A Postcard From the Pumps...
Fuel pumps, that is.
I went out yesterday morning to tank up (the needle was tickling the 1/4 tank mark), so I drive out to Waynedale to the BP there by "Pawster" Park (right next to Foster Park). The Sparky-Mart there is a nice place, as there is usally ALWAYS a police car (or two) parked in the lot. So you know there is no one with a thumping bass stereo in the vicinity.
Yesterday was no different.
As I was pulling in, sure enough, a police car was leaving.
Ahhh....security. I LOVE that.
Let me preface this by saying that 2 weeks ago, the missus and I tanked up HER car on S. Anthony, and at $3.45 a gallon, I couldn't bring myself to believe that THAT was any type of "bargain".
Still, we shelled out the dinero, and drove off into the morning air.
Yesterday was another matter.
I fully expected the prices to be close to what we paid 2 weeks ago, if not even higher.
They were NOT.
In fact, they were quite a bit LOWER than I had anticipated. The price was $3.18 for (87 octane) regular, and $3.28 for (89 octane) "plus". So, I got me some PLUS (it's still cheaper than that $3.45 of 2 weeks ago).
The total came to $33.75, and even THAT I can live with (the old Firebird must still be getting close to that "magical" 25 MPG). Not too shabby for a 25 (as of July 2008) year old V-6, eh? Must be that owner who maintains it, I suppose...lol.
(Segue Alert)
That got me to thinking (uh-oh...here it comes).
Now we hear talk of yet ANOTHER ethanol plant in central Indiana (what's that make now...about 30?) and my question is WHY SO DAMN MANY for what I would consider a "stop-gap" measure? I mean it's not as though we're going to switch TOTALLY over to ethanol...are we? I sure hope to hell not. It's far from the best way to go, especially with all the strides forward being made with ELECTRIC-powered vehicles. And no one is saying ANYTHING about HYDROGEN tech (yet). Then there's the engineers from India and their AIR-powered (and magnificently ugly) vehicles, and the Purdue University professor and his (revolutionary) WATER-powered engine. There's also LPG, and LNG powered technologies.
It boggles the mind to think of ALL the (other) possibilities.
But about this ethanol...
I've spoken here at length about the vicissitudes of using ethanol, not the least of which is the corrosive nature of this fuel. And there's the lack of BTUs (75% that of regular gasoline) which in turn produces less "power under foot", as it were. Yet everyone is on the "Ethanol Bandwagon".
I suppose it has never occured to anyone that using ALL that CORN is taking a bite (pun intended) out of needed FOOD CROPS? Less corn to EAT will mean HIGHER CORN PRICES (start setting up those dominos, people). Even if we switch to another food crop, such as WHEAT, the price of THAT goes UP (not to mention farmers are supplanting wheat crops WITH CORN crops for ethanol use).
I'm finding it difficult to see the "win-win" here, aren't you?
How far we've come from that lowly single-bit oil well back in 1850s Titusville, PA.
One thing we in American NEED to do is stop making all these "luxury-driven, high-horsepowered" vehicles. Whatever destination we are driving to will STILL be there if we drive at 55 MPH, as opposed to 65 MPH (and it's been documented numerous times, that most ANY vehicle achieves the best fuel economy between 45-50 MPH). I have never met a destination YET that MOVED during my motorized sojourn to it. And neither have you.
Be honest now, do we really need ALL the creature comforts that artificially drive up the prices for vehicles that are now made more cheaply than the old Ford Pintos and Chevy Vegas of decades past?
Case in point:
I used to think that $25K for a Corvette was high....just LOOK at the cost NOW, for basically the same, fiberglass car (with an engine so powerful, that STILL passes everything BUT a gas station). Even the cost of BASE models of most all vehicles are SO much higher than in years past, and why is that? Don't we have ALL these "robotic" assemblers taking the place of warm bodies in the plants that we USED to have to pay ever-increasing hourly wages to? I suppose those robots ALSO have union representation now? That would explain a LOT.
(Don't think that someone hasn't thought about that already).
All I DO know is that SOMEONE is getting rich over all this, and it sure as hell ain't "us".
Hey, ethanol has it's place (as a basis for good whiskey or bourbon), but to move our reliance solely upon the shoulders of the farmers, agro-engineers, and CEOs of companies that are already reaping whirlwind profits from something we've yet to embrace totally spells trouble from the start. Maybe we're getting used to trouble.
Heaven help us when we start to actually LIKE it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And in another gas station-related story:
The CLARK station along Wayne Trace Road was the scene of the city's THIRD homicide. Contrell Brown, 18 (who had an open warrant for resisting law enforcement), was shot in the lot of the station Monday night. He died yesterday of his wounds. People said they heard TEN shots. I suppose that if you can't shoot STRAIGHT, shooting a LOT is just as good (especially on the SOUTH SIDE of town), eh?
Could have been retribution...or mistaken identity...or gang initiation, or payback for a bad drug deal. But I'd bet even money he wasn't killed because he didn't bring in his homework, or return that library book, or that he cut choir practice.
Hey, but didn't city officials say that CRIME IS GOING DOWN?
Oh, it's going DOWN (as in happening) all right. Make no mistake.
As an aside, all THREE homicides this year have occured IN Fort Wayne.
No suspects are in custody, and the investigation is still ongoing.
Another reason why I drive out to WAYNEDALE to get MY fuel..lack of gunfire!
Welcome to HUMPDAY...it's ALL downhill from here (or uphill if you're a sadist).