big mistake, road was closed two blocks down with those huge concrete barriers. Picture a guy driving a huge 40' motor home on a two lane street 24' wide. Now picture him trying to turn that thing around on a dead end street. Yeah! it wasn't pretty. But, on the positive side, I caused no damage to anything and got tons of experience. My wife is still my wife and we are still happy, so it's a WIN.!!! That coach was a good coach but ended up getting stolen when we got back to California, which is how I ended up with the Dynasty and eventually the Executive. Garmin is only as good as the dummy that enters the information. I now only use GPS coordinates instead of street addresses.....Dennis

[Hotrod - R.I.P.]

I paid $1.60 a couple days ago at TA in Meridian Ms with the TSD card.

[Bob Nodine]

6 hours ago, Dennis H said:

We all have our Garmin stories. My first diesel was a 40' Tourmaster. I went from a 29' Winnie gasser to the Tourmaster. We bought it in Houston at PPL and I spent 3 1/2 hours driving around Houston in the wee hours of the morning to get the 'feel' of the new bus. Nothing like some seat time to get comfortable before heading back to California. Anyway we ended up in San Antonio and I had been playing with the Garmin and put in the Alamo. Forgetting that I had done that, I blithely followed directions like a good pilot until I ended up downtown with Garmin telling me to turn right. I should have known something was wrong by the strange looks I was getting, like 'what in the heck is this guy doing with that thing downtown', or 'that guy sure is stupid' and of course the 'I bet he's following his GPS'. Anyway we turned, big mistake, road was closed two blocks down with those huge concrete barriers. Picture a guy driving a huge 40' motor home on a two lane street 24' wide. Now picture him trying to turn that thing around on a dead end street. Yeah! it wasn't pretty. But, on the positive side, I caused no damage to anything and got tons of experience. My wife is still my wife and we are still happy, so it's a WIN.!!! That coach was a good coach but ended up getting stolen when we got back to California, which is how I ended up with the Dynasty and eventually the Executive. Garmin is only as good as the dummy that enters the information. I now only use GPS coordinates instead of street addresses.....Dennis

Remember what Regan said, "trust but verify", that applies double to GPS's. As you do I always use Google Maps to see where the route is going and enter a GPS coordinate for the stops. We almost never use an address as they are often in ridiculous locations. I zoom in with satellite mode on each stop and take a look at what the maneuverability prospects are for a 40 foot coach towing. Several times a year we go thru the city of Atlanta and learned early that the GPS always wants us to take the bypass and not go straight thru. Once we just ignored the "re-calculating" and the damn thing tried to take us on every side street in Atlanta to get us back over to I-285. Now I either enter coordinates thru downtown or just stop the route until we get back to I-75 on the other side.

[Dr4Film]

That's one thing that I really liked about the Garmin RV-760 is that Ms. Gamin never says "recalculating" it just does it automatically behind the scenes and sends you on your way using a different route and roads.

The old Garmin nuvi Truck unit model 465-LMT that I used to use for the coach and is now allocated to the car has the "recalculating" whenever we don't take her route. But I am now using my phone with Google Maps for car routing when needed versus digging the 465 out of the glove box.

[jacwjames]

So when the topic of fuel prices first popped up I took the time to look at Gasbuddy and see what the prices were near me.  Since I needed to fill up the motorhome I wanted to know what to expect.  The couple fuel stations in the small town I live in were $2.29/gal but if I expanded by view I found that the Sam's Club in East Knoxville TN was $1.79.  Wow, what a difference. 

Over the summer I have been pulling fuel out of my tank to use in the tractor so I knew I'd need quite a bit.  Sure enough, I pumped 85 gallons so by driving ~25 miles I saved $40 besides stocking up on some necessities we needed anyway and giving the motorhome a good workout at the same time. 

[Bob Nodine]

6 hours ago, jacwjames said:

So when the topic of fuel prices first popped up I took the time to look at Gasbuddy and see what the prices were near me.  Since I needed to fill up the motorhome I wanted to know what to expect.  The couple fuel stations in the small town I live in were $2.29/gal but if I expanded by view I found that the Sam's Club in East Knoxville TN was $1.79.  Wow, what a difference. 

Over the summer I have been pulling fuel out of my tank to use in the tractor so I knew I'd need quite a bit.  Sure enough, I pumped 85 gallons so by driving ~25 miles I saved $40 besides stocking up on some necessities we needed anyway and giving the motorhome a good workout at the same time. 

