Thank you, sir! May I have another?

Gas around here shot up over $4 per gallon for the first time today. At the rate it's going, we'll see $5 before the 4th of July and $6 by Labor Day.

It's a gas, gas, gas!

We decided to make the trip to Central Indiana after all this weekend. On the way, we saw gas prices as low as $2.98 and as high as $3.38. The one that was $3.38 was less than a block away from another station selling at $3.01.

I hope the gas situation clears itself up soon, or I'll run out of clever headlines for blog entries. No doubt some of you think I already did.

Gas pains

I went out and bought gas yesterday for my two cars and my lawn mower and paid $2.73, which is a ridiculously high number to begin with. Today, when I went out to run an errand, I saw gas prices in the $3.16-$3.19 range, although one station was still at $2.85.

We're now reconsidering whether to drive down to my mother-in-law's house for Labor Day weekend, which is basically a one-tank trip.

Off the subject, I heard from my subscriber who is from the Biloxi area. He's OK. He had evacuated to Meridian, MS before the storm arrived. Katrina was still a hurricane when it went through there and they don't have power yet, but they do have water. Power is expected in a day or so there.

Gas Price Slots

We have a handful of casinos around here, and I think the gas stations must be owned by the same people that own those casinos. The gas price signs must use the same technology as slot machines. Someone in the station pulls the lever at least once a day, and a new price appears.

At one Speedway gas station near my house, just since Monday, it has posted prices of $2.03, $1.98, $2.08, $2.25 and the current price of $2.04 for regular unleaded. That is, unless it has changed again since I got home. The last change occurred while I was taking my kids to school for their aforementioned field trip.

(note: when I went to pick my kids up after the field trip, it was back to $2.25)

It's like trying to time the stock market. Whenever the gas prices go down some, you fill up, even if you filled up the day before, just so you don't have to try to fill up right after a spike.

We probably wouldn't care so much if the prices were a dollar a gallon lower. I remember those days as if it were yesterday. Of course, around here, maybe it was yesterday.