Above: April Spencer values her family time on road trips in their Dodge Durango, even if rising gas prices means giving up little things like—insulin.

By April Spencer

Even though the gas prices are way out of range for my budget, I cannot stifle my passion for the road. There is nothing more exciting to me than hearing the engine of our automobile roar as I take twists and turns around the mountainside.
For a while the gas prices had been fairly decent. So My husband and I began driving a lot. We would ride back and forth to Richmond Kentucky to see my mother and other times we would drive just for the road appeal. I needed to feel that burst of wind in my hair. I wanted to feel like I was flying and the only way to get that feeling was to hit the open road.

The Need for the Open Road
Whether it be winter, summer, spring or autumn, I still needed to feel the road beneath me. There is nothing like that independence of driving. There is nothing like feeling the freedom of having passion for the road.
Gas prices shot up once more. Our road trips stopped and I fell into a great depression. we could not afford to even have an enjoyable trip to see my mother. The driver's car in our family is the Dodge Durango and I cannot begin to explain to you the passion we have for driving this vehicle.

Above: April's favorite place to be, behind the sporty dash of her Dodge Durango on road trips with her family.

My Passion to Drive Durango
There is all kinds of room in the Durango for the road trips and the passion to drive this automobile is beyond description. The driver's car feels so great when it comes to handling. That vehicle turns on a dime.
Yet, once gas prices drove skyward, the driver's car had to be set aside for something cheaper on gas. That meant no more family driving. I decided since we all wanted to go somewhere, that I would give up the once a week pizza night that I loved to have just to be able to drive with the whole six members of my family again.
With my family, driving was not just something we had to do. It was family time. When we hit the road we spent time together and we would take notice as the road appeal would change from something beautiful to some thing new.
For this reason, giving up pizza was not hard but the $20.00 a week saved still was not making the gas prices so I had to do something a little more drastic.

Car Payments and Insurance Sucking Up Gas Money
With car payments sucking up my own gas money and automobile insurance taking even more money from my pocket I had no money to feed my passion for the winding road. Yet, my soul needed the time to sit with my family in the driver's car and ride. I needed to feel the sweet steering wheel dance between my finger tips. I wanted to feel the wheels I was in control of fly.
The day my mother came on one of her risky visits, her automobile sadly rested in our driveway on empty. and we had to put chainsaw gas in the Driver's car just so she could make it back home to Richmond.We needed to find a solution to get her home. The only solution we could come up with was to use the chainsaw gas we had in a gas jug.

Trading a Little Insulin for Gas
That was the very moment I decided to give up my very health needs in order to foot the gas prices. I began looking at my medical bills. I am a type 1 insulin independent diabetic and my insulin costs me a lot. So, I decided to only take very little of my insulin. (Just enough to keep me alive) so I could feed my passion for the road with my family. Now, we continue to take trips regularly without so much worry for the gas prices. Gas will not get me and my road loving family down. Some things are just that important.

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