Good God, where are you driving?
California and Nevada. California requires a special blend of gasoline which just so happens to be patented by Unocal. The Unocal royalty is only about 1 to 3 cents per gallon but that snowballs into about 6 to 8 cents per gallon at the pump. While seemingly not much, the greater impact of that government mandate and the Unocal royalty is on the reduced number of refineries that can or are willing to blend that gasoline. That's the type of delicate balance between supply and demand that always invites testing by the devil's wind that routinely gusts through Southern California throughout the summer, the peak driving season.
However, I have a 8,000 mile trip planned for out West in July as well as 6 other jeeps
8,000 miles, JDN? That's some adventure. An equivalent trip is Palm Beach to San Diego to Vancouver to Toronto and back to the far right side of Palm Beach where you reside, altogether a trip which totals about 8,128 miles. Assuming you can squeeze 15 freeway miles per gallon out of your trusty Jeep, you and your buddies are going to be paying a bundle for the 545 gallons of gasoline that each of you will require so those spikes in gasoline prices during the peak driving season are really going to leave a mark. 8,000 miles will also require about 144 hours of drive time, or about 6 full days. That doesn't include being tourist-trapped, speed-trapped, sleeping, eating, and cavorting with the natives.
Somehow I think that before your little western jeep jamboree is over, you will resolve to buy your summer clothes in the winter and take your summer vacations in the spring the next time around.<g> |
