Hi Paul,
Uh, let's see. For me it would be 2439.34 miles one way to the Nats. I got gas this morning and it was $3.89 a gallon. My car gets 22 miles per gallon. That means I'll need about 111 gallons to make the trip one way. That's 431.79 for gas one way. About, depending on gas prices in July and as we've seen, they can vary widely ... upward. So that's about $864 just for gas and not counting any driving done from the motel to the flying site and wherever. Hmmm. Motel would be from probably $70 to $90 a night. Call it $75 for a lower end job. Now, if I'm conservative and only spend one night in a motel on the way (driving as far as I can and maybe catnapping at a rest stop) plus at 6 nights in a motel there and one on the way home, thats 8 nights: $600. Then there's food. call it $250 for the 13 days or so (7 days at the Nats plus 3 days driving each way). So doing it on a shoestring you're looking at about $1700. Now we all know that there are a lot of other expenses along the way and like the bill would be well over $2000.
With gas quickly heading to $4.00 a gallon and no end to the upward spiral in site, I'd imagine that the attendance is likely to be mostly folks that live close to Muncie and the 6 to a dozen top-of-the-heap pilots from other areas.
OK, I'm probably being a bit pessimistic. But with the cost of travel heading nowhere but up in a hurry, a lot of people just won't be able to afford it. I had planned to attend my first Nats this year, but with the costs going up so much, the amount I saved for it is just not going to cut it so I won't be attending. Maybe someday.
Topic: NATs entries (Read 2346 times)