The closest bus stop used to be 1/4 mile away. Then it moved to about 2 miles away. I think the closest one now is about 8 miles away. The closest shopping area (other than a convenience store) is 3-4 mile away - and that's a Dollar General. To get to an actual grocery store it's about 6 miles.
I did go out of my way (1.3 miles) to get the gas today - but I don't normally. With my car, that's about 9-10 cents of gas (I get around 50 mpg). But all of the other stations where I watched the prices change today were directly on the route I was already driving. I went out of my way today based on a price report within the prior hour (coupled with a completely empty tank and every other price being about $.75 higher per gallon). But my spouse (with worse gas mileage than I get) routinely drives 24 miles (round trip) to buy gas at a station which is typically lower than the others. Sometimes the cost saved is more than the price of driving that far. Other times it isn't. Sometimes she combines it with a shopping trip. Other times it is just a gas run.
What I often do when prices are really volatile is to do some version of cost averaging - putting in $5-10 worth when the price is relatively high, then fill up completely when prices are lower.
= new reply since forum marked as read