How far would you travel for a pickup truck load?

[Jaugust124]

Hey Everyone,

First, just wanted you to know that I truly enjoy reading the posts on this forum. Learning lots of great info.

As the tag line said, "How far would you travel for a pickup truck load of wood?" My wife's uncle had a cherry tree cut down and has about 30 manageable size rounds I can have. The problem is, he lives a good 40 minutes away. Now I'm all for scrounging and I do my fair share of it locally, but is it worth the cost of gas? Don't feel as though I'm suffering to find wood, but I hate to pass up free stuff.

Kinda just wanted a few opinions.

Thanks,
Jamie

 

[onedog]

I travel 35 miles (one way) to cut hedge. It's a pretty sweet situation...I don't have to stack the limbs cause he piles it all up with his Kubota and scoop. If he's at home when I'm out cutting he usually comes out and helps me load the heavy rounds. He also lets me stack it in his fields to season.

My parents live 110 miles away and on several occasions I went to visit them and my father and I would cut a load of hedge that I would bring home. I wouldn't hesitate to travel 40 minutes to get a load of quality wood, but I'd also spend some time visiting the relatives.

 

[Danno77]

I get most of my wood from about that distance away, but I don't usually go JUST for wood. We make a day of it, the wife works there, my sister lives there, there's shopping and other stuff, so I get dropped off out in the timber (usually with BIL) and spend the day working, then on random trips to the timber I can just load up the trailer and bring it home.

But, would I drive there for the wood alone? I dunno. I might if it was my only source....

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Well, I have a lot of wood, ready to go. But it's 1.5 hrs., one way. Plus I have to go up and over the Divide. And that's all good with me, ' cause it takes 1/2 an hour to get anywhere from here, regardless. I have new resources that are a bit closer, but it is what it is. And I do this for Pine. So there ya' go. :coolsmirk:

 

[Cluttermagnet]

40 minutes away at interstate speeds, or at local highway speeds? Aw, heck- what is the one way mileage? I'm thinking I'd do it, personally, but I drive a 1-ton van and can load 3/4 cord at least, each trip, maybe as much as a cord. For Cherry, I'd be interested. If I had reason to drive out that way anyhow, for other reasons, it's a no brainer. I'd get the wood. But as a special trip, it is right on the margins. FWIW I routinely travel about 10-12 miles, up to a half hour one way, for free deadwood Oak. I consider it well worth it. Each trip gets me about 1/4 of a winter's worth of hardwood. I suppose the weight of a load decreases my mpg somewhat, but still, the cost of gas to make the trip is way, way less than the cost of a cord of Oak around here. You can probably carry about 1/3 to 1/2 cord per trip, BTW, and you may have 2 or more trips there. (What size are the rounds?)

 

[burntime]

Half an hour is my max. After that its too much gas and wear and tear on the pickup. Now if I had nothing for the next year...

 

[Jaugust124]

Thanks Everyone,

You all make excellent points that need considering. I haven't seen the size of the rounds, but my wife has and claims that I would be able to manage them. Meaning that I could lift them in the truck by myself without throwing my back out (again).

I guess my biggest problem is that there is plenty of wood for me within a couple mile radius and this would be a special trip with my gas guzzler. Round trip mileage would probably be about 35 miles or so and I'm hoping to make it in just 1 trip.

I suppose it would be doing her aunt and uncle a favor by getting rid of the wood for them, so that's also a consideration. They are good people who have been good to my wife and I, plus I have the time to make the trip.

Danno77, I like the idea of making a day of it with the wife. There's plenty to do in the area (shopping, eating, and so on).

Adding all that up makes me think I should just do it and be done with it. Which is probably what I will do.

Thanks again everyone. Sometimes you just need to hear a variety of viewpoints.

Jamie

 

[rdust]

My brothers property is about 100 miles one way, I wouldn't travel this far for just anyone though. We have to clear some tree's for his drive/house this winter and I'll be taking the wood. I can haul about 2 cords at a time so it won't be too bad and I'll be helping my brother out. Obviously I wouldn't travel this far for just anyone.

40 minutes with a reason to go doesn't sound too bad to me.

 

[Flatbedford]

I'd do it for family or to assure future scores from a stranger, but generally I like to stay with 1/2 hour for my wood. My most recent score was about 1/2 mile from home, but that is rare.

 

[smokinj]

Depends on what it is worth....................

 

[EatenByLimestone]

How about renting a trailer and making one trip out of it?

I just did that last week with a Uhaul. I'm still stacking because I don't stack much in 90 degree weather.

Matt

 

[mayhem]

Thanks Everyone,
I guess my biggest problem is that there is plenty of wood for me within a couple mile radius and this would be a special trip with my gas guzzler. Round trip mileage would probably be about 35 miles or so and I'm hoping to make it in just 1 trip.

Thats about 6 gallons of gas, so even if you're paying $3/gallon you're still only out $20 for a truckload of good wood.

Wrap up a scrounging with a nice visit, maybe go over for dinner and this is a no brainer.

 

[Tony H]

I often drive 20-30 min to get a load but I haul a pretty good amount with my 15 tandem trailer so that plus the fact it's in 18"-20" rounds makes it worth it for me.

 

[zzr7ky]

Pre- Ash Bore - About 20/30 Minutes max. Now - about 15 minutes max, but 90% or more is 2 miles or less. I'm tring to get well ahead while the getting is easy.

