No suprises here, with fuel circling around $4.25 a gallon (U.S.), more than 55-percent of all RVers (who answered a recent poll by RVTravel.com) plan to drive fewer miles (or no miles at all) this summer.

“We plan to make the same number of trips but to closer destinations and will spend more time parked and less time driving. We will never give up our RV no matter what the fuel cost,” writes Paul on 6/21/08.

Read more by clicking “How many miles will you trave this summer (2008) with your RV compared to last summer?
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Chris Wilson, Tom Wilson and Josh Autrey, (pictured here) are riding about 4,000 miles across the United States on bicycles this summer. 

They say it is the trip of a lifetime. Tom (father of Chris) did this trip back in 1981 so it is a second lifetime memory for him.

The threesome were stopping over for a couple of days in Glacier National Park when this picture was taken in late June with Lake McDonald in the background. They were hoping to bike over the Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road. However, the pass was still closed to traffic at that time.

“We will just bike up as far as we can,” said Tom with a huge smile. “If we have to turn around we will and continue our journey across country.”

Along the way the trio are raising money for the American Cancer Society. “My mother died from cancer,” said Tom. “We just want to do a little to help with cancer research.” If you feel moved to donate, click on  Bike USA 2008 Pledge Form.

Photo: Chris Wilson, Tom Wilson and Josh Autrey taking a breather by Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. By Julianne Crane.

Maxine Richie was riding along next to me on one of the Red Bus Tours in Glacier National Park when we struck up a conversation somewhere near the Weeping Wall … come to find out, this is her 8th summer working in a magnificent location. This year she chose Glacier and can be found in the Lake McDonald Lodge gift shop.

“I am alone and all my four children are grown and on their own,” said Maxine, an avid RVer since 1972. “It was either the rocking chair, or going out and having fun.”

Maxine is definitely not the rocking chair type, in previous years the 75-year-old grandmother has worked a variety of jobs in the Shenandoah NP (2001-2002); Yellowstone NP (2003); Summit Lake Lodge on the Kenai Peninsula, in Moose Pass, Alaska (2004); Yosemite NP (2005); Crater Lake NP (2006); and Grand Canyon NP (2007) where she hiked Rim to Rim in October 2007.

This summer Maxine is “bunking” in with another woman in employee housing. In previous years, however, (except for Yosemite NP where she said they do not allow RVs) she has lived in her 1995 20-foot Winnebago Rialta. (Yet another small rig Winnebago doesn’t make anymore.)

“I’ve driven by myself all over the country, including up to Alaska,” she said. “I love it.”  During the winter months she lives near Tucson, Arizona, in her 5th Wheel Trailer. 

Photo: Maxine Richie in front of Lake McDonald Hotel in Glacier National Park. By Julianne Crane

 
Kay and Al Aguilar of Pueblo, Colorado, are in their 6th year as campground hosts at the Apgar Campground near the west entrance of Glacier National Park.

Kay, a retired physical education college professor, and Al, a former manager of a men’s clothing store, began tent camping in 1982.  “But,” said Kay, “I was not a happy camper when the tent got wet.” During one rainy camping trip in 1990 Kay saw a little motorhome roll by.

“I pointed at it and said: ‘I want one of those,’” said Kay. Within a year, the Aguilars were camping in a 1990 Winnebago Warrior built on a Toyota chassis. “That rig was like a Swiss Army Knife. I wish they still made them.”

Today the Aguilars drive a 2004 32-foot Fleetwood Southwind. During the winters they volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity Care-A-Vanners working in Alice, Texas. “They are a small affiliate and wonderful people,” said Kay.

Photo: Kay and Al Aguilar, Apgar Camground hosts, Glacier National Park. Taken by Julianne Crane. 

Other than the incredible scenery and all kinds of wildlife at Glacier National Park … the highpoint of my recent six-day trip was meeting all the great RVers camping in everything from pop-up tent trailers (lots) to luxury motor coaches (very few).

I plan to post at least half-a-dozen interviews with RVers I bumped into in the park.

This image of me was taken at the southern end of Lake McDonald at Apgar Village in Glacier National Park. My friend, Penney Sales, and I camped at Apgar Campground less than 1/4-mile from this spot. Camp sites were $20 a night.

More tomorrow.

Photo: Julianne Crane with Lake McDonald in the background. Photo by Josh Autrey (one of three guys I ran into who are biking across the USA. More about them in a couple of days.

About to take off for several days to Glacier National Park in Montana. We are traveling in a 1999 Slumber Queen class C motor home. First trip of the season. This is sort of a shake down trip for both the RV and my feet. Right now we are only planning on day hikes and photographing the magnificant vistas.

I won’t be entering any posts until I return. Sorry, but I’m not taking a computer with me. This is strickly a get-away journey. I will take good notes and when I return I’ll pass along practical information and mini-profiles of the RVers I meet along the way.

Photo: Red Eagle Mountain. Source: Glacier National Park

“PARIS — Americans are shell-shocked at $4-a-gallon gas. But consider France, where a gallon of petrol runs nearly $10. Or Turkey, where it’s more than $11.

“Drivers around the world are being pummeled by the effects of record gas prices. And now some are hitting back, staging strikes and protests from Europe to Indonesia to demand that governments do more to ease the pain.

“It’s a growing problem in a world that’s increasingly mobile and more vulnerable than ever to the cost of crude oil, which is racing higher by the day and showing no signs of stopping.”

Read more in: “Global gas priaces makes U.S. look cheap” by Angela Charlton, Associated Press, published in the Helena, Mont., Independent Record.

Photo: Cars drive to a petrol station advertising ‘low prices’ in Anglet, France, Wednesday. Consumers, gas retailers and governments are wrestling as rising oil prices play a larger role than ever in the daily lives of increasingly mobile world citizens. AP Photo.