[KonaChick]

Originally Posted by sa meredith

I'm getting in the conversation a bit late here....but my thoughts are these...
The drop off in boat traffic is part of a much bigger picture. There are now just so many people who made huge money for a long time...and we all tend to spend as quick as we make. And now, things are very different. People whose income 100/150/200K are seeing things change very rapidly. However, the payments they have committed to over the years are not changing. The $2000 mortgage, the $500 boat payment, the $1000 payment on the vaca house, the $400 car payment...and on and on it goes. People in Real Estate, Auto Sales, Ins. sales, Investment Banking...all having to "tighten the belt a notch or two". And at some point something has to give. The recreation buget is just not there right now. And the gas price is just a small part of a HUGE problem...a bit of salt in an open wound. Although the boat might be in a slip, ready to go, (and might even be paid for), the thought of a trip to the lake for a day or two, with all the expenses that go with it (gas, food, lodging,and the way kids just seem to spend money on small stuff) is just out of the question right now. So instead of 10 or 11 weekends during the summer, it is 4 or 5.
I guess the overall point is that the drop off in boat traffic is a trickle down effect of the state of the economy. Gas prices are a small part of it.

some good points made here but I don't think that's the whole picture. I think that SOME people spent their "bubble" money as soon as they made it and SOME invested wisely thus ensuring their financial stability for a long time. Another piece of the pie is that many of these bubble richies made their money at a relatively young age (mid 30-40) and had young children at the time. Well 7 years later all these young children are now in their teens and these families are now dealing with the logistics of their children's schedules wether they include sports or these teenagers getting jobs. The whole dot.com era brought in many people you wouldn't have normally seen buy at the lake..it gave more people the opportunity to invest large sums of money into real estate. I know of 3 families (mine included) in my "hometown" who also own up at the lake and our children are of similiar ages. We are all having a difficult time getting up to our places than in previous years simply because our children are older and schedules are tight. I know there has to be many more families out there like ours who are experiencing similar circumstances. That being said I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes we'll be able to get up for the 4th!!! Wish me luck.