It has been a running theme in Don’t Blink for about eight years now. Every now and then, usually on a Thursday Rundown, I will report on gas prices. Such is the life when you are a nerd. Let’s take a look at some examples.

First off, if it seems too good to be true it probably is. When I saw all the zeros at this AmeriMart last May, I knew there was most likely a technical difficulty.

I figured the store probably wouldn’t offer me this rate.

At the time I took the photo of the AmeriMart sign, gas was hovering around $3 per gallon. But exactly two years prior in May of 2019, I was filling up at this Circle K for $2.39 while watching the little TV explain that back in the Middle Ages popsicles were seen as status symbols because only nobility had access to the 1500s equivalent of a freezer.

I took this photo while pumping gas in May 2019.

Throw it back to June 29, 2017, and I was pumping gas for just $1.85 per gallon at the gas station right next to Coastal Carolina University. Not a bad price for the week before the Fourth of July.

The gas was $1.85 per gallon in Myrtle Beach today.

Several months before that BP visit, I was smiling from ear-to-ear because despite the major pipeline leak that plagued Alabama in September 2016, Myrtle Beach was pretty much unscathed as I topped my car off at $1.79 per gallon.

I am not smiling at the pump in this manner today.

Think prices couldn’t get much lower than that? Think again. The year of 2016 obviously made a New Year’s resolution to keep gas at super low prices because in January of that year I was filling up for $1.56 per gallon.

Take me back to 2016.

Although gas prices were 33 cents more in September 2015, I surely wasn’t complaining about paying only $1.89 per gallon.

It is harder than it looks to take a photo of gas prices when you are driving. I snapped this in 2015.

Fast forward 6.5 years later and this was the gas price at the Mobil station right next to our house….

I pulled into the parking lot this morning to take a photo of the gas prices at the station right next to our house in Spokane Valley.

Wow. Call me spoiled, but I became accustomed to sub $3 per gallon gas prices over the years. However, things change and we have been dealing with $3.69 per gallon gas over the past several months. It was annoying but I wasn’t complaining (at least not publicly 😉).

Now I am complaining (but not blaming). Gas prices are at historical highs and I understand current events play a role in that. Trust me, I get it. But I think something can be done to relieve the madness at the pumps. Do I know what that is? No. Do I think a solution exists beyond telling everyone to buy electric cars? I think so.

I am grateful that I am not behind the wheel a lot in this current climate. I make the commute to Pullman once a week but other than that I am not logging serious miles on a daily basis. For those who are, I hope relief at the pump comes soon. Don’t Blink.