Way back in my second
year at Texas Tech I decided to go to a hockey game. I’ve been a hockey nut
since childhood, but usually the only way to get my fix was to listen to it on
the radio or if lucky, catch the rare game on TV on a Sunday afternoon.
However, I discovered
that there was a hockey team in Albuquerque called the Six Guns. I also got
lucky in that they had a game scheduled for Saturday night. This meant I could
leave my dorm early that day and drive there in time for the game.
So, I took off in my ’62
VW Bug and made it to the game in plenty of time. Yes, it was a great time and
I even think they won. I spent the night sleeping on the green of a local golf
club waking to discover a light touch of snow now covered me and my sleeping
bag. I shook off the snow and since I had filled up the gas tank the night
before, immediately headed back to Lubbock.
This was the real
adventure of the trip. You see, this was right when the Arab Oil Embargo had
been sprung on us. For those too young to know about this, it was a time of
very limited gasoline. Some stations limited how much you could buy, and most closed on Sundays. That’s right, the
challenge was could I get from Albuquerque to Lubbock on one tank of gas?
It was scary. I passed
all those stations with the closed sign and kept wondering if I was doomed to
run out and be stranded. I stopped several times at rest areas and just said
“screw it, I’ll sleep in the car and try tomorrow.” But after a few minutes I’d
tell myself to push on and try because with my border line grades, missing
classes wasn’t a good idea. When it got dark I pulled over once again. I was
close to Lubbock, but still easily an hour away. I didn’t think I’d make it, so
pulled out my sleeping bag, jumped into the back seat and decided to wait it
out.
Even in the sleeping
bag, I felt pretty cold. Could see my breath. After an hour, my courage came
back and I decided to go for it. I told myself that worse case scenario I’d run
out just on the outskirts of the city and could walk or hitchhike the
remainder.
I made it.
My guess is that old VW
must have been getting 35 MPGs or maybe better. Maybe I coasted downhill in
enough spots that it extended my trip. No matter what, I felt it was a major
triumph and it taught me a powerful lesson that I still have today: MPGs is one of the biggest factors in buying
a car.
I think many of us
Americans realized that during the embargo. We didn’t want to be held hostage
by the Arab world ever again and would pursue vehicles that could go further on
a tank of gas.
To this day, that is
still a major factor for me when car shopping. Now it has also become important
due to climate change concerns. I believed it was so important that I made that
a focus of one chapter in my book “Sex and the American Male.” The main
character visits a car lot and mentions MPGs and the dealer wonders if he’s a
communist and begins a long patriotic speech about gas guzzlers and America.
Sadly, I believe most
Americans haven’t taken this to heart.
When high gas prices happen, Americans rush out to buy fuel efficient
cars. Back in 2010 to 2014 when gas prices went through the roof, there were
many who said that it meant the end of those gas guzzling SUVs. However, after
prices went down again, Americans went back to their old habits. In fact, it
seems to me there are even more gigantic, four-wheel boats out on our byways
than before.
It’s like Americans have
a terminal case of short term memory. As a sidebar to this, I believe Americans
like humongous cars because, well, the majority of them have humongous butts. America
is one of the fattest countries in the world, and so it seems our choice in
cars matches that waistline sprawl.
Although I don’t like
paying more at the pump, I often think it’s a good thing when gas prices go up
as maybe this time, maybe, Americans will get it and start thinking seriously
about the environment, our health and MPGs. Yeah, I’m not holding my breath.
