Living Car Free - The natives are effing crazy around here!

Moments when you see a touch of the Apocalypse:

This afternoon, the gas stations around the main drag where I work were selling gas at $1.94/gallon. The biggest retailer of the bunch (Wawa convenience stores) ran dry, which started a run on gasoline around lunchtime.

Now, the one big drawback of using my scooter for work is that I have a 1.1 gallon fuel tank and it takes 1/3rd of a gallon of gas per leg of the commute, which means I'm filling up every day and a half. Running a bit late this morning, I ran straight to work and figured I'd fill up on the way home. Not having enough gas in the tank to get home, it means I gotta go join the sheeple in the mad panic to fill up just in case the panic spreads enough to gut all the stations along the ride home. (By the way, save the 'why don't you bike back home?' comments - the Bianchi doesn't have lights, and it gets dark real fast around here after 1800.) In my case, not doing so means running out about half way home. Ghod, I hate situations where I'm stuck in with the crowd.

Grumbling, I roll up to the Exxon about two blocks from work, find the shortest line, and pull in at the back. There's four cars in front of me, so no problem, I shut the motor down and push the scooter forward as necessary. By the time I'm third in line, I realize there's this Explorer's front fender about two inches from my shoulder. I turn around to see what up and there's this woman screaming at me that I cut in front of her. She spent the remainder of our time in line inching up to the pump trying to push me into the gas island and force herself in ahead of me. Being a completely ornery ******* when pushed, of course I wasn't about to let her cut in. No, I'm not normally a reasonable person.

It would have been amusing if it hadn't been so pitiful. Of course, she had to wait until I was finished, and, at $1.94/gallon, my fill-up cost $1.76 and took less than 2 minutes from the time I swiped my credit card into the machine until I pulled my receipt and rolled away.

And you wonder what the future is going to look like . . . . . . . .

Put someone in a car and they have a change of 'mind-set'. I've noticed it myself when I drive. What is sad is how irritated we can get when we are behind the wheel and how much havoc we can cause by letting our emotions get in our way.

This week, in our community, an eight year old girl was struck and killed as she was crossing the street after getting off of the school bus. The posted speed limit was 5 mph for the mobile home park where she lived. The driver was obviously doing alot more than that. People get irritated by bikes, school buses, tractors and anything else that may slow them down a little when they get behind the wheel. What I find interesting is that often those who are so hot to pass you end up right next to you again at the next light.

Put someone in a car and they have a change of 'mind-set'. I've noticed it myself when I drive. What is sad is how irritated we can get when we are behind the wheel and how much havoc we can cause by letting our emotions get in our way.

This week, in our community, an eight year old girl was struck and killed as she was crossing the street after getting off of the school bus. The posted speed limit was 5 mph for the mobile home park where she lived. The driver was obviously doing alot more than that. People get irritated by bikes, school buses, tractors and anything else that may slow them down a little when they get behind the wheel. What I find interesting is that often those who are so hot to pass you end up right next to you again at the next light.

And it's especially funny when you're on a bicycle.

(By the way, save the 'why don't you bike back home?' comments - the Bianchi doesn't have lights, and it gets dark real fast around here after 1800.)

Most bikes don't have lights. That's why you buy them. :D

Front: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060
Back: http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-Blinky-eXtreme-Bicycle/dp/B000KBEH1W

If you prefer the scooter, that's cool. But purchasing lights for your bicycle is an option.

You used a credit card for $1.76 ??

You used a credit card for $1.76 ??

I do all my gas purchasing on one credit card. I'm a budget freak. Spreadsheets are my friend. Plus, it's a lot simpler to not have to walk into the convenience store. And in this case, there was no way I was leaving the scooter unattended.

You used a credit card for $1.76 ??

Crazy lady in SUV behind him.... remember? Get the hell out of the way....

Most bikes don't have lights. That's why you buy them. :D

Front: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060
Back: http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Bike-Blinky-eXtreme-Bicycle/dp/B000KBEH1W

If you prefer the scooter, that's cool. But purchasing lights for your bicycle is an option.

