10.01.2008

ugh!

i think it has finally hit the national news, but it seemed to take a while. i've been holed up in the house (by choice) lately and it took me watching the news, which i rarely do, to know what was going on myself. it wasn't until we were on our way to my doctor's appt. last week that i really noticed how bad it was - and now how much worse it is getting.
this was last week:
messed up craziness

this was this past weekend:
more gas lines
we drove by at least 6 gas stations and the station just outside this picture was the only one selling gas. (we live 30 miles north of the city, too)

so what we are experiencing is many people driving miles out of their way, then sitting there in lines, presumably with their engines running, waiting sometimes up to 2 hours for gas! many people are running out of gas while in line for it. i've even heard of people following the tankers around the city to find a gas station.

sign blocking entrance to a shut down gas station:
tell us about it


i had to go to the store the other day and really needed gas (just in case a trip to deliver a baby is coming up). i filled up last friday and thankfully where i stopped they had people forming two lines and they stood there directing traffic into the station one car at a time as one car left. i waited 10 -15 minutes. how crazy is it that i felt relieved i had such a short wait?

the reasons for this are kind of all over the board from what i gather (having a hard time finding a decent new article regarding this). there's a shortage (due to hurricanes), yet at the same time i hear there's 20% more consumption (due to hysteria i assume). it's taking longer for the gas to get here 'they' say. i don't know. it's pretty scary though especially when combined with everything else that is taking place in this country right now.

however, we are fortunate. matt does not commute very far and by most atlanta area standards, some may say he doesn't really commute (no interstate driving for him). i am at home and really have no where i need to be. we are naturally homebodies, so it's not putting a damper on our social life in any way and many of our friends are nearby.

i'm betting that since filling up last friday (i won't even tell you the dent that put in the checkbook), that tank should last almost a month. and for this area that's pretty damn good. of course, this wouldn't be the norm, but under our circumstances, i don't see a lot of need for us to leave the house and right now i like it that way.

-----update----- when i went to the doctor yesterday, we passed 6 stations, none of them were selling gas.

***one of the better articles i could find***

5 comments:

  1. this is by no means meant to undermine what is happening with gas in your area (i have a friend there who is in dire need of it too) but i just have to say, based on your second picture...i now live in the Pac NW but grew up in the SW and man oh man do i miss chick-fil-a!!
    hope you have enough gas for that whole labor thing!
    r

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  2. i don't blame you, regina! chick-fil-a is a treat!

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  3. Wow, this is scary. I have heard about it, but your pictures are very impressive. And since the news are filled with other things - there is not much room for this.

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  4. it is scary, but hopefully will end soon. i don't think my area has the worst of it. true, there isn't much room for this in the news, but i found it interesting that it had been happening all over the southeast for over 2 weeks before i heard anything of it on nat'l news. let's just hope things improve in the near future : )

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  5. oh holy hell. i hope that spares us here. i know that alot of the smaller stations are finding it hard to buy gasoline right now, but so far here in the richmond area we haven't experienced any of that. yet. fingers crossed for you that it will end soon. in the meantime...keep those tanks filled and a few spares stored in gas cans for any emergencies.

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