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AT THE PUMPS
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Les Gran of Dresbach, Minn. fills up his minivan at Mileage on Cass St. “Gas is too high. Someone’s getting rich off it and no one’s doing anything about it.” Gran said of the current gas prices.
PETER THOMSON photo
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Prices Thursday for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline:
La Crosse................$3.599
Onalaska, Wis............$3.599
Holmen, Wis..............$3.599
Tomah, Wis...............$3.549
La Crescent, Minn........$3.529
Winona, Minn.............$3.499
National average.........$3.623
California (high)........$3.924
Wyoming (low)............$3.432
Wisconsin................$3.656
Minnesota................$3.495
Iowa.....................$3.540
Sources: Tribune staff, AAA Fuel Gauge report
Couple starts riding together to save money
Alyson Dahlquist had enough of high gas prices.
So two weeks ago, she and her husband, Dan, decided to car-pool and drive one vehicle from their home in La Crescent, Minn., to their work at Viterbo University. They had driven two vehicles for many years because they start and end work at different times.
“We had been talking about this since gas hit $3 a gallon,” Alyson said. “Three dollars a gallon was a breaking point, and I think it was for a lot of people. We didn’t want to spend that money on gas anymore.”
That meant Alyson, an administrative assistant in the Fine Arts Center, started coming to work a hour earlier, and her husband stayed a little bit longer after his job as maintenance supervisor.
Alyson figured she and her husband will save 2,600 miles on a vehicle every year and more than $500 in gas. “It has worked out fine,” she said.
Terry Rindfleisch
Driving school considers raising rates
The cost of learning to drive at local driving schools hasn’t risen yet, but officials said that could change if gas prices continue to increase.
“Like many other businesses, we may have to consider a fuel surcharge in the future,” said Jan Slaght, office manager at Zimmerman Driving School in Onalaska, Wis.
The FC Stair School of Driving, located in the Coulee Business Center, spends about $1,000 a month in gas, owner Fred Stair estimated.
“If gas prices keep going the way they are ... we may have to raise the prices,” he said.
Stair looked at possibly replacing his fleet with hybrid vehicles but couldn’t justify the higher up-front costs.
The additional $10,000 to $12,000 cost of a hybrid “buys a lot of gas,” he said.
To save on costs, FC Stair School of Driving, has stopped taking students on the 20-mile interstate trip.
“We spend time in traffic and on the basics Y-turns, backing and so on,” he said. “It is so important that these kids drive in traffic and learn the rules, so to speak.”
Autumn Grooms
La Crescent couple downsizes, consolidates to save on cash
John Schrott and his wife made some strategic choices to mitigate soaring fuel costs.
The La Crescent, Minn., couple downsized from two cars to one, and then traded in their gas-guzzling van for a more gas conscious 2008 Pontiac Vibe.
Instead of shelling out almost $70 four times a month, Schrott now fills up twice monthly for about $43.
The Vibe gets between 28 and 30 miles to the gallon in town, versus the van’s 18 to 20 miles to the gallon, he said.
Schrott and his wife also consolidate trips as much as possible, bike and walk around La Crescent whenever possible.
“We plan our trips accordingly now,” he said.
And when Schrott, a retired special education teacher, needs to go into La Crosse to supervise University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student teachers, he relies on the Apple Express bus.
Two or three times a week, he catches the Municipal Transit Utility’s La Crescent-La Crosse route.
“It’s a little inconvenient,” he said, “but it’s going to save us some money in the long run.”
Samantha Marcus
Pastor wants to be a good steward’
For the past couple of weeks, the Rev. Steve Meyer has returned to bicycling to church and other places, a habit he has fallen in and out of since buying his Huffy mountain bike 20 years ago.
“The prices got me thinking about it again, but it’s not just that,” said Meyer, pastor of Bridge of Life Lutheran Church, Holmen, Wis. “I’m not putting the pollution in the air that becomes a factor. And if I’m going to really walk the walk and be a good steward of all God has given me, it’s not just finances, it’s taking care of my body.”
On Sunday, Meyer will bless the wheels of bicycles, strollers, roller skates and other vehicles at the 9:30 a.m. service at Holmen Square Mall, an event coinciding with the Coulee Bike to Work Week. He’ll also encourage congregants to bicycle to church more.
