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Category: Economy & Business... Hurricane Katrina... Local...
Posted Monday, August 29, 2005 at 03:29 PM [GMT-6]

I went out this afternoon to run a few errands. As I pulled onto Midkiff to head to the post office, I contemplated whether I should top off the Durango in light of reports that Hurricane Katrina's disruption of GOM production and Gulf Coast refining would drive gasoline prices higher. I had just about decided that it wasn't worth the time to save a potential few cents per gallon when I glanced over at the Kent Quik Texaco station and saw "$2.67" on the sign, then looked at the Chevron station right across the street which still read "$2.47." Since I was already in the right lane, I whipped in and put $30 in the tank; twenty cents a gallon is nothing to sneeze at.

A soccer mom was filling up her Suburban at the pump next to me and I said something about getting while the getting was good. She said that when she took the kids to school this morning the Texaco station was still at $2.47. When she noticed the higher price, and the lower price at the Chevron station, she too decided to fill up. Unlike me, however, she put an even <cough> $100 in that gas tank!

This is starting to get ugly.