High gas prices fuel thinking outside the bucks

When gas prices became too much for Mike Gibbons last month, he decided a two-wheeled solution would do just fine.

His answer to rising fuel costs would require the 29-year-old mechanic to park his Jeep and bike more than 26 miles a day to and from his job on Old 41 Road in Bonita Springs.

It would mean cycling through an unexpected downpour or two.

It would mean choosing only groceries sturdy enough to be strapped with bungee cords to the back of his red mountain bike.

Gibbons also found he could save $7 a day by riding his bike to and from work, and that he would no longer have to shell out $90 a week for gas to drive to his day job at Engel's Bicycle and his night job as a security guard in Naples.

There have been other bonuses.

"I've lost just over 10 pounds," Gibbons said.

This is just one solution in south Lee County, where the working class has not escaped the brunt of a nationwide gas crunch that has sent prices at the pump soaring throughout the state.

Photo by MICHEL FORTIER, Daily News // Buy this photo

For Mike Gibson, an electric bicycle became the solution to rising gas prices. Riding a modified bike fitted with an electric motor in the front wheel, Gibson rides 26 miles each day to and from Engel's Bicycle Shop on Old 41 in Bonita Springs, saving himself about $7 a day and losing 10 pounds in the process. "I'll stick with the bike," says Gibson, "even if gas prices come down."

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel is $2.93 in Lee County, according to a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services online index that tracks gas prices in 20 metropolitan areas.

The highest average gas prices in the state were recorded in the Naples area at $2.99 per unleaded gallon, according to the index.

Throughout south Lee County, where gas prices at the Sunoco gas station in Bonita Springs have increased from $2.55 a gallon to $2.89 within the past six weeks, residents are learning to cope.

They carpool. They walk or bike when they can to reach their destinations. They lament the burden of fuel costs to any gas station attendant willing to listen.

Gibbons now spends just $50 a week to drive his Jeep to his nighttime job.

He installed an electric motor to the front wheel of his bike to power through the long trek. Last week he bought a collapsible basket that can hold a full bag of groceries.

He'll get used to the rain, he said.

"When I bought my Jeep, I used to pay less than $1 a gallon," Gibbons said. "It's three times that much. It's ridiculous."

Estero Fire Rescue Commissioner Bob Morris is among those considering the effect fuel prices have in south Lee, where fire trucks get roughly four to five miles to the gallon.

"It's close to a $1 a mile," Morris said. "Of course we buy it in bulk so we get a little better rate than people on the streets. But it is very costly."

The district spent $6,080 on fuel last month. Morris said he has questioned whether firefighters should continue their practice of using fire trucks for grocery store trips or when they eat out at a local restaurant.

They use the trucks in case crews get called to a fire, but grocery trips are a convenience Morris wonders if the district can afford in light of the prices at the pump.

"I just want to caution our district to make sure we're very much aware of how we use taxpayer's dollars," Morris said.

Nowhere is the gas pinch quite as painful than in San Carlos Park, a community composed of the working-class backbone of south Lee County.

"Most of the people who fill up here have businesses," said gas station attendant Deane Mattes. "It's affecting their bottom line. They've got to raise the costs for their customers."

Mattes can rattle off the list of questions waiting for him every day when he comes to work at the Circle K station on U.S. 41 in San Carlos Park.

"When's it going down? How much are we making off of it?" Mattes, 54, said. "They think we're responsible for everything. They think it's my wages that are driving up the price of gas."

Mattes has worked at the station for six years and remembers when gas cost $1.70 per gallon. Customers complained back then too, he said.

"Everybody's pretty mad when they come in here," Mattes said.

Educators in south Lee County are among those making changes in order to cut down on how often they have to fill up their tanks. Teachers at San Carlos Park Elementary, some who live as far away as Cape Coral, have begun to carpool, said assistant principal Jill VanWaus.

"I think people are just more thoughtful about their gas usage during times like these," VanWaus said.

Stay-at-home mother Danielle McManus buys her gas wholesale at Costco, where she saves 3 to 4 cents per gallon when she fills up her white Toyota minivan once a week for $43. Last month, filling up her tank cost $27, she said.

McManus took her three children, Matthew, 5, Andrew, 3, and infant Megan to the Karl Drews Community Center on Lee Road this week, not because of preference over other area parks, but because it was closer to their San Carlos Park home.

McManus carpools with other parents for her son's play dates. She considers each trip to the grocery store and whether her list includes something the family can do without. She walks her kids to the local park even though she prefers another that is farther away.

She meets parents every day who are doing the same.

"I'm trying to be a little bit more conscientious," she said. "What are you going to do? You need gas just like you need milk and bread ... you have to have it."