“For six months out of the year, if I can save that much on gas money or polluting the air, it’s a small step, but it’s a step,” he said.
Joe Orso
Pizza delivery driver getting fewer tips
Jeff and Jim’s Pizza delivery driver Gary Gilbertson’s tips have dwindled since the cost of gas reached $3 a gallon.
“You’d think there’d be more tips, but it’s the exact opposite,” Gilbertson, 43, said. “Everyone needs the money to buy groceries.”
Gilbertson uses the tips he receives to put gas in his tank but said he gets less every time he visits the pump.
“I can’t put as much in as I used to,” he said. “I still have to consider wear and tear on my vehicle, too.”
A gallon of gas cost about $2 when Gilbertson started afternoon deliveries for the downtown pizza joint three years ago.
This past year, he said, has made a big difference.
“I rely on tips,” Gilbertson said. “I made more when I started than I do now.”
Autumn Grooms
Motorcycle economical for drive from Sparta
Gas prices are causing one Western Technical College student to fire up his Honda motorcycle to commute to school instead of his F-150 pickup truck.
If the weather stays warm and the gas prices stay high, Tim Hyma will be riding his motorcycle down Interstate 90 during the the warm months until he earns his associate’s degree in landscape horticulture in 2010.
The bike gets 46 miles to the gallon, while his truck gets only 14. That adds up over the 30-mile commute from Sparta, Wis., he said.
Hyma spends about $430 per month on gas, and a significant portion of that is his daily commute.
Hyma would prefer to use the truck, as it’s more convenient for running errands after school, he said.
But, ultimately, the gas prices won’t deter him from coming so far to school, he said.
“My primary objective is to get a degree in landscape horticulture,” he said. “I’ll cut back on other areas of my lifestyle to continue going to school.”
KJ Lang
Taxi driver’s thinking about quitting’
When unleaded gasoline was $1.30 a gallon. Bee Cab Inc., driver Tom Johnson could fill his tank for $20.
That was 2002.
Now, with unleaded gasoline at a painful $3.59 per gallon, it costs Johnson about $50 to fill his Chrysler or Dodge minivans every day.
Sky-high gas prices are affecting the livelihood for La Crosse’s taxi cab drivers who make a profit only after they pay for gasoline and their vehicle lease.
Though patrons are sympathetic to drivers and are generous with tips, “It’s getting down to point where we don’t get enough money from passengers to pay for our lease and fuel,” Johnson said.
“It has gotten to the point where quite a few drivers are thinking about quitting,” said Johnson, 62. “It won’t be long until you won’t be able to get people to drive cabs because they can’t afford it.”
Anne Jungen
Shoppers looking for more fuel-efficient cars
As gas prices have gone up, so have the number of people trading in their larger sport-utility vehicles for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, said Scott Dibble, used car manager at Dahl Automotive in La Crosse.
People who had been driving Expeditions, Tahoes and Suburbans are downsizing into cross-over vehicles that are a combination of a minivan and smaller SUV, Dibble said.
High fuel prices have driven others to seek out smaller vehicles with improved gas mileage, Dibble said.
“The query most people are asking is, What gets me 30 miles plus a gallon,’” Dibble said. “It’s not that they’ll take anything, but style and some of those things go out the window a bit in favor of gas mileage.”
Despite the high costs, Dibble said, he has seen little change in the buying habits of pickup owners because most say they can’t get by with anything but a pickup.
“If you have to pull the boat of a camper, there isn’t much you can do,” he said. “A minivan or a car just isn’t going to do the job.”
Dan Springer
Cutting down on driving
LA CRESCENT, Minn. In the more than 20 years she’s lived in La Crescent, Phyllis Feiock usually makes two to three trips to La Crosse a week.
Not anymore.
The high prices at the pumps have Feiock making only weekly forays into the big city.
“We just condense everything into one trip,” the 61-year-old Feiock said.
That’s not the only change the gas prices have forced her to make: She’s ditching her car to get to her job downtown as La Crescent deputy city clerk.
“We bought a nice, new, big bike basket to put on my bike so I can ride to work, as soon as the weather permits,” she said.
The rising gas prices aren’t the only concern on Feiock’s mind, either.
“The price of everything is not going down,” she said.
Ryan Stotts
