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I am going to start riding a mountain bike to work.

"Mountain" bike in North Dakota? That's good stuff, right there.

Yep, the Triton 5.4L is a thirsty one alright. I'm getting around 13mpg. It's all good, though, because when I ram into a Prius I don't really notice it much. By the way, why does this car have to look like it does? Seriously. At least Ford tried to make their's look like a useful vehicle (Escape). But, the Prius is just plain laughable. The Inconvenient Truth for Taz is that people are indeed buying these. Highway Department regulations require that a child's car seat actually be installed in the rear seat of the vehicle adjacent to the Prius.

If burning petroleum products is bad for the environment, then leaving that filthy oil in the ground to fester certainly is worse. I say, burn the stuff until it's gone and let's get on to Mr. Fusion powered cars.

Blah.

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I have a Toyota Camry Hybrid. I like it a whole bunch. There is lots of room and fun features to play with. *I really like the navigation system.* But best of all, I don't really remember the last time I put gas in it. I easily get 450 miles out of a tank and I live close to where I work. It doesn't have the guts my former car had, but at about twice the mileage, I can live with it. I had it all winter and NEVER had a problem starting it, even on the coldest of days (I do not have a block heater and don't know if that is even an option on this car). I think that bank of batteries could start most anything. There is a gauge on the dash that constantly monitors your mileage. So you really learn to lay off the gas pedal and also learn to let the car coast more. The hybrids seem to have the ablilty to coast faster at much greater distances than a regular car.

I also have to say, my son has a 2006 Honda Civic with a manual transmission. He gets about the same mileage as my hybrid. So there are options out there.

I also think the Camry is a very safe car to drive. The thing has airbags all over the place. The Prius has a different look. But even those are growing on me.

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54 dollars today to fill up my Trail Blazer. Ouch. There won't be many duck and pheasnt hunting trips this year.

What happened to the mountain bike?

Also, are the cicadas like they are their as they are in Chicago (17 year cicadas are invading, something like close to 5 billion of em)

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What happened to the mountain bike?

Also, are the cicadas like they are their as they are in Chicago (17 year cicadas are invading, something like close to 5 billion of em)

Still at Scheels, probably going to trade in my old one that is in need of some repairs and buy a new one.

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Riddle me this.....The government makes a lot of money on people buying gas because of the "gax tax"

Yet they encourage people to buy hybrids, carpool, etc.....Meaning less money for the government that they need to make up in another way.

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Riddle me this.....The government makes a lot of money on people buying gas because of the "gax tax"

Yet they encourage people to buy hybrids, carpool, etc.....Meaning less money for the government that they need to make up in another way.

Most of the gas tax money is supposed to be used to repair and replace highways. It's a use tax. If people are driving less, using smaller cars, etc., then there will be less damage done to the highways and they will need less repair and replacement. So, that would probably be a wash as far as the government goes. Less money coming in but less that they need to spend. And for those people that believe government would never shrink, if they want to keep spending up by moving money to some other project they will also find another way to bring in more money. There is always something else that can be taxed.

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If people are driving less, using smaller cars, etc., then there will be less damage done to the highways and they will need less repair and replacement. So, that would probably be a wash as far as the government goes.

In the long run...

People will not driving less, but spend less on gasonline. The roads will still "damage" the same when people are spending half as much on gas (because they are getting twice as much gas mileage) or no gas because they are driving their electric car.

There is always something else that can be taxed.

Exactly. The government will need that same amount of money (if not more with the steady increase in population year after year) so they will get it another way. Tolls etc???

Just food for thought. Many moons away.

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Smaller cars do much, much less damage to roads than large SUVs, trucks, etc. You can drive over a stretch of highway many times with a small car and still stress the road less than driving over it 1 time with a loaded truck, or a few times with a large SUV. So, less tax money will balance out with less repairs for a long time, until alternate fuels become a major factor on our roads. In spite of the high gas prices, I don't see electric or other alternate fuels taking a major share of the market any time soon. And when we reach that point they will probably set up a tax on whatever the source of energy is that is being used. If we go to electric you will probably have a special meter that tracks how much is used just for your vehicle and you will pay a special "fuel" tax on that amount.

