Life goes on as gas prices rise

ROCKY RIDGE and KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., LAKE VALLEY and PUEBLO PINTADO, N.M.

Seventy-one-year-old Grace, who did not want to give her last name, is working with less than a half a tank of gas to take care of personal errands.

On Tuesday, she was at the Chaco Trade Center laundromat to wash her clothes even though the store only had cold water.

She could have gone to Crownpoint, Grants or even Farmington if she wanted to wash with hot water, but she didn’t because she doesn’t have the gas money.

“It’s kind of far away. It’s not really close,” she said as she waited in her pickup truck.

Grace talked about how far she’d have to drive to get some gas if she wanted to go elsewhere to other laundromats with hot water. She could drive to Grants, which is about 55 miles away, or to Crownpoint, 30 miles away from her home in Whitehorse.

She also had a third choice, located more than 36 miles southeast on a primarily ruddy and bumpy dirt road to Counselor, New Mexico. Fortunate for her, it isn’t muddy now.

She could then drive into Bloomfield, 46 miles from Counselor, or even to Farmington, more than 100 miles, one-way, from her home.

“It’s very far, I try to save the gas, but I can’t,” Grace said. “The gas is expensive. It’s even more expensive when filling up the gas tank on a pickup truck.”

Ukraine-Russia war sparks increases

Days earlier, the price of regular unleaded averaged around $3.59 per gallon in New Mexico, according to the AAA gas prices website. At the Chaco Trade Center, regular unleaded used to cost $3.49.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, President Joe Biden banned oil imports from Russia, causing fuel prices to skyrocket quickly.

As of March 8, Nasdaq composite reported crude oil is selling at $123.70 a barrel. Two days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 26, crude oil traded at $91.59 a barrel.

For Grace, the sharp increase in gas prices meant she had to plan her trips to take care of personal errands carefully.

She said she could not fuel up at the Chaco Trade Center because it stopped selling gas for unknown reasons. Gas pumps outside the business were covered with plastic to indicate they were not operating.

“I used to carry a five-gallon gas can with me when I had to travel far. I used to take it with me, but it only works for short-distance travel and not long-distance travel,” she said.

Before she left for home, she suggested the tribe could consider helping elders with more than just Hardship Assistance checks, which she said was quickly spent on bills, food and gas.

Two-hundred and fourteen miles to the west, at the Rocky Ridge General Store in Hard Rock, Arizona, Alex Robertson got three gallons, or $12.29, of gas for his truck and chainsaw.

Gas there is selling at $4.09 a gallon for regular unleaded – much cheaper than gas prices across Arizona. As of Wednesday, gas was averaging $4.39 a gallon – the highest it’s ever been.

Robertson, who frequently travels to Piñon, 30 miles east, said on Monday, the gas is cheaper there – $3.97 a gallon for regular unleaded.

However, to get there, a motorist searching for some cheap gas would have to take the shortcut, all dirt road, to get to it. A recent snowstorm has made parts of the dirt road muddy.

“The road is rough too,” Robertson said. “So, this (Rocky Ridge General Store) is the closest gas station. I usually fill up, but right now, I put in what I have, which I’m going to use to haul some wood now.”

Robertson was on a budget that day. He spent between $30 and $35 for chainsaw oil and a chainsaw file to sharpen the chain. The rest went to the three gallons of gas for his truck and chainsaw.

Robertson quickly got his gas and left the store.

Gas at record levels

Germaine Simonson, the owner of Rocky Ridge General Store, said before the gas prices went up, customers usually bought $20 worth of gas as they made their way to Tuba City or elsewhere.

Now that gas is costing over four bucks a gallon, she was unsure how people would react.

“I think that probably might just work,” she said. “Maybe they’ll do that just for a short period and realize that it just they’re running out of money really fast.

“So, then they might decide to stay local,” she said. “I’m not sure.”

Tuba City is about 50 miles from the store if the eight-mile dirt road is used to get to State Highway 264. If the road is muddy, it’s about 70 miles if the highway route is taken, said Simonson.

Like Pueblo Pintado, Hard Rock is remote and isolated. At the current rate of $4.09 for regular unleaded fuel at Simonson’s store, five gallons of gas would cost $20.45.

Going even further, like to Flagstaff, which is 115 miles one-way, to the southwest, would most likely require filling up the tank.

Simonson said she isn’t sure how long the high gas prices would last. Though she is sure to see those prices reflect on costs increasing in the store products she sells.

“I’m probably going to start seeing, with our deliveries, we’re going to have to pay attention to what the delivery costs are going to be because then you’ve got to add that on to your product which then increases the cost of the product,” she said.

In Kykotsmovi Village, a new store called the Kykotsmovi Convenience Store opened on President’s Day.

Jonah James, who filled up his three-gallon gas can and car with $40.13 on Monday, said he doesn’t go out much. But at $4.29 per gallon for regular unleaded sold at the new store, he said he thinks it’s “outrageous.”

“The whole tribe, we live on all this (fuel and oil) stuff. I don’t see why we can’t produce our own,” James said. “Chinle Valley is full of it.”

For his food, he said he goes to Piñon. Before leaving, James said he saw a video of a person riding their horse to McDonald’s. He quipped he might eventually do that if the prices continued increasing.

Gas, food, inflation

On Tuesday, Miranda and Lionel Atencio, both from Lake Valley, 198 miles northeast of Kykotsmovi, saw the $4.39 regular unleaded gas price at the Tsaya Trading Post – catching them by surprise.

The trading post is about 55 miles south of Farmington and about 30 miles north of Crownpoint, on State Highway 371.

Miranda said she forgot to fill up in Farmington. She and her boyfriend quickly got dressed to make a snack and gas run to the trading post that Ross Ashcroft owns.

Since they were not planning to go anywhere far, she bought $11.34 of gas, which gave her 2.6 gallons. However, seeing how much gas prices have gone up, she said they would most likely try and make one essential trip instead of several.

Ashcroft, who took over the store his father built in 1961, said these days it seems people buy more junk food than “the staples.”

“Now, mostly it’s junk food. chips and candy bars and Cokes and ice cream,” he said. “People just stop in and go on their way to Farmington or Crownpoint.

“With the sudden gas price increases, that makes a more expensive trip to go to town to buy a bag of chips,” he said. “So, in some sense, that’s going to hurt the traveling situation.”

Ashcroft said he can’t blame people willing to travel to get their essential items because it is cheaper.

“But you also got to consider your transportation now,” Ashcroft said. “When you go to town, you put in $30 gas and the wear and tear on your car and vehicles; sometimes it is cheaper just to buy it here. Even though our prices are higher, but you’ve got to kind of balance all that out.”

Like Simonson, Ashcroft said with the increase in fuel costs, he was expecting to see an increase in transportation and delivery costs.

“Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a struggle like everybody else,” he said. “It’s one of the things about here – is if this place closes, then that’s going to make about an 80-mile stretch between Farmington and Crownpoint.

“And there are people that stop in just to get something to drink and get some exercise and kind of wake up, so they don’t fall asleep while they’re driving,” Ashcroft added. “You know, that’s sometimes I think that’s the benefit of having it out here.”

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