Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Why are gas prices so high?

So this is something that is probably on everyone’s minds.  I mean how can you not think about something like this when gas is over 4 bucks a gallon in some places.  Thankfully it hasn’t gotten that high here in Arizona. 

I recently took a trip to San Diego for the weekend with a friend of mine.  The drive there takes us through Yuma, which is the last city before we crossed over to California.  Luckily we filled the car at $3.79 a gallon before crossing the border.  An hour from Yuma at the next gas station the cost jumped to $4.49 a gallon.  I understand that it is in a different state but that is a major jump.  My friend and I were able to stay at another friend’s house and we were driving a Prius, so we actually had a full weekend at about $100 each.  We lucked out.

The reason why I have been thinking about this so much is because I will be driving home in June.  Of course I will be driving my Xterra that gets about 275 miles to each tank (sad I know).  At $3.79 it cost about $65 to fill my car.  Now that is the best price I am going to see throughout the entire trip.  It will most likely get to around $4.50 a gallon or more.  The trip from Arizona to Pennsylvania is about 3,000 miles.  I have done the math so many times, but it still makes my head spin every time.  The math shows that I will be filling up my car about 11 times.  So that’s 11 times an average of $70 coming to at least $770.  That is so crazy to me that I will be spending that much in gas, in 1 week.  Now that’s just gas money.  I still have to ship my entire room home through U-Haul.  That comes to about $1,400, and that’s the cheapest I found.  Fortunately we are staying with friends all but 2 of the nights and my wonderful older sister is paying for the hotel in New Orleans.  Then there is money for food.  All of you that know me know that I do like to eat.  Since we will be in 2 new cities I will be eating everything those cities are known for, I just can’t help it.  So my grand total will come to $2,170 + food money.  I know I’m throwing a lot of $ signs at you, but wow I think I may faint every time I calculate that out.  And the amount always seems to rise because gas prices are rising.

So tell me again why I am leaving a guaranteed job here, spending that money and moving home.  Oh yeah that’s right.  All my amazing friends and family at home.  Have a mentioned before how utterly happy I am about moving back home?  I think I did maybe once : )

I mean I can complain all I want about gas prices but what good will that do me.  I just have to deal and pay the money.  Even though this is a large cost out of my pocket, it’s totally worth it.

Oh and by the way, update from the last post.  My girls won the championship.  We are officially ranked number 1 in the state of Arizona.  That is a great feeling and I am so proud of my girls.  Now what would make it so much better would be a bonus.  Don’t the Super Bowl Champs earn extra money when they win?

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