The Continuing Crisis

Long lines of cars on the side of the highway. Two hours or more wait time. Only 1 gas station within 50 miles or so that has any gas (or so we were told by a Quick Trip employee at a station that was out of gas, again.) That is the gas situation around our local area. Help is on the way, they keep saying, but when will it arrive? Apparently the fuel tankers are having trouble getting refuel, or so they say, be it with the precious cargo they're designed to carry, or the necessary fuel to get that cargo out to the masses. The EPA has released the fuel restrictions, allowing the release and sale of the standard gasoline, instead of the summer blend most stations within the area are required to fill their tanks with over the hottest months of the year. But so far we've seen one station after another run completely out of gas. Or, a station will get a fresh supply in, only to run out a few hours later due to the long lines of cars queuing for a chance to refuel. We spoke with one man tonight, who had been waiting for over an hour on the side of Highway 41 to get gas from the local Home Depot, the only station around here that had any gas. He said that he'd run out of gas waiting to GET gas, had then had to walk to Wal-Mart (I think) to buy a gas can, then walk back to the gas station to buy some gas so he could walk back to his car and fill it up with a little gas to continue waiting in line to try and get a FULL tank of gas. That's just insane!

So when is this all going to end?!? I tell you...the terrorist organizations that are against the United States, and wish to do us harm, are probably sitting around right now, laughing their collective heads off, watching as we slowly work ourselves into a frenzy over our pursuit of a full tank of gas! Police officers have already had to be called in for a number of incidents where gas station customers have started fist fights (or probably worse in some cases) with each other while they were waiting for their turn at the pump. If things continue on the way they have been, it's only a matter of time before people start holding up fuel tankers at gun point, syphoning gasoline from any cars they find unattended (most likely already going on in some places), and putting other people's lives at risk, bringing about possible injury and/or death. All for a tank of gas. That may sound rather extreme, but things are rapidly getting out of hand! We need gas, and we need it now, before the stress of economic turmoil and the scarcity of gasoline cause the collective masses to just snap!

They say helps on the way, but will it get here soon, and will it be enough? Only time will tell...