My tourer at home has a permanent setup, and my other road bikes have one that switches between depending on which bike is used for the morning workout. The work bike, however, is only used during lunch time, so I never bothered.

I don't get it. If gas is $1.94/gal, doesn't that mean that the supply is pretty good? So why are people in such a panic to buy gas, even waiting in long lines and getting irritable? Are they afraid it'll go back up to $4.00 while they're in line?

Thank goodness that there are no long lines of motoristis waiting to fill up their gas tanks here locally,( I haven't purchased any gasoline for a motor vehicle in over a month) but I've had some similar incidents with a few elderly women trying to muscle me out of the bike lane so they could make a right hand turn.

I don't get it. If gas is $1.94/gal, doesn't that mean that the supply is pretty good? So why are people in such a panic to buy gas, even waiting in long lines and getting irritable? Are they afraid it'll go back up to $4.00 while they're in line?

I've got no idea - and the entire time I was waiting for my turn, I was thinking, "Boy, all they'd have to do to end this madness is up the price a dime." Just get it back over that $2.00 figure and suddenly it's no big deal after all.

By the way, turns out my worry was unfounded. The under two buck madness stopped about three miles from the shop, which would have left me about another four mile stretch that still had gas stations, all selling between $2.09-2.23. Of course, they weren't busy at all. And that's the stretch where I usually fuel up anyway. :mad:

I've got no idea - and the entire time I was waiting for my turn, I was thinking, "Boy, all they'd have to do to end this madness is up the price a dime." Just get it back over that $2.00 figure and suddenly it's no big deal after all.

By the way, turns out my worry was unfounded. The under two buck madness stopped about three miles from the shop, which would have left me about another four mile stretch that still had gas stations, all selling between $2.09-2.23. Of course, they weren't busy at all. And that's the stretch where I usually fuel up anyway. :mad:

So you bought into the panic buying;) (just kidding) It amazes me to see panic buying in action. I typically work in hurricane zones so it is always fun to watch:innocent: FWIW during peak hurricane season I never let my truck get below 3/4 full. During the rest of the year 1/2 full. From various articles I have read we in the US are never more than a couple of days away from not being able to get fuel, due to aging infrastructure and refining capacity.

Aaron:)

You should have suggested siphoning out enough to top up your tank from hers, would have saved her enough time that she would have saved that much from the reduced idle time. :p

Logic, if they had any, a lot of them would be riding bikes.

I do all my gas purchasing on one credit card. I'm a budget freak. Spreadsheets are my friend. Plus, it's a lot simpler to not have to walk into the convenience store. And in this case, there was no way I was leaving the scooter unattended.

I do the same thing for the same reasons when riding my bike to the gas station and put a gallon of gas in a can for the lawnmower. Who wants to stand in line inside with the riffraff buying lottery tickets and smokes for any gasoline purchase, when a credit card purchase is quicker, easier and rewards the user with a 5% rebate?

I don't get it. If gas is $1.94/gal, doesn't that mean that the supply is pretty good? So why are people in such a panic to buy gas, even waiting in long lines and getting irritable? Are they afraid it'll go back up to $4.00 while they're in line?

Maybe not while in line, but maybe it'll go back up over the next week. It's like a 50% off sale on Tickle Me Elmos going into Christmas.

Oh, and "supply" has nothing to do with it. The price is driven by speculators -- who, by their nature, guess at a price. I shoulda been an economist so I could BS my way through life (even more so than weather forecasters).

So you bought into the panic buying;) (just kidding) It amazes me to see panic buying in action. I typically work in hurricane zones so it is always fun to watch:innocent: FWIW during peak hurricane season I never let my truck get below 3/4 full. During the rest of the year 1/2 full. From various articles I have read we in the US are never more than a couple of days away from not being able to get fuel, due to aging infrastructure and refining capacity.

Aaron:)

Believe me, the realization that I was in line with the sheeple annoyed me to no end. On the other hand, if this mad situation had extended all the way on my route home (last gas station is ten miles from home), it would have been a very annoying walk.

Of course I could have avoided the whole mess by just filling up before pulling into work - like I had originally intended to. That's what I get for being lazy one morning. :bang: