When the gas in my tank...

SeveredMatt · July 2006

OK, so I just returned from a driving trip to Montana from Chicagoland. 4,300 miles or so, including driving while out there. Big Sky Country is plenty beautiful, to be certain, and it spawned Jeff and Barry Ament, which is a good thing. There's a reason why Johnny Depp, Howie Long, John Lithgow, Phil Jackson and dozens of other celebrities have homes there.

But 4,300 miles with gas prices always around $3.00 a gallon is pretty crazy.

The point of this post is, it's even crazier when I noticed just a few minutes ago with the classic movie "Die Hard" on as background noise that the Los Angeles gas prices shown in the film for a split second were $0.74 and $0.77 a gallon! Granted, this was back in 1987 or '88. But it still makes one a little nauseated.

It's a shame that these prices will probably never be lower than this again.

*Boy · July 2006

SeveredMatt wrote:

OK, so I just returned from a driving trip to Montana from Chicagoland. 4,300 miles or so, including driving while out there. Big Sky Country is plenty beautiful, to be certain, and it spawned Jeff and Barry Ament, which is a good thing. There's a reason why Johnny Depp, Howie Long, John Lithgow, Phil Jackson and dozens of other celebrities have homes there.

But 4,300 miles with gas prices always around $3.00 a gallon is pretty crazy.

The point of this post is, it's even crazier when I noticed just a few minutes ago with the classic movie "Die Hard" on as background noise that the Los Angeles gas prices shown in the film for a split second were $0.74 and $0.77 a gallon! Granted, this was back in 1987 or '88. But it still makes one a little nauseated.

It's a shame that these prices will probably never be lower than this again.

so?...................

how much?

SeveredMatt · July 2006

*Boy wrote:

so?...................
how much?

If you mean how much was gas out there, it's actually cheaper than most parts of the country. Especially Wyoming.

To wit:

* The cheapest I was able to get it for was $2.73 a gallon in Wyoming. Now, that was for 85 octane, which is lower than the fairly standard 87 I'd get in the Chicago area.
* The most expensive full tank in my Honda Pilot SUV (yes, it's my fault I own an SUV, but at the time I purchased it, it was the least gas-guzzling of the full-size SUV class) was $50 on the nose. Ironically, it was also at the $2.73/gallon purchase above. But I had to put in about 18.3 gallons into my 19.3-gallon tank.
* The most expensive I paid was $2.99 on the way home in Iowa.
* When I returned to the Chicago area, I was oh so happy to see that prices were in the $3.12-$3.25 range.
* And then I remembered my trip to Maui in May, when I routinely paid $3.50 and higher to fill up our rental convertible, and I didn't feel so bad. But I still felt pretty damn shitty.

Further:

* In 1987-88 or so, L.A. gas prices, if you go off of the "Die Hard" example, were well under $1.
* 10 years later, in 1997, I remember still paying under $1 at stations in Indiana, just over the Illinois state line.
* In the last 10 years, is there ANYTHING else you can think of that has tripled in price? Can you imagine paying $2 for a gallon of milk in 1997 and paying $6 a gallon now? How about $20,000 for a new car, but $60,000 for the same car now? How about $12 for "No Code" in 1996, but $36 for "Pearl Jam" in 2006?

My only real point is, damn does this suck!

CenterCity · July 2006

oh okay....you literally meant talking about the gas issue.

*Boy · July 2006

SeveredMatt wrote:

If you mean how much was gas out there, it's actually cheaper than most parts of the country. Especially Wyoming.

To wit:

* The cheapest I was able to get it for was $2.73 a gallon in Wyoming. Now, that was for 85 octane, which is lower than the fairly standard 87 I'd get in the Chicago area.
* The most expensive full tank in my Honda Pilot SUV (yes, it's my fault I own an SUV, but at the time I purchased it, it was the least gas-guzzling of the full-size SUV class) was $50 on the nose. Ironically, it was also at the $2.73/gallon purchase above. But I had to put in about 18.3 gallons into my 19.3-gallon tank.
* The most expensive I paid was $2.99 on the way home in Iowa.
* When I returned to the Chicago area, I was oh so happy to see that prices were in the $3.12-$3.25 range.
* And then I remembered my trip to Maui in May, when I routinely paid $3.50 and higher to fill up our rental convertible, and I didn't feel so bad. But I still felt pretty damn shitty.

Further:

* In 1987-88 or so, L.A. gas prices, if you go off of the "Die Hard" example, were well under $1.
* 10 years later, in 1997, I remember still paying under $1 at stations in Indiana, just over the Illinois state line.
* In the last 10 years, is there ANYTHING else you can think of that has tripled in price? Can you imagine paying $2 for a gallon of milk in 1997 and paying $6 a gallon now? How about $20,000 for a new car, but $60,000 for the same car now? How about $12 for "No Code" in 1996, but $36 for "Pearl Jam" in 2006?

My only real point is, damn does this suck!

+

=

decides2dream · July 2006

yes, i remember gas prices under a dollar when i first started to drive. i also remember the oil crisis in the 70s, my parents going to the gas station on even or odd days, to ration it out...the long lines, etc. amazing what happens. however, as many who do NOT live in the US are always quick to point out, most of the world has ALWAYS endured high gas prices while we did not. man, i hope this is our 'wake up' call...and we finally do something about our dependence and consumption...and look towards alternatives.

i just filled up yesterday; $3.25 a gallon.

