Some friends and I recently went to Yosemite National Park to hike up Half-Dome (man is that a tough hike). When we left the Park the first Gas Station we saw had gas for over $5.50 a gallon. Eventually we found a cheaper station, but like many of you I am cutting back my gas usage. I'll go into what I'm doing after the jump.
One of the real jewels of Sacramento is its bicycle trails, in the Spring I went for a bike ride along the American River. I was riding my old (heavy) Mtn. bike while my brother rode his skinny tire road bike. We had a blast, but I got hooked on getting a better bike. I try to buy locally when I can, but the road bikes at my local bike shop started at $800, which was too much for my budget. I eventually bought a $350 bike from Costco.com. Lately I have been riding it to work. It takes me an extra 30 min each way but according to my bike computer I'm burning 500 calories each way (and I can use the exercise). I used to have a Toyota Echo (that got 40+ mpg) unfortunately it was destroyed in an accident (the other guy ran a red light). Now I usually drive our minivan (which gets about 20 mpg), I figure I spend about 50 cents per mile (about half of which is gas). One of the benefits my employer offers is discounted tickets for public transit. About half of the mileage I put on my vehicle is commuting to and from work (24 miles/day x ~20 work days per month = 480 miles).
Another area where I am cutting back has to do with shopping. We have several stores nearby, but unfortunately they are all overpriced, but with fuel costs so high it becomes less practical to drive an extra 10 miles to save a few bucks, so we now shop closer to home for many items. I am currently trying to figure out if it would be practical to get rid of our minivan.
So how is $5 gas affecting you?