Why is she smiling?

How to RV with high price gas

Why is the girl in this picture smiling as she looks at the gas pump?

Maybe she's using somebody else's credit card. At today's gas prices, nobody smiles when looking at a gas pump.

And for sure, nobody's smiling when they're filling up an RV.

How to keep the high price of gas from wrecking your RVing plans

The price of gasoline is sky-high, and it looks like it may go even higher. The latest numbers I've seen show that gas is less than $4.00 a gallon in South Carolina and over $6.00 a gallon in parts of California.

At first glance, it might look like you can't afford to travel as you had planned to this year, but consider this before you cancel your travel plans.

Forget your emotion, and let's look at the facts.

The average RV is driven 3,000 to 4,000 miles a year. If you look at most 10-year-old RVs, they'll have 30,000 to 40,000 miles on them.

Let's take somewhere near the middle of that range and say, you'll drive your RV 3,600 miles this year.

My 34-foot Class A motorhome gets 7.5 mpg (as long as I hold the speed between 55 and 60 mph).

Driving 3,600 miles and getting 7.5 mpg means I will use 480 gallons of gas this year.

480 gallons of gas at $5.00 a gallon = $2,400.

480 gallons of gas at last year's price of $3.00 a gallon = $1,440.

If you drive 3,600 miles this year and pay $5 a gallon for gas instead of $3, you'll spend an additional $960, or $80 more a month.

Two people going out to eat for two nights would spend about $80. Or two nights in a campground would run you about $80.

So, putting the numbers in perspective, you could boondock for two nights a month or cook at home two extra nights instead of going out to eat, and you will save the $80 you'll spend on high-price gas for the month, then you can continue RVing as usual.

Bottom line: Look on the bright side. If a lot of people decide to cancel their RVing plans for this summer, maybe it'll be easier for you to get reservations at some of your favorite campgrounds.