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Riddle me this.....The government makes a lot of money on people buying gas because of the "gax tax"

Yet they encourage people to buy hybrids, carpool, etc.....Meaning less money for the government that they need to make up in another way.

The government makes alot of money on people?

First of all the goverment is a representation of the population, so you are pretty much saying the people are making money on people buying gas.

Second, all money that comes in (and more) goes out in some way, shape or form. Therefore, all tax dollars that come out of the gas tax goes towards stuff such as road construction.

It is kind of tough for the "government" to profit off the people. That is kind of like saying someone is profiting off of themself.

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Second, all money that comes in (and more) goes out in some way, shape or form. Therefore, all tax dollars that come out of the gas tax goes towards stuff such as road construction.

I agree with that... without the gas tax (and the proper clout in DC), North Dakota residents would be driving on some terrible roadways.

As far as the government being a representation of the people... I think we've hit the point of "in theory only."

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Why is gas so expensive here? We went to northern MN over the holiday weekend, and the small towns like McIntosh, Erskine, and some others were selling gas for $3.14/gal. GF was anywhere between $3.29 to 3.34/gal. depending on where you went. The thing now is, even though the holiday weekend is over, gas still hasn't gone down like it should be. I'm really getting tired of the price gouging in this town, and yes, it is price gouging!!

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Why is gas so expensive here? We went to northern MN over the holiday weekend, and the small towns like McIntosh, Erskine, and some others were selling gas for $3.14/gal. GF was anywhere between $3.29 to 3.34/gal. depending on where you went. The thing now is, even though the holiday weekend is over, gas still hasn't gone down like it should be. I'm really getting tired of the price gouging in this town, and yes, it is price gouging!!

It isn't quite that simple. Oil futures are traded on the NYMEX therefore the price of oil is going to be negotiated there. Once the futures "expire" the oil will be delivered to some city (I'm drawing a blank on which one and dont want to look it up) in Oklahoma.

In small towns like that you will see a wide variance in prices, again dependent on when they purchased their oil futures.

Since the bigger companies will buy their oil daily you will see their prices fall in line with what oil/gas is trading at.

Generally a rule of thumb is add about 65-75 cents (gas tax) on what gas is trading at. This will be what you will/should see at the pump.

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Why is gas so expensive here?

It isn't always. Grand Forks has consistently been below the national average in gas prices. There have been times when the prices here have been significantly below the surrounding region. For some reason, people seem to forget about those times.

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Why is gas so expensive here? We went to northern MN over the holiday weekend, and the small towns like McIntosh, Erskine, and some others were selling gas for $3.14/gal. GF was anywhere between $3.29 to 3.34/gal. depending on where you went. The thing now is, even though the holiday weekend is over, gas still hasn't gone down like it should be. I'm really getting tired of the price gouging in this town, and yes, it is price gouging!!

I know for a fact that when gas was $3.299/gallon, the actual cost for each gallon was less than $3/gallon. So Grand Forks has gone back to the price gouging method for a period of time. And while gas has gone dropped in the area, it still isn't where it should be. The cost of gas dropped $.16 over night one day last week, yet gas stations around didn't reflect that change when they received a new load of gas.

There's no way the towns of McIntosh, Erskine, Fosston, etc.. should be cheaper than GF when the gas has to travel farther away from the pipeline via trucks.

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You are definitely right about that LeftyZL. The small towns around here used to always be at least a nickel to a dime more than GF, but last weekend (Memorial Day wknd., of course) they were at least 15 cents cheaper than the cheapest price here. The twin cities also tends to be cheaper than here as well. Gas has also been above the national average most of the time lately. I've been watching the price for the national average, and the last I had seen, it was just under $3.00/gallon, yet we are 20 cents more then that. Unreal!!

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