Figures…Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing Just In Time To Ruin Spring

I am very lucky, in that my car is pretty fuel efficient. As a result, I only fill my tank up about every 7-10 days. My little forest green 2002 RAV4 of destiny, pretty much just takes me back and forth to work. And consequently, I don't always notice the big trends in gas prices. Til this morning....

I was stopping in for my semi weekly fill-up, and noticed that I was paying $2.49 a gallon! As I got in my car, fuming about the expense of gas, I noticed a little further down the road, that I had actually just gotten a pretty sweet deal. The next place I saw was $2.59 a gallon! So, what the OPEC is going on anyway?!

Well, according to WMTW-TV8, prices went up almost $.04 a gallon here in Maine. Just in the last week! And data for the last month shows that nationally, prices have risen an average of $.22 a gallon in the last month. I feel like I might as well just hold my wallet out the window, and let the wind just suck all my money away.

It's bound to have an affect felt all over if things don't level out a bit as we head into tourist season. We locals won't feel like travelling too far, and the flat-landers from away might get spooked and stay home in big numbers too. Granted, it's way better than say... 6 or 7 years ago when gas was over $4.00 a gallon, but let's hope that was the exception and not the rule.

Besides, it's still March, and we have a ways to go before the throngs of gawkers get here, but it really twists my knobs to see the price at the pump jump. In the meantime, the only real advice I can give you, is take some extra Advil before you go pump gas. It may help take the sting out, or at least give you a jump on the pain when you start banging your head against your steering wheel in disgust.