I spent a couple of weeks more or less confined to my home while recuperating from walking pneumonia. When returning health (and cabin fever) allowed me to go out, I headed up to the farm where I keep my horses.

Without looking, I drove into my nearest petrol station (yes, I still call it petrol) to fill up my truck. Imagine my shock when the pumped dinged full and I saw that I owed $92! I failed to pay attention to the price on the stations signboard. Gasoline had shot up 30 cents in two weeks, driven by a record price of crude at $111 a barrel. 

I mulled this over during the 50-mile round trip to the barn. An increase of 30 cents per gallon may not translate into much if you drive a Toyota, but what if you drive a big truck or even an RV? That led me to wondering what's going to happen to all those monster RVs that will be leaving their storage homes this summer for the family road trip. What will be the impact of these increasing gasoline prices on the budgets of RV owners?

Finally, what will the impact be next fall when these large-capacity RVs come off the road? Will they be sold, or will they go back into storage?

RV and boat storage is a fast-growing segment of our industry, and facilities are coming online every week with space allotted to just this service. Will the storage industry see a downturn in number of RV and boat owners over the next year?

So, I shall be doing research and staying vigilant on the impact of fuel prices on the commuting public. Perhaps I'll have something more to say when we publish our annual boat/RV/mobile storage issue in late August.

I'm curious what your thoughts may be as you stand by the pump, hearing that ding, ding, ding as the price goes up, up, up. Let me know by clicking on the "Leave Comment" link below or dropping me a line at [email protected].