Jim,

We live 12 miles from that Sam's Club and it is programmed to the Home button on the GPS. We always fill the coach there before heading to the house. Bet you had to run your card twice because the limit is $100.

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Bob Nodine

[jacwjames]

Yup, ran the card twice but worth it.  If we are either going or coming that we we usually stop and fill up.   At least the East side Sam's has plenty of room to maneuver, the West Knoxville store is usually a bear to get in and out of even with a car.  Not sure what's going to happen if they turn the old mall into an Amazon fulfillment center. 

 

[Bob Nodine]

12 hours ago, jacwjames said:

Yup, ran the card twice but worth it.  If we are either going or coming that we we usually stop and fill up.   At least the East side Sam's has plenty of room to maneuver, the West Knoxville store is usually a bear to get in and out of even with a car.  Not sure what's going to happen if they turn the old mall into an Amazon fulfillment center. 

 

No way would I pull into the West Knoxville Sam's Club fuel pumps with a 40 foot coach towing. Heck, I wouldn't pull into their pumps without the toad. Even towing our full size crew cab truck we can get around at the East Sam's Club. I heard it was Wayfair and some other company that was going to build two buildings where the old mall is. Amazon would be nice if that is the case. My oldest daughter has a degree in logistics and transportation and is currently employed in Wilmington, NC. She is considering moving back home and that might be a good place for her to get a job.

[Scotty Hutto]

Reading through this today and thought I’d check...  

in the Northwest side of Atl today for diesel. Best prices found:

TSD - $1.86 at a nearby truck stop 

GasBuddy - $1.98 at a small gas station

YMMV

...on the subject of Garmins...  when I was a newbie with my Holdiay Rambler pulling a toad, I *once* used the car GPS...  You know those square blocks in downtown Greenville, SC?  I ran over the corner of *every single one*...  

[RVKnight]

On 10/30/2020 at 8:50 PM, Jimerin said:

The TSD fuel program is the best deal going !! We are out for five months @ 5200 miles and saved $300.00 off pump price. .50 to .90 per gallon 👍

I too use the TDS fuel card and wonder why everyone who has a diesel does not use the service. 

[Scotty Hutto]

I use it also, but I believe some have concerns about providing bank account info to TSD. 

[RVKnight]

We opened a separate account at a different bank. That way if it gets breached they will only get what is in the fuel card account. 

[jacwjames]

4 minutes ago, RVKnight said:

We opened a separate account at a different bank. That way if it gets breached they will only get what is in the fuel card account. 

Smart, can't be too careful

I recent setup 2 step authentication on the bank, credit card, pension and trading account logins.  Harder for me to access but really harder still for hackers.

[RVKnight]

Jim, that is a good approach. 

[Onthego]

Out west in Oregon (Portland area ) diesel is $2.70 gal. Out side areas you can fine it $ 2.59 not at the truck stop. 

[slomarch]

You're all in great shape except California. Tacoma, WA prices for diesel range $2.399 to $331.9 and I'm on 1/2 tank.

 

[Dennis H]

TSD ROCKS! We've used the FlyingJ aka Camping World discount @ 8 cents/gal in the past. When TSD came out with the EFS card for RVrs I applied and received mine in the mail. I was able to use it for the first time two days ago. Filled up at a Petro station in Milan NM. Pump price: $3.29 pumped 83.4 gallons = $275.15. Received my bill from TSD today---$239.24. That's a savings of almost 47 cents/gallon.!!!  If you don't have the card, please get one. If you don't know what it is, shoot me a PM and I'll explain......Dennis

 

[Scotty Hutto]

@TSD Fuel and @TSD Logistics are members of Monacoers!  I’m sure they’ll love hearing this. 

[Dennis H]

20 minutes ago, Scotty Hutto said:

@TSD Fuel and @TSD Logistics are members of Monacoers!  I’m sure they’ll love hearing this. 

Awesome! I thought I'd share some real life experience for those who haven't heard of their TSD Open Road app or card....Dennis

[Gary M]

Im hoping my TSD card shows up before I move on heading east. My first card I guess is on the turtle express. So they are shipping me a second card. They told me if the first shows up along withe the second to just register both, then we’ll have a spare. Now thats customer service for ya!!!

[Pduggs]

We paid 4.09 a gallon at the TA in Coachella CA on Monday, before TSD discount. Now in Texas and we see diesel going for 2.85. Sadly I bought 110 gallons in CA.