President's Message

Listen up Dogwooders.  There’s none of the usual dribble this month.  What I want to share with you is a revolutionary finding that will improve your life immeasurably. It’s guaranteed. You probably think I’ve been smoking some funny smelling weed. No, I haven’t completely lost “it”. What I will share is more akin to alchemy than anything a completely rational person would ever dream of.  It’s sort of like making Gold from pot metal.  I really have figured out how to get something for nothing if you’re an avid motor homer.  Bear with me and I’ll paint the picture.

If I back up more years than I care to remember, I recall the time when I first had my own car.  Being short of cash, it was important to make that car go as far as possible on every dollar invested in gasoline (less than 30 cents a gallon).  The car in question was one of the first VW beetles imported to this country and if I recall correctly, the fuel capacity was about 10 gallons including the one gallon reserve.  It had no fuel gauge, just a valve to switch when it sputtered on empty to allow one more gallon to get me to a service station. If I was lucky, I or one of the brave souls with me had a few cents to buy another gallon or two.  Back to the real subject, I was fascinated with the potential for almost infinite fuel mileage (sort of like getting something for nothing).  I studied my Warshawsky and J. C. Whitney catalogs for hours on end marveling at the many available fuel mileage improvement devices.  I always dreamed of stumbling upon some heretofore undiscovered principle of physics or thermodynamics.  I thought that if I had magnetic fuel line ionizers, vapor injectors, vortex generators and water injectors each promising 30 to 50 percent improvements that I could actually have a car that would produce fuel while I was cruising the streets of Charlottesville terrorizing all the locals.

Fast forward to 2011, a life long friend recently wrote an article in his car clubs newsletter explaining how he had saved many $$ over the years heating his home with free wood which he labored to cut, split and feed to the wood stove he installed in his basement.  In fact, he had saved enough on home heating to allow him to buy a beautiful 1917 Buick Touring Car.  Upon reading this story, I said to myself, Self, there’s a principal here that you can build on. It’s a lot like shopping at Krogers.  Every time we shop, we get a receipt that’s several feet long, most of it tallying the savings realized by using my loyalty card, senior discounts, sale savings etc.  I’ve finally figured out that the more we spend, the more we save.

So, if you’ve gotten this far, I’m about to reveal the miraculous secret that’s guaranteed to make a huge difference in your life.  Here’s how the secret works for me.  When we leave for the winter, I turn off the water which saves me about $50 every month. I cut the heat way back which saves me an average of about $400 every month. I load the motor home and drive south buying fuel at Flying J with my loyalty card which saves 3 cents a gallon and using my Capital One rewards card which saves me 5 percent or about 17.5 cents per gallon at today’s prices.  When we’re away from home, we tend to spend less, on average about $700 less each month. I speculate that this saving results because most campgrounds tend to be in remote areas away from stores and besides, we have no space for purchases. We try to stay in Thousand Trails when we can.  Those nights cost essentially nothing so we realize another savings averaging about $30 a night or about $900 each month.  You’re probably beginning to see where I’m going with this. I’m saving so much that I can’t afford to go home.  It’s a dream come true.  It’s just like the car I dreamed of making fuel that overflowed the tank.  The more you spend, the more you save.  What’s the value of your experiences?  Mine are priceless.   Use your motor home at every opportunity and you’ll be richly rewarded.