Gas it Up

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.

Ahh, James Thurber