 

[BucksCoBernie]

I try to stay within a 20 mile radius. outside of that it just takes too damn long to get there, load, drive home, unload, drive back, load, drive home, unload, well you get the point. I still have some cherry to pick up from a buddies house and possibly some oak at his friends. I have to make room in my driveway first though as seen here:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/56944/

 

[bsig31r]

How about renting a trailer and making one trip out of it?

I just did that last week with a Uhaul. I'm still stacking because I don't stack much in 90 degree weather.

Matt

I agree. Maybe even rent a uhaul truck with the trailer.

 

[ChrisNJ]

I typically will scrounge up to a 30 minute drive, however I am always disappointed in how fast my rear bumper heads to the ground, my last scrounge was black locust and it was a small load but I love splitting that stuff and was happy after I got the trip and split done even from that distance. Hmmm I wont travel far for oak or pine as they are tooo common around here but will for Locust.

 

[thewoodlands]

Hey Everyone,

First, just wanted you to know that I truly enjoy reading the posts on this forum. Learning lots of great info.

As the tag line said, "How far would you travel for a pickup truck load of wood?" My wife's uncle had a cherry tree cut down and has about 30 manageable size rounds I can have. The problem is, he lives a good 40 minutes away. Now I'm all for scrounging and I do my fair share of it locally, but is it worth the cost of gas? Don't feel as though I'm suffering to find wood, but I hate to pass up free stuff.

Kinda just wanted a few opinions.

Thanks,
Jamie

I had a friend stop in that was taking down 7 ash trees this fall (most smaller trees) he offered the trees but I turned it down only because I have enough. It is about 37 miles one way, if I didn't have enough wood I'd be a taker.

zap

 

[ColdNH]

for a single load I would travel up to 40 minutes, but it really depends, just this week i had the oportunity to get about 2 cords of O-K wood, looked like oak, half rotted half decent. the guy said take it all or take none, if he was alot closer I would have considered it, but this was messy stuff and out of the 6 trips it would have taken me to get it, probably only half of it would have really been worth it. just too far for crap wood. if it was all rot-free it would have been a different story

 

[billb3]

I wouldn't go much further than 30 minutes, just too much other stuff closer Especially now with trees to harvest in my own yard).

Sometimes it's nice to network with relatives, though - but I might not go if it was a "favor" or "free wood" I was going to have to hear about for the next twenty years, either.

 

[Gunks]

I see you live somewhere near me. If you don't need the wood, may be I can get rid of them for your uncle : ). Seriously, I seldom drive more than 20 miles to get wood.

 

[Jaugust124]

Well, as of today I still haven't gotten down to the relatives to get the wood. Something just keeps coming up. I'm thinking I'll head down with the wife tomorrow (Saturday), pay a quick visit, grab the wood and head on home. I normally wouldn't travel so far to get the wood. If it wasn't my wife's relatives, I wouldn't even consider it, but its free, its cherry, and it'll help out the relatives. I think I can get it all home in one truckload. I'll pile it up on the front seat next to the wife if I have to.

Like I said in an earlier post, I really don't have trouble finding wood where I live. The furthest I've had to travel so far has been about 3-4 miles across town. Seems like there just always wood around.

I guess my thinking is basically why not? You never know if things will dry up and I won't get any for awhile, so as long as I'm physically (and mentally) able to get, what the heck, I'll take the ride.

Gunks, where abouts are you in Ulster County? I'm in Kingston and would driving to Poughkeepsie to get the wood.

 

[Gunks]

Gunks, where abouts are you in Ulster County? I'm in Kingston and would driving to Poughkeepsie to get the wood.

Hey Jaugust124,

I live in Rosendale. Yeah, Poughkeepsie is a little too far to get wood. I am glad you can get wood so close to Kingston. I am not having too much luck scrounging in the last two years. Seems like there are lot more scroungers out there when Central Hudson's crew was out trimming trees.

 

[Jaugust124]

Gunks,
I tend to take little drives around in my spare time and I've quickly become adept at knocking on doors asking people about the wood they have laying around. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I'm still a newbie and I still have a lot of learning ahead of me. I have a good size family and they tend to keep me posted as well.
I would suggest hooking up with a tree service. They will sometimes help you out as well as long as it doesn't inconvenience them. Also, I notice here and there the state DOT is doing some cutting and they could be a good source as well.

You may also want to check along the Thruway, they are always cutting, as a matter of fact I some some earlier this evening that looked promising. I just don't know what you have to go through to get the wood. What I saw looked like quite a bit of wood, but I was going by pretty fast. You may want to check it out.
If you want to PM me I will give you some of the details as to where I saw it.

 

[Jaugust124]

Last night the wife and I took a ride to finally pick up the wood. Round trip was 75 miles (Ouch!), a little further than I had actually anticipated, but for several reasons we did take the scenic route so that added a few miles to the trip. Would I do it again? Probably not, but it was a nice ride and we hit the Dairy Queen for a little ice cream on the way home, so that made the trip a bit more pleasurable. Plus, as I mentioned earlier it helped out the relatives.

Time wise it took about 50 minutes to get there, but like I said we took the scenic route. Ended up with a truckload of cherry. While down there I found another cherry on their property that was about 14" in diameter and probably 25' long. Tempting to go get it, but I doubt I will.
I would like to post a picture, but I'm still trying to figure out how to do it. If I figure it out, I will.