10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

SEPTEMBER 2005 TRUCKER TALK
UP, UP & AWAY!
By Writers and Owner Operators Rod & Kim Grimm

With the price of fuel soaring higher than a 747, we really have to wonder where and when it will stop. Hopefully it will come back down to earth and soon! Here are some examples of what we’ve seen out there regarding rising fuel prices and what some truckers are doing to survive.

Going west last week we got fuel in Wells, NV for $2.56. By the time we got five hours down the road to Sparks, NV it had climbed to $2.73. The very next day, in Sacramento, CA, the price was $2.99 when we went to sleep and then $3.15 when we got up the next morning! Coming home, the price in Wells, NV was not $2.56 anymore. At home in Iowa early Thursday morning, it was $2.37. The next morning it was up to $2.43. While I was fueling, it went up to $2.45. I got the $2.43 price since I’d already started fueling. What a bargain!!

We’ve had locking fuel caps since the last time the price of diesel fuel spiked, and I think we’ll be seeing even more out there now that we are looking at $3.00+ per gallon. That’s liquid gold in there - you’d better lock it up and protect it! It’s funny (well, not really) how fast the price goes up and how slow it comes down. Good thing we’re not on an airplane with that flight pattern - you’d need more than lunch and supper to get you through!

Talking with friends Randy and Jona Rebillard from Gimli, Manitoba (Canada), they are less concerned than we are about $3.00 per gallon fuel. With a gallon of fuel being 3.7854 liters and a liter costing $.94 to $.98, it makes a gallon cost $3.51 in Canada. Add the rate of exchange for money and it’s $3.75 per gallon. It didn’t seem such a big deal to them to be putting $2.99 a gallon fuel into their tanks in Sacramento, CA. I asked about their fuel surcharge and they told us that it’s ten cents per mile. They have been paying over $3.00 for years, and as slow as the price comes down for us, it’s even slower for our neighbors to the north.

Usually running east, Randy told us with the new Illinois tolls that its $.25 cents cheaper to run all the way across Ohio, from the Indiana state line to Youngstown, than it is to go from the Wisconsin state line down 90-294 through Illinois to the Indiana state line (a considerably shorter distance). The price in tolls to go from the IN/OH state line to Youngstown, OH is $23.25 while the cost from the WI/IL state line to IN is $23.50. Ah, more expenses!

When possible, Randy tries to use biodiesel. It’s still hard to find and when you do it’s usually in the Midwest. Randy gets it in Pembina, ND on his way to or from home. He feels he gets better fuel mileage and has more power using the biodiesel. Biodiesel is a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from renewable resources like corn and soybeans, which can be used in any diesel engine. It contains no petroleum, and is less toxic than table salt.

We have biodiesel here at home, but haven’t tried it yet. We’ve been buying ethanol gas for years (gas made with 10% corn), but I think it’s time that we get more information and start using biodiesel as well. Randy told us that you can go to a website at www.biowillie.com which has information and some locations that sell biodiesel. Another website at www.biodiesel.org is also full of information if you are interested in learning more. Currently, there are not many locations selling biodiesel, but I’m sure with today’s soaring prices, it will get a lot easier to find real soon.

Personally, I always wonder a little as I watch houses sprouting up on what used to be farm land used to grow food, where are we going to grow food someday? First we decrease the land available for crops, then we want to increase the use of these crops to include fuel as well as food. How’s that going to work? It’ll be great in bumper crop years, but what about the not so good years? Let’s face it, the weather still plays a big part in every crop we grow and the weather hasn’t been the most cooperative lately. Could this alternative leave us worse off than our dependence on foreign oil? Will we soon be walking instead of driving and hungry?

We have to find alternatives and now. With China and India increasing their demand, it’s costing us more. Just the other day, a barrel of crude oil hit $67.00. I can remember just a little while ago what a big deal it was when it surpassed the $50.00 a barrel price. I’ve heard rumors that it will hit $74.00 by Labor Day and when it does, it will stay there and not fall.

People are already at the end of their budgets. Higher fuel costs equal higher costs for everything we need. Getting a fuel surcharge helps, but it’s not the long-term answer. Talking to a friend the other day, he said, “I wish I had an uncle in the oil business.” Don’t we all! But since that’s not the case for most of us, we’ll just keep trucking along, doing the best we can, wondering when the madness will end. If we all work together to use a little less fuel, maybe it will be enough until we can find a real alternative. We hope you have safe and high mileage travels wherever you go!