Onwards and Upwards for Fuel $$$$$$

[Coloradobus]

OK. here's an ouch. Tonight on our local news, they said Aspen,Colorado has hit the $4.00/gallon mark for regular unleaded.. By the end of the summer they(Aspen city officials) are conceding that gas will be $6.00/gallon. Diesel here in Denver is costing around $3.05-3.15/gallon. Thank goodness we have a diesel car, 30mpg city, 40 hwy.

[Ray Davis]

Has there been any explanation for the sudden rise in fuel prices, other than oil companies making windfall profits?

[Coloradobus]

Ray,
Other than the usual excuses: fire at a Texas refinery (Valero), other suppliers down for broken equipment, routine maintenance, added cost for boutique fuels, increased consumption. It makes local news, even the Weather Channel, but no one is asking why. A comparison is made that motorists in London UK are paying eqivalent to $10.00/gallon. We aren't Europe or Japan. I see a barrel of oil as of this morning is at $65/barrel. But the meteoric rise in price we have in Colorado, almost a dollar in a month, sure puts a bite in the wallet. Wish we could raise our prices that quickly for our business.
Maybe Marathon will offer a "wind turbine" or "sail" option we can retrofit onto the "H".

[dalej]

Ray, I had heard from a very reliable source that the cost of putting out well fires has gone up so much that they have to pass the costs on to us.

[Coloradobus]

Hi Dale,

Guess JDUB wil be in the market for one the new 3 slide Marathon H"'s.....2 million plus I hear to buy one.

[dalej]

I even heard that he will be sailing right passed the two bus boys.

[Jerry Winchester]

Yep, about one more row and I can go pick that new XL2 up. Crap, I may just buy two coaches and keep the one I have since owning two coaches is the "in" thing three would be better, eh Mike / Bob / Harry?

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[Jeff Bayley]

I wonder if coach owners would buy toad trucks with aux tanks and the filtering system and pay to have the minor mods done to let their diesels run on waste vegetable oil. One diesel pusher did it (not with the toad but by using his bay space for the required tanks). You can drive indefinitley for free as long as your willing to go around and collect the oil which is why I like the idea of mounting the whole thing on a truck. You use the truck to chase down the oil instead of hunting around with a full size rig. There are several web sites and forums where they not only list places to collect oil nationwide (chinesse restaurants are supposed to have cleaner oil) but they also have people that already have refined (and unrefined) oil that give it away. The collect more than they can use for their family (most of them have several diesel cars in the family that have all been converted to run on waste vegatable oil.

My idea (I've posted this before) is to run remote lines from the tanks in the bed of the truck to some quick connects on the rear of the bus. The still runs on regular diesel and once your on the road you flip the switch and convert over to running on oil.

Turns out the Diesel engine was invented to run on any kind of oil when it premered at a Word Fair around 1900 and the petrolum industry came up with diesel fuel after the fact. The inventor of this oil running engines last name was Diesel. The oil has more lubrication than diesel and the only down side seems to be collecting the oil but the restaurants give it away to you for free out of the speical hopper they have around the rear they collect it in.

It seems to me that retired folks (the majority of coach owners ?) would be even more inclined to do this since it gives them something to do assuming that you can find some entertainment value in getting around town to collect the oil.

I'm still working and when I weigh out the time vs savings I'm not sure it pays for me but the challenge of seeing if I can make it work has some appeal to me.