Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Gas Shortage

The times are a changing, friends. There are gas shortages all over town and beyond. Only Supreme is left in Asheville, according to the gas station attendant I just talked to. Supposedly, there is no gas in Bryson City and limited amounts in Charlotte. People are freaking out. There are lines of cars down Merrimon Avenue waiting to pay $3.20 per gallon. We all may want to reevaluate our Labor Day weekend plans.

19 comments:

Jim Jenkins said...

OMG, that is insane. Is it just panic?

Sweet Tea said...

We're going to buy bikes today when Uptown gets off of work; something that we've been planning on. Now seems like a good time, eh?

I'm feeling some panic myself, Jim.

Jim Jenkins said...

That sounds like an excellent idea, Mountain Faerie. Good for the body - good for the environment - and helps relieve stress which is the only thing that their seems to be an overabundance of at the moment.

Edgy Mama said...

Thanks, Brian. And for the update on your blog.

How much do y'all think I could get for my newish Honda Hybrid right now? If I were willing to sell?

Edgy Mama said...

Oh, and the Citizen-Times has a breaking news story on the craziness at http://www.citizen-times.com.

Jeremy said...

Yup, Mountain Faerie's right...time to break out the bike. (FWIW, I highly recommend BioWheels if you're looking to buy one.)

And for those times when a bike isn't practical...anyone have tips on buying a decent electric- or gas-powered scooter?

Jim Jenkins said...

I see that that old media hound Ash, posted this last night at Ashvegas:

WLOS did its best to fan consumers' fears of a gas shortage Tuesday night, announcing that two big pipelines serving WNC suppliers were shut down because of the hurricane. This news sent people scrambling to their gas stations to fill up, and means that local governments are cutting back in some service areas. Cherub Charu is reporting this from a gas station in Mills River.

You can also check out his predictions which seem to have come true.

Sudeaux Lux said...

I'm not in panic mode yet, although I lived through the gas rationing in 1974, buying gas on odd and even days, acccording to your license tag number. I paid 2.95 a gallon for Regular this morning in Laurel Park in Hendersonville, NC, and didn't see any gaslines. By this afternoon, gas stations on Asheville Hwy 25 in H'ville, all had long lines waiting to pump gas. My daughter has a date to go to the movies tonight--on a motorcycle.

Great post and comments, everyone.

Gordon Smith said...

Brevard and Fletcher are both reportedly out of gas.

Biodiesel, here people come.

Gordon Smith said...

The Citizen-Times article says that the problem isn't shortage, it's panic.

We Shall See.

Anonymous said...

i know i shouldn't, but thanks to epicaricacy or schadenfreude or whatever you want to call it, i got to giggle silently when some of my idiot co-workers started to fidget - more than a few people let the gas tanks on their suv's get down to less than a quarter tank...

i'm sooooo tempted to send out an e-mail telling people that they can get more out of their fuel dollar(s) if they buy premium and water it down, just to see if some of these panic-buying sheep fall for it.

but that would be wrong.

Eddo said...

No shortage here in Texas that I know of... everyone should just pack up and move to Texas! I think half of New Orleans is already here!

car said...

my petroleum stocks are going through the roof, the news is not all bad! At this rate I will be able to live here until I am 350 years old! Check out my new blog on living is asheville!

Edgy Mama said...

Supposedly, there's a large sign hanging near the Enmark Station on Merrimon that reads, "How's that SUV treating you now?"

Gotta love it.

ash said...

Awesome information, you guys. Great stuff! Is there a way we can pool our resources to help one another? Post updates on what gas stations are closed, which have the cheapest gas? Alerts of car pools, other conservation measures? What else?

modpez said...

park the damn things and walk. you might need a car to live in soon.

Anonymous said...

Great time to walk, bike, or bus to work. Carpool and just avoid buying gas or products that require major schleppage to get here. Oh, and if you can get to Manna or the Red Cross, the need volunteers to answer phones and do donation intake.

arratik said...

for anyone in the hendersonville area: the truck stop on asheville hwy in naples off of the fletcher/mtn home exit still has all grades, $3.09/gal for 87 octane, $30 limit. no lines and friendly people. (of course, this was at 6:45 am - the assholes were probably still asleep)

Sweet Tea said...

Hoppin' back on this thread a little late but what the heck.

Jeremy, I would love to buy a bike at a local business but I won't be supporting bio-wheels, sadly. I was treated very rudely by an employee there not too long ago when inquiring about a bike. I had walked over on my lunch break and probably didn't look to be the outdoor type in a skirt and heals. He made some very snide comments to me and told me that he needed to go deal with a "customer that was actually going to buy something" and not waste his time talking to me. Still kinda sore about it.