Having just filled our ten-year-old mini-van to the tune of $47.00, I stepped inside the Amoco kiosk to pay the cashier. Ahead of me was a woman prepaying for $5 worth of gas. At $2.79 per gallon, she was buying less than 2 gallons.
The cashier and I talked about the financial squeeze high gas prices puts on the average family. Then she relayed how someone yesterday purchased .79 worth of gas for her car. That's barely enough to start it up. It costs more to fill the lawnmower.
Getting back in the car, the radio was playing a commercial promoting family vacations to historic St. Charles, Missouri. The commercial was targeted to St. Louis audiences. Now, St. Charles is a cool historic place right in our own backyard, but you've got to wonder how bad things are getting if there's a substantial market of St. Louisans actually making their family vacation plans for St. Charles.
Skyrocketing gas and gold prices. Rising interest rates. Inflation becoming a serious concern. A president with plummeting approval ratings and a troubling Iraq policy. Who knows what's next in Iran? And today radio commercials marketing St. Louis family vacations to St. Charles.
All I can say is, through it all, there is a bright side: We're glad we're living in St. Louis. And we're glad we do have cool local places that actually offer good in-town vacation options. (Don't forget the Graffton/Pere Marquette area).
Oh, and that scooter is looking more and more like an attractive alternative! Hmmm. I wonder if there's a bridge you can take to ride your scooter across the Missouri River...
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I think scooterability and bikeability are a good question to ask towards the folks who are fixing up the McKinley and who want to build the New Mississippi River Bridge (aka The New Superfluous Transit Project To Connect Far Suburbs Together At The Expense Of The Near North Side). I've heard that the McKinley will be bikeable upon its completion. 50cc scooters are legally treated similar to bikes, but still taking something with a motor on a bike trail seems wrrrrong.
Seriously, I am thinking about getting a scooter myself. I just met a fellow who drives an 80cc scooter who had the carburetor modified, so he gets 100 miles a gallon! Awesome! (He also lives on the Near North Side.)
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