A Penny Here, A Nickel There...

Not that I found three-dollar-and-seventy-one-cent gasoline such a big thrill that I had to rush right out and start snapping photos of signs, but...

...I guess I'll take $3.71 over $3.99 or $4.07 any day.

Word on the street is that we're heading down to about the $3.50 mark. Yay. Still pretty outrageous, if you ask me.

I don't usually pay very close attention to gas prices. I don't know who's got it a couple cents cheaper than whom, or how much it was last week compared to today. But, as we all know, it's as big a topic of conversation as which team Brett Favre may or may not be playing for this season in the NFL. (and if you don't live in this state, be grateful...because as much as you're hearing about it, we're being bombarded one hundred times over.)

I've always lived by the rule that when my gas tank is empty...or close...I stop and put in some gas. (Feel free to use this method of operation for yourself. It seems to work well.) I figure that gas prices are out of my control, so...why waste what limited brain resources I have remembering who's got it the cheapest?

Four-dollar gasoline, however, makes people sit up and take notice. Four...bucks!

It hasn't deterred me from driving where I want to drive, or forced me to buy a moped to travel (slowly) across the state, or prompted me to write a letter to George W. Bush telling him what an idiot he is and what a terrible job he's doing. (who needs high gas prices to do that, anyway?)

No, what caused me to stop and take a photo of a gas station sign tonight was a regular feature that we run in our newspaper, highlighting events and news stories from 10 years ago, 25 years ago and 45 years ago.

Anyone care to guess what the average price was for a gallon of gasoline across the state of Wisconsin 10 years ago this week? (make your guesses quickly...or read more slowly...because the answer's coming up in the next paragraph or two.)

Let's see...that was 10 years ago, and Bush has been The Decider Guy for eight of those 10 years. Hmm...maybe he is to blame! Because we all know that if Al Gore had been president for the last eight years, all of our vehicles would run on banana peels and tap water by now. And they'd fly, too!

Ten years ago, one gallon of gasoline across the state of Wisconsin cost $1.14.

Makes that sign up there still look pretty sickening, doesn't it?

"The way things are going, we are not too far
from the day when it will take an hour's labor
just to pay for the gasoline to get to the job."
—Sherwood Boehlert