Monday, March 21, 2005

Close, But (Thankfully) No Cigar

I have a goal that is not too realistic, but I'm going to try to keep it anyway: to go as long as possible without paying over $2.00 a gallon for gas. Kevmobile 1.2 runs on regular unleaded, so I can at least prolong this a little better than many people (if I ran on premium, I would've been up the proverbial creek several weeks ago).

It was really funny how many stations I passed yesterday that were sitting at $1.99, many of them on the same corner. It's as if nobody wanted to cross that not-so-magic line, and they were daring each other to be the first. I did see a few extremes last night, with $2.09 being the worst. (Why would anyone stop there, short of running on utter fumes?)

I don't know how much longer this will last, seeing as how the Exxon near my house went from $1.99 this morning to $2.03 when I got home for my break, but we'll see. Thank goodness for these two places, which tend to be lower than most anyone else (and yeah, I'm sure my dad, the retired Shell guy, wouldn't agree, but hey, I drive back and forth between 12 teaching venues every week, and I have to think with my wallet first).

So, poll time:
1) What's the cheapest you've seen regular unleaded this week?
2) ...and the most expensive?
3) How long do you think I can go and still pay less than two bucks a gallon?

(James, I definitely want to hear from you on this, because I have a feeling that comparing our gas prices with those in Australia will make all of us up here feel much better.)

4 comments:

Eric Grubbs said...

Cheapest: $1.96 in Austin
Most expensive: $2.05 in Dallas (off 635 and Montfort)
How long can you go? Maybe another week.

Your father worked for Shell too? My father retired from the company last September after 30+ years.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kev and fellow blog readers!

The Chevron by my house was $1.95 on Sunday and then $2.05 on Monday. I saw a $2.09 while picking up my dog today. As long as you are willing to buy cheap gas Kev, I am guessing you could go another week or maybe two if we are lucky (cheap means Sam’s, Albertson’s, etc...)

JP

James said...

Okie dokie - have to bring out the maths here...

Cheapest I've seen it here is about $1.05/Litre. Most expensive is $1.14/Litre.

Now, there's about 3.79 gallons in one litre.

So the cheapest I'm finding petrol over here is at $AU3.97 per gallon... or $US3.09/gallon. And up to $US3.37/gallon for the most expensive.

*sigh* :(

Kev said...

Yeah, Eric, my dad worked in the internal auditing area of Shell for quite some time. He was based out of One Shell Plaza downtown before he retired in '90 (I think).