Miracle on Gray Highway

[constance]

Last night while I was out, I paid $1.63 per gallon for gas. I'm going to repeat that, because it's so unexpectedly awesome that I can't quite wrap my head around it:

$1.63 per gallon

It was so awesome that I called my father to report it when I woke up this morning, and he launched into a rant that he's obviously been saving up for the right moment, about how They jack the prices up so that we saps on the frontlines can feel grateful when they drop to manageable levels again. I said, "Well, I'm living proof that that strategy totally works." I'm so freaking grateful I can hardly stand it. I'm so grateful I'm considering daytripping just because I can.

How much are you paying? If you don't mind my asking.

Comments

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[coco-palmolive.livejournal.com]

There is one rebellious gas station on my way into town that frequently bucks the COLLEGE STUDENTS WILL PAY ANYTHING IT'S NOT THEIR MONEY ANYWAY philosophy of all the other area gas stations that has dropped to $1.79 as of yesterday. My last tank was $1.89.

It now costs less than $20 to fill an empty tank. You can now spend your last $5 before pay day for gas and have enough to make it to the end of the week. Gas is finally as cheap as it was back in 2004 when I was driving an insurance company rental (a Jeep Liberty, FYI) and thought, man, why is the price of gas going up so much?

That said, I'm a little sad about it. I worry that lower gas prices are going to convince consumers that they can drive SUVs and waste gas and I'd be happier if gas had stayed in the $2.50-$3 range. At the same time, I realize that by wishing that, I'm wishing more economic strain on people who are already suffering quite a bit of economic strain. Maybe I should invest the extra dollars I'm not spending on gas in renewable energy research or something.

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[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, good points there. I mean, I'm pretty sparing in my gas usage anyway (in 2 years, I've put 11,000 miles on my little Saturn), but not everyone is careful. In the past months, I've grown reaccustomed to driving around town without having my view entirely blocked by massive SUVs, and I'm hoping people've started to pay more attention to how they consume as a matter of course. We're Americans, though! Thoughtless and doomed to repeat our mistakes until it kills us all! Someone best get on that renewable energy project quick.

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[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. I drove to the same part of town two days in a row last week, thinking, "Well, gas has gone down," and totally failing to remember that my reasons behind trying to combine such errands isn't the cost of gas, but rather the emissions.

I just converted my electric bill to wind power last month. I'm pretty pleased with myself, even if I don't truly understand how it works and if it really helps.

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[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow! I wish I had the option to convert to wind power here. Surely it does some good.

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[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

I figure at the very least, I'm adding to the demand and encouraging the company to continue expanding. There was a wait-list to convert for a while, but I got it as soon as I asked. It added a whopping $0.87 to my monthly power bill.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

The best I have seen lately was $1.89, which is still pretty wild. I was on the phone with my mom last week while riding the commute bus when I saw the first gas price below $2.00. I interrupted her and burst out, "Gas for $1.99!!!!" It was sort of amazing.

I'm still getting used to the idea of having a car all the time, so it's all a novelty to me anyway, but I'm digging it while it lasts.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I know! That $1.99 threshold seems miraculous. And yet it's just been two or three years since I was complaining bitterly about having paid over $2.00 per gallon for the first time ever.

What do you do with your car? Park it on the streets? Garage it?

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

I paid $2.05 last week and this week it's at $1.93. I made it from June to October on one tank of $3.36 gas, though, so as long as prices stay manageable during ski season (because the nicest trail in town is 5 miles away and I routinely go at least 2x/week), I should be okay even if prices go up a bit.

But $1.63...amazing.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I made it from June to October on one tank of $3.36 gas

I though I was impressive with the conservation, but you have it all over me, man. The gas prices are amazing me, but you even more so.

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

Disclaimer: it's really easy to do that where I live. One year I made it April to November; I can do stuff like this because I live just under 2 miles from where I teach, so I can bike or walk. During the week, there are three buslines that pick up a block away from my apartment, and I can bike to the farmers' market to get my produce. There's a Trader Joe's on the way home, a co-op kind of on the way home (if I go a little out of my way), and an extensive set of bike trails that make it easy to get across town to the other co-op. So it's really less impressive than it sounds. But thanks for thinking I might be amazing. :D

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm just going to quietly go one thinking you're amazing. Just to be contrary. :D

I wish I lived in a pedestrian-friendly city. It's one of the things I miss most about New Orleans.

[venivincere]

Joshie's geography teacher saw it yesterday for $1.59. Last night, I saw it for $1.61. Don't need gas yet, though, so I'm going to wait to see if it goes lower before I buy any. :-D HUZZAH!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

The way it keeps dropping, who knows what it'll be by the time you get around to needing gas? It's kind of head-spinning. *head spins*

[gmth.livejournal.com]

I paid $1.99 last week, but on average it's about $2.15 hereabouts. I'm thrilled, but also realize it's pretty sick to be excited about gas that's still $2.00/gallon. I remember in the waning days of the Clinton administration when it was $0.89/gallon. However, I am very glad it now costs less than $20 to fill up my tank. And I work at home and don't have a commute, I can't imagine what a relief it must be for people who actually have to drive to work every day.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

it's pretty sick to be excited about gas that's still $2.00/gallon

So very, very true. I remember gas prices breaking a dollar, while I was living in New Orleans, and being kind of miffed about it. (Though that was nothing like the fury I experienced at paying $2+ a couple of years ago!) It's amazing, the shit you get used to in a downward-spiraling economy.

