Date:         Wed, 13 Sep 1995 11:40:19 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Tobin T. Copley" <tobin@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: alaska/inuvik trip

On Wed, 13 Sep 1995, David Schwarze wrote:

> Martha writes:
> > 
> > Does anyone want to guess what the gas for this trip is gonna cost?  Let's
> > say (to make things easy for *ME* from near the San Francisco area).  Let's
> > take paramaters like:
> > 
> > getting not very good gas mileage
> > having to pay high rates for gas, especially outside the US, with the exchange

Very good questions, Martha!  Let's get the list to give us a sense of 
current gas prices enroute!  Add your area and the avg. gas price below.  
Use the reg. unleaded price (87 octane) so we have basis for comparison.

BC/lower mainland: 60 cents/litre (CDN$)
BC/S interior:     41 - 55 cents/litre
WA/Bellingham/Seattle:  $1.15/US gal?

For our westy, I'd figure 19 mpg flat hwy, 17 mpg in the mountains (which 
is most of the way), anywhere from 12 - 16 mpg off pavement, depending on 
road condition, washboard, necessary speed variations from minute to 
minute, power loss due to incomplete traction, increased grades, etc.

[snip!]
> Shelley and I spent $572 on gas on our 7,800 mile GNATT trip.  We had
> pretty good conditions though - i.e. highway miles and cheap gas, most
> of the time.  I would set aside a minimum of $800 for the Alaska trip.
> > 
> > Does anyone want to suggest how much money to save ahead for food?  I

[snip!]
> I think food will cost considerably less than gas on this trip.  Still,
> I would set aside at least $500 for food (or around $20/day). > 

Yeah, prob'ly...  but remember, food well get quite a bit more expensive 
the further north we get.  You're not going to find romaine lettuce at 29 
cents a head in Inuvik! (Iceberg will be cheaper, though!  :)  :) )

Christa and I are semi-veggies: no land or air faces.  We do plan on 
fishing as much as possible both there and back.  Trout, Dolly Varden, 
Char, Pike!  Yum!

Tobin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin T. Copley                  Currently              =============  
(604) 689-2660                    Occupationally       /_| |__||__| :| putta
tobin@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca      Challenged!        O|             | putta
                                                       '-()-------()-' 
Circum-continental USA, Mexico, Canada 15,000 miles... '76 VW Camper! (Mango)