Road Trip
Last weekend, my sister, Debby and I headed north to visit old friends and relatives. We had a great time.
We left Friday afternoon, and the first stop was Charlotte, N.C. where we visited the lady that was our next-door neighbor when we lived in Charlotte before moving to Atlanta more than 50 years ago. Audrey is 89 years old, lost her husband last year, and lives alone.
Although we didn’t arrive until late, we had a nice visit until the wee hours of the morning, then got a good night’s sleep before getting up and visiting some more. We had breakfast with Audrey, then headed north to Virginia to see my father’s brother and his family.
Late Saturday afternoon we arrived at our uncle’s home in Roanoke, and had a terrific visit with him and his wife, as well as their two sons and their significant others. After a nice meal and some visiting, the younger people left, and we watched the remainder of the Georgia game before going to bed there.
After breakfast Sunday morning, we headed south to meet with our great aunt on my mother’s side, as well as two second-cousins. We had planned brunch, but were running late, so it was definitely lunch. We had a short, but wonderful visit, with them, then headed back to Georgia.
At no time during the weekend did we tune into any news, nor did anyone seem concerned about us having enough gas. Sometime after we hit Georgia, I realized I had a text message on my phone which was dying. It was from my husband telling us to gas up in Augusta. Well, we were past Augusta, and had planned on coming in with about a half-tank of gas. We decided to take his advice and fill up.
We had heard of the broken pipeline before we left for Virginia, but it never occurred to us that we might have a problem getting gas along our route. When we filled up in North Carolina, it was a little high, but not enough to cause alarm. Jimmy and I had been to Maryland just two months ago, so we knew gas was cheaper in South Carolina and Virginia than North Carolina and Georgia. We just forgot to fill up in Virginia.
One place we stopped in North Carolina was out of gas, but it was only one place, so we figured they were going out of business or something. Two other stations appeared to have plenty of gas. So it was interesting to get home, and Monday morning check the news and the local stations to see if indeed there was a shortage.
Apparently there are, as the news said, disruptions in delivery, but there’s no indication we are going to be without gas. Just in case, though, everyone seems to be filling up…thereby making the supply less. The governor has advised us to keep our regular travel and gassing up routines, but it is scary.
I, for one, am not particularly concerned. I have an (almost) full tank, and my work and home are less than six miles apart. I’ll be o.k. But, I did top it off Monday morning, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
My husband’s company has several service trucks on the road, and Monday they all got high-test because where they fill up was out of regular. Circle K here in town had the opposite situation. It was out of high test, but had regular. I asked him what they were going to do Tuesday, and he felt sure they would find gas somewhere.
It’s amazing how dependent we are on our vehicles. If we couldn’t get gas, I guess the world would come to a screeching halt. Hopefully by this printing the disruption will be less, and gas will be flowing again. If not, it may get very interesting.