[black-and-bloom.livejournal.com]

I saw $1.69 this morning in Alpharetta - o the irony after September's gas shortage!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. I'd have to drive to four different stations before finding one that even had gas to sell, and forking over those ridiculous prices made my stomach hurt. The idea that we're here, now, in two months. It just baffles me.

Pacific Northwest Canada

[djin7.livejournal.com]

We're still paying (in my area) around .85+/- cents a litre. Gallon=3.785 litres, so still a little over $3 a gallon. But it seems cheap to me! Three weeks ago, we were payin $1.45 a litre. *nods*

Re: Pacific Northwest Canada

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Heh -- I guess it really is relative, right? I was pretty pathetically grateful when the price dropped below $4.00, just a few weeks ago. I never thought I'd see below $2.00 again.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

It seems that Bay Area high costs are still going strong, since our low low price is still a good 20 cents higher than the highest quote here, but omigod, even $2.29 makes me giddy after getting used to $4.69. I try not to let it go to my head and lead me to do things like driving 20 minutes up the peninsula just to look at used books, but I'll confess to one or two reckless outings.

I miss you! I miss regular online access! We're closing in on a new computer this weekend, the other one proving to be too far gone to fix. (Still hoping that its soul can be extracted and retrieved, though.)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

LAUREL OMG I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW. I'm glad to hear you'll be around again soon, because things just aren't the same without you.

I know what you mean about the frivolous trips. My plan for the day was to find a birthday present for my mother, and I was totally prepared to drive halfway to Atlanta to find what I needed, for once. (I didn't have to, in the end, but I wouldn't have minded so very much if I'd have had to.)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

And I forgot to say: fingers crossed over the transition to the new PC!!

[kickthebeat.livejournal.com]

college town, north carolina: roughly 1.95$ a gallon. which, hey, is awesome, because i have NEVER paid less than 2.20$/gallon in the nc before now! it's also slightly maddening, because gas prices drop anywhere from 15-25 cents when you leave our county. it's all shitty in the sense that dropping gas prices could be indicative of a falling economy, and YES, ALL THE SUVS WILL BE COMING BACK OUT OF HIDING? but i drive an '89 chevy caprice (out of necessity, natch) with a sixteen gallon tank, and he drives better on unleaded plus than regular unleaded? and i filled his tank for 35$ the other day -- 20$ less than the last time i filled up completely, and that was regular unleaded.


sigh.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

You college-town and city folks have it rough, man. I guess there's a (literal) price to be paid for having, like, available culture and decent restaurants and shit like that. For once, I'm glad to be living in a poky little nowhere town.

I hope to God we're seeing the end of the SUV era. But we probably aren't. Americans -- especially Americans in the Deep South -- can be remarkably stupid.

[somniesperus.livejournal.com]

I paid $1.95 yesterday, but that's only because that was the closest station to my apartment and I was running on empty. I didn't fill all the way up. Things are cheaper nearer to the interstate and in certain parts of town.

Yay!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Too right about it being cheaper in certain parts of town. Before this new station opened near my house, I used to drive halfway across town to fill up, because the gas was enough less to justify the trip.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

$1.69 and happy with it! Jim said the price dropped *twice* on Wednesday.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I know -- anymore, I check prices all along my route to and from work every day, just to see how much prices have dropped in the past ten hours or so. It's a little disconcerting, but yeah, no complaints here!

[saekokato.livejournal.com]

$1.95 is the lowest I've seen (I'm up in northern northern New Hampshire and in a highly touristy area), but it should start going down again once we hit weekdays again.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Last time I filled up, I paid around your price. Just having it below $2.00, though...!

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. Last time we got gas was probably mid-October. Google tells me the cheapest gas in town is $1.97. It's always expensive here, though.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, your part of the world is more expensive than mine, definitely!

[ainsley.livejournal.com]

WOW.

It's getting rapidly cheaper here, too, in defiance of absolutely all logic. But don't look a gift horse in the mouth?

Too bad I can't afford even the cheaper gas ($1.79, last I saw). Bah.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I am trying an experiment: fill up half a tank at a time so as to lessen the burden. Jesus Christ, it sucks to be poor.

[luthien.livejournal.com]

In July, $1.63 is about what we were paying *per litre*, so multiply by 3.7 and you'll have an idea of why people were complaining about petrol prices here.

It's down to $1.30-odd per litre now, and they're saying it may get down to a dollar again by Christmas.

$1.63 per gallon? That's a price for fairyland and the United States, unfortunately for the rest of us.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

$1.63 per gallon? That's a price for fairyland and the United States

Actually, until I paid it on Friday, I'd have said it was a fairyland price even for America. I hope your prices keep dropping too!