I know that when Jackson Browne sang about running on empty he wasn't singing about gasoline; yet it's hard to think of anything but that song title when I look at my fuel gauge. It's reading full right now, and that's most certainly a sign of relief, but with the current situation down here in Music City that very well may be a luxury. We have grown used to and are quite numbed by the ever increasing gas prices, but this is certainly a new problem.
Since Hurricane Ike hit Texas the pipeline that feeds us gas (of which we are at the end) was full only sporadcially. Prior to the hurricane hitting there was already a panic concerning our gas supply and consumers reacted with filling up their tanks, topping off and collecting petrol in gas cans for storage. The influx in gas purchases only strained our gas resources and the shortage was born.
Gas stations ran out of gasoline; stations that did have gasoline were bombarded with customers who formed lines out of the lot, down the street and around the block. This, of course, only caused said gas station to run out as well. People sat for hours in their cars (some running out of gas as they sat there), tempers flared and police were called.
The situation appears to have improved somewhat. But the blank price signs on stations and the plastic bags on nozzels are still a familiar sight.
I was spared having to sit in a gas line. After more than a week had gone by, and I still had gas in my tank, I thought that I could ride out the shortage by only driving when I had to. But earlier this week the needle was edging dangerously close to the fat red line just in front of the E and I had to find somewhere to go. All of a sudden I noticed the scarcity of available gasoline. Spoiled by the notion of being able to pull in anywhere and fuel up, I passed station after empty station -- all bone dry.
I did find gas, of course, on our side of town, at our trusty Kroger. I didn't even have to wait. But as I stood there pumping gas the station quickly filled up and I soon had 3 cars waiting behind me. I topped off -- despite instructions from our mayor not to -- and drove off hoping knowing that for another week-and-a-half, at least, I'll be fine.
Read more from our local news source here:
Forbes.com states "Nashville has worst gas shortage in Southeast":