But what are we driving for?  The chance to visit with 'family' and friends that most people in modern society don't understand.  On, there's the cyclists and the marathoners who drive long distances, but I get the impression that most modern folk are couch potatoes.
 
What do I drive for?  The Dream.  That nebulous, individually defined spark of "Dog-gone it, this world needs more than just the status quo."  Courtesy and honour mean something to us.  The march to "protest the twentieth century" may have been somewhat tongue in cheek for the founders, but participating in an organization where other folk believe in more than the almighty dollar is my breath of fresh air.  
 
So, yes.  I may travel less.  But I will not love less.  I will not let the Dream wane, if I can help it.  I will drive when and where necessary (and possible) to the smaller events so that they will not lose heart.  It is a choice and an expense I make happily.
 
Yours In Service, Always
HL Francesca Laviana Sansovino
Steppes 

-- Burke McCrory <burkemc@cox.net> wrote:
At 11:05 PM 4/21/2006, you wrote:
>OK, we all know that we need to carpool to events more, but even that
>can be hard to do, because of all the *stuff* we haul, so we can camp
>comfortably.  Even before I was merchanting alot, I seemed to be hauling
>a lot of stuff, and I never took the time for a 'fancy' camp.
>How to solve this;
>Stay at a motel-may not save much cash, but it will cut back on gas.
>Doubling up on rooms would help with the cash.
>Find some 'pack horses', and let the 'stuff' carpool, too.  Groups or
>households might even consider renting a U Haul for this purpose.
>Reduce our camp.  I know of a family of four that had 4 tents, at one
>Warlord, one for the couple, one for each of the 2 kids and one for the
>dog!  Then they had a pavilion in front to the tents for sitting.  We
>all love the fancy stuff that makes a camp real neat, but, instead of
>doing that at every event, maybe only take that setup to a few events.
>Pare down for most.
>I remember taking a lot less. Years ago, I had to get a ride home from a
>Kingdom Warlord (my ride had to go home early, because of a family
>emergency).  I rode back with Sir Thorkil, in a Camaro (I think).  We
>had both camped and we both had armor, and it all fit inside!!!
>
>What other ideas, are out there?

The point is that even with car pooling, group packing, room (tent) 
sharing, etc.  it may not be enough.  As several people have pointed 
out these higher fuel costs affect us in every part of our daily 
lives.  It is all fine a good to say get out your bicycle but I would 
guess that most of us do not live and work in close enough proximity 
for that to be an option.  To me it is clear, as the costs to event 
goes up, people will either event less or travel shorter 
distances.  Events like Coronation, Steppes, Crown, etc. will always 
have good turnout.  But other events like Smaller baronial events, 
Shire events, etc. will suffer.  If the cost of fuel stays up at $3 
per gallon or higher I predict it will change the way we play the 
game (at least in the larger land area kingdoms).


Burke

Just one example.  To travel to Stepps/Elfsea from Wiesenfeuer is 
approx. 225 miles.  In an vehicle that gets 17 miles to the gallon it 
takes roughly 13 gallons one way.  At $2.25 a gallon (what it was 
just last month) that costs just under $30.  At $3 per gallon that 
cost goes up to $39,  at $3.50 it will cost $45.50 for that trip one 
way.  So a round trip that use to cost $60 in fuel now will cost $78 
or even $91.  And that is what we call a short trip.  To Stargate or 
Bjornsborg you can more that double those costs.  If you event once a 
month and just make short trips it will cost you over $200 more in 
just fuel costs at $3.00 a gallon.  

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