Gas Pains

Gasoline is north of four dollars a gallon in Quincy again.  $3.79.9 a gallon in Hannibal at midday today. That’s closing in on the all time high from July of ’08.  Even with the high prices, my personal record on filling a gas tank I emptied was around 56 dollars to fill a Peugeot I rented in Ireland a few years back.  But, that was for touring Ireland, and I definitely got my money’s worth.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the various energy crises of the 1970’s have seen this stuff before. Some things have changed---like our cars and trucks.  Back then, 17 miles per gallon was more or less decent mileage.  Gas then was $1.25 to 1.30 a gallon. S. Morgan Freeman’s Inflation Calculator web site puts that around $3.25 or so in 2010 dollars.  Contemplate being a semi-broke, full time college student feeding a vehicle that wolfs down gas at 17mpg highway and around 12mpg while dodging potholes in Peoria.

A lot of cars now go down the road at 30 miles per gallon highway or better. A lot of them have performance that rivals all but the most beefy ‘60s and ‘70’s muscle cars. I also have more money now than I had then.

Do I like paying these prices? No.  And I will be taking appropriate actions to deal with it.