At the speed and rate of increase we are experiencing due to all the "factors" (Venezuela, OPEC, weak dollar, a camel stubbing it's toe somewhere, etc) that the commodity speculators use to drive the price up, I suspect my budget of $8.00 a gallon in '09 when I retire won't be far off... of course, other pundits are predicting the "oil bubble burst" to bring the price of crude back down to under $80 (like that's a good price??) this summer... I have been reading that for awhile now and don't see nothing but up in the price, so I ain't holding my breath...
Filled up the truck today and was glad to find a station that had it at $3.59... Sam's Club had it at 3.53 last nite and $3.70 this morning... well that 38 gallons will last me awhile since I don't have any trips (hauling) planned until May.. luckily my pre-emissions '03 Dodge CTD averages 17.5 around town mixed (unloaded) with a little hi-way mixed in.. gonna be hard next year to "step-up" to a new diesel that gets on a good day 10-12 not hauling, but my 3/4 ton won't do it for me with a Landmark...(well it will but really don't want to live with the "pucker-factor" when I hit the mountains). But when all is said and done, I have no plans on changing my full-timing plans until fuel exceeds $8 a gallon or it is no longer available at any price..