The Trip - by the Numbers
Images for this post are in the first comment.
I’m a tech guy. I like numbers and how succinctly they define situations, so here is the trip in those terms.
Big picture:
- 14 days / 13 nights
- 11 different motels. Two consecutive nights in two different ones. (More about motels in an upcoming post.)
- 4,063.8 miles traveled in car. See first image in comments.
Gas prices for regular: ( 4,063 reasons to be concerned about this point! 😂)- Cheapest gas was in Oklahoma. $2.39/gallon. I figured as much and didn’t fill up before leaving Kansas and hit it once again on the way home.
- Highest price I paid for gas. $4.29/gallon. See second image in comments. And that was the cash price. I brought along extra cash figuring I’d encounter higher prices for using credit cards. (That was also the case in some restaurants.)
- Lowest price I saw. $0.18/gallon. Ironically about half a mile down the road from the place where I paid the most. See third image in comments. Too bad it was just an old sign!
- Highest price I saw. $6.79/gallon. That was in Vidal Junction, CA, which is about 45 miles southwest of Lake Havasu, AZ, at the junction of CA-62 and US-95. No picture. I was getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible!
Miscellaneous:- Number of cars at MASSIVE EV charging station near one of my motels – zero. See fourth image in comments. Though I’ll admit that since the station was right on I-15, the main drag between southern California and Vegas, and roughly at the mid-point of the trek, perhaps on weekends it would get more use.
- Number of photos taken overall – 594.
- Number of naughty ones – 0.5. Just couldn’t resist the very mildly naughty one shown in the fifth image in the comments of the Cali babe shopping at the drive-up convenience store. Mostly I took it to see if it would come out. It’s slightly out of focus.
When you travel how long are you generally gone?
How many photos do you take on average, say per day?
Have you started to use cash to avoid paying extra to use a credit card?
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14 comments
There is a local mom and pop restaurant that takes only cash , no charge or debit cards. For those that that don't have cash , the restaurant has an cash dispenser for thier customers to use to get cash to pay for thier food.
The restaurant has great following. The food is great 👍
I hate to think what kind of fees using that cash machine entails.
@CleavageFan4U , well everyone that that eat there knows to bring cash. This has been going on for more then 30 years. Like I said it has a big following. Including across the state.
I just spent 6 days/nights (flew in midnight Mon and left 7:30 the next Mon) in Vegas with daughter for her 21st bday/graduation present. I actually left home the Fri before for graduation and spent the weekend in Springfield before flying out from there. It is actually rare for me to be gone a full week (or more). More typically I do a Thu to Mon or Tue type thing. I can take a lot of photos if there is a lot to take pictures of. I took 175 in like 4 hours at the tulip festival. I took a fair number the day we went to Red Rock Canyon and Hoover Dam, but less some of the other days of the Vegas trip. I try to stay in the moment, but it is a balance as I also want to have the memories from the trip. Yes I will use cash to avoid cc penalties. I noticed the copy shop I sometimes use had an extra 3 percent on cc payments yesterday so I was glad I still had some extra cash from my trip in my purse. Oddly, I've also run into a lot more cashless venues and I am not a fan of those. Sometimes I don't want to put a purchase on my card!
Welcome back - I was wondering where you were! Hope you had a good trip.
Paying cash for discount I certainly understand. Not wanting to put something on a credit card makes me wonder what you're hiding! (Male stripper purchases in Vegas perhaps? 😀)
@CleavageFan4U No, I meant that I just think it is dumb to put a bunch of small purchases on a cc. Like we went into the Neon Museum gift shop and they were cashless. My daughter picked out a keychain and I got a magnet and it just seems dumb to put little stuff like that on a cc. That said, I do typically pay cash at the adult store when I buy toys. But that is a rare occurrence. LOL
@CL_Love OK, so you do buy sex toys with cash - just not the live kind. 😀
Just the other day I saw where the local festival was doing away with their HATED food ticket system and going to CC only. The state fair did the same thing several years ago.
I usually spend 3 weeks in Michigan. I normally use credit cards, unless the exchange rate is really crappy. Then I'll dip into my savings in the States and mainly use cash.
Three weeks is a long time, but you've traveled a long distance too.
Years ago I would try to book for 7 days so we could get that last night free. Now, I am gone for a few days to see my son. I'm ready for more exploring.
Pics - depends on where I am and what I'm doing. Sightseeing, bunches. Driving, very few.
I think you'd be a fun road tripping buddy.
I just got a new credit card which has a sign up bonus of 100,000 points/miles if I spend $5,000 in the first three months. So no, nothing is being paid in cash at this point, haha! Maybe after I reach the threshold. I actually don't see a lot of discounting for cash where I live. I did visit a restaurant in NYC whose menu literally showed two prices for everything, the cash price and the CC price.
Your rationale makes sense, for now.
I think this discounts for cash / premium to use cards concept is a growing thing. Like so much else it started in the bigger cities and is moving outward from there. It is HERE already at a few local gas stations.
Most of my traveling lately has been day trips. Vacations, when I've taken them, are typically 7-10 days. How many pictures do I take? That depends greatly on what catches my eye. On average, 10-20 per field trip day.
I thought charging extra for using credit cards went the way of the Dodo.
Those numbers seem reasonable.
Oooohhhh nnnnoooo. In these economically squeezed times, discounts for cash / premium to use cards, is very much making a comeback!
We will be visiting American again later in the year for a month, first time for 9 years. I recently paid $4.88 (thats with working out the litre to the US gallon) We have both 95 and 98 octane fuel. Generally take about 200 photos on a long trip like this.
If I had to pay that for gas likely would not be making 4,000 mile trips!
I just don't understand the higher octanes I'm hearing about overseas. Is it still leaded fuel?
@CleavageFan4U
@CleavageFan4U No its unleaded!!
@iamnext2023 I searched it and found that it's really only a difference in how the numbers are calculated and displayed in various parts of the world, and that the underlying content of the fuel is the same.
Usually my breaks are either a weekend- or a week-long.
I don't take any photos.
I've not yet noticed extra charges for using a credit card here, though there are often minimum limits.
The extra charge makes sense to me but figuring out how much cash to take, and keeping it safe, is a bit of a challenge.
The five images for this post:
@staci_19702 She kinda does, now that you mention it. Gave me a big smile when she was pulling in and I was outside taking pictures.
She was driving a flashy car. Maybe it's her Sugar Daddy's? Who knows, especially these Cali babes.