SeveredMatt · July 2006

*Boy wrote:

+

=

Am I missing something, or am I supposed to understand what that means?

*Boy · July 2006

SeveredMatt wrote:

Am I missing something, or am I supposed to understand what that means?

whats the total you spend driving 4300 miles?

Nevermind · July 2006

Its sad that the government is stealing Iraqs oil and still raise the price. The oil companies are making hundreds of billions of dollars a day. Theyre raping our economy for their own personal profit. George W owns a lot of the oil companies.

SeveredMatt · July 2006

*Boy wrote:

whats the total you spend driving 4300 miles?

I don't have an EXACT total because I took the trip with my wife and brother, so he filled up every other tank and I filled up every other tank. But if I'm guessing, it was between $700-800.

Keep in mind, there was a lot of mountain and hilly driving once we hit South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, and that takes a lot more gas than normal highway driving.

*Boy · July 2006

SeveredMatt wrote:

I don't have an EXACT total because I took the trip with my wife and brother, so he filled up every other tank and I filled up every other tank. But if I'm guessing, it was between $700-800.

Keep in mind, there was a lot of mountain and hilly driving once we hit South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, and that takes a lot more gas than normal highway driving.

if you were alone you could better fly

SeveredMatt · July 2006

*Boy wrote:

if you were alone you could better fly

Oh, if I was alone, or even if it was just my wife and I, we'd DEFINITELY have flown.

But when you factor in three people, our options were as such:

* Fly to Missoula for $550 each (this was when we checked prices about four months ago), then you still have rent a car and drive an hour to where we were staying.
* Fly to Helena for $350 each (again, four months ago), then rent a car and drive 3 1/2 hours to where we were staying.
* Take the train for $170 on the way out, $210 on the way back (this went up SIGNIFICANTLY as we got closer to the trip). And again, still rent a car and drive to where we needed to get to.

So all things considered, driving was really the cheapest option. Now, I had both my wife and brother BEGGING for music other than Pearl Jam on the trip home. On the way out, I made them listen to "Ten" through "Pearl Jam" sequentially, plus "Benaroyal Hall," plus the Summerfest 1 boot!

CenterCity · July 2006

that's funny.....music....is so vital on road trips....yikes only pearl jam.....i could say the same. my boyfriend would not appreciate just listening to "pearl jam".
we're actually going up to montreal.
.....and speaking of matts, i think i'm finally going to listen to soundgarden all the way thru.....so late on the soundgarden and matt cameron bandwagon. lol

mpg82 · July 2006

Gas was under $1.00 when Clinton was in office.

know1 · July 2006

What was it when Clinton left office?

bryn_cmbs · July 2006

In 2001 I could fill up my Beetle for around $16, now it's about $35.

SeveredMatt · July 2006

know1 wrote:

What was it when Clinton left office?

For Clinton's term, according to fueleconomy.gov, gas was really steady from 1992 until 1997 or so, when it had a nice decline for a year. Then in 1998 it started going up and in 2000, when he left office, it was at its highest rate -- about $1.50 on average -- since 1985.

callen · July 2006

Always look at everything as half full....if this gas crunch continues... bigger vehicles may be off the road...it's all good for me. Drive Mini Cooper and get a little tired of incompetent drivers driving all over me cause they can't see me.......also I've been to Europe few times and it's nice seeing small economical cars on the road....and with $6-8 a gallon it makes sense.....I hope it goes to $4.00 a gallon for two years...then backs back down....got to suck being Ford and GM right now....sorry rant..but couldn't help it.

Oh drove from Houston to Denver to see PJ..in my old BMW that gets 22-25 MPG and it did hurt. (-: should have taken the Cooper.

decides2dream · July 2006

callen wrote:

Always look at everything as half full....if this gas crunch continues... bigger vehicles may be off the road...it's all good for me. Drive Mini Cooper and get a little tired of incompetent drivers driving all over me cause they can't see me.......also I've been to Europe few times and it's nice seeing small economical cars on the road....and with $6-8 a gallon it makes sense.....I hope it goes to $4.00 a gallon for two years...then backs back down....got to suck being Ford and GM right now....sorry rant..but couldn't help it.

Oh drove from Houston to Denver to see PJ..in my old BMW that gets 22-25 MPG and it did hurt. (-: should have taken the Cooper.

yes, agreed. i think i said something similar earlier. perhaps this will finally be our 'wake-up' call? one can only hope.

rightondude · July 2006

If we could only see how much annually we are pumping into our gas tanks, I think we would all faint, then storm our local government offices en masse.

I drove my friends Acura MDX around for a day (3-4 hours) and it cost me $35 to bring the tank back to where I left it. I would sell that car the same day I bought it, or just bring it back.

I also think more people should learn to drive cars with standard transmissions, as you can control the engine revs a LOT more and save gas.

Automatic cars are like driving for dummies, louder in general, and more wasteful imo.

I drive a compact turbo'd car, and I puppy it 90% of the time.

denverfan · July 2006

Do we need to go into how gas is relativley in-expensive compared to a gallon of something else...take for instace...milk etc...Gas isn't that bad comparitavley speakng..

When the gas in my tank...

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