After a week on the road, it’s good to be back in my office and reporting the King of Simple News. Guess I’m going to have to invest in a laptop and wi-fi card before my next absence.

This is the prime season for tourism and it was noticeably down everywhere we went. From the Oregon coast through the Redwoods National Park and continuing through the Mother Lode country of California, to Lake Tahoe, Carson City and back across Utah to Colorado, you could see and feel the stress of tourist oriented businesses.

We could get a room anywhere even late in the evening without reservations. The room rates were reasonable due to the competition for the few tourists. The restaurants were never crowded nor were the parks. The gift shops were nearly vacant and had sale signs hanging in most windows.

Gas in California averaged $4.75 per gallon. California is in big trouble. In some of my past writing I have talked about the economics of living in a high cost area when things turn down. It gets real ugly real quick.

California has massive state debt that I don’t believe will ever be in the black again. The growth necessary to bring tax revenues up to a point of balancing the budget is most probably mathematically impossible.

We came over a pass in Northern California along the Trinity River (which is knock dead gorgeous) and saw some 20 forest fires that had just started from lightening. We leaned on the news that there are some 400 wildfires burning in the state!

We stayed in Carson City and were told that the Casino business was very slow. If the highway traffic was any indication, it will probably remain that way.

Fuel at $4.75 per gallon is a show stopper and we saw few license plates that were from outside the different regions. In other words we saw Oregon plates in Northern California, California plates in Western Nevada, but no Ohio or Michigan plates in the far West. Travel is being limited.

My wife Cathy and I try to stay in reasonable clean motels that provide a breakfast (such as Super 8, Days Inn etc.). We carry a cooler and stop at lunch for a picnic and we carry snacks and drinks to avoid the temptation of buying them in the convenience stores. We frequent local fare cafes in the evenings that tend to be both good and reasonable.

Practicing the above routine is great for us and helps to offset the cost of fuel, but is terrible for tourism dependent businesses.

The gift and antique shops were real tell-tale signs of the recession. We walked through several large shops on major routes where we were the only people in the shop the entire time we were there.

I believe that what we saw is the tip of the iceberg and like the airlines, tourism and gift related businesses will continue to suffer. These areas of nonessential commerce represent things we want but don’t need.