Gas pains

OK, the headlines are starting to scare me. In the news this week:

"Watch out: Here comes $4 gasoline"

Yikes. That's not what us commuters want to hear. Obviously, Jim and I choose to live 44 miles from work. We're not required to stay where we are -- we just like it. We like our house. We like our yard and our neighborhood. And, of course, we like being close to the "big boys."

We just don't like the gas prices!

We try to make the most of our "gas mileage" by riding together whenever possible, which is most days, and using a gas-friendly car. But with driving a minimum of 88 miles a day, we've put 100,000 miles on our Honda Civic in 3 years. Another yikes.

It almost pains me to talk about the van, also well over 100,000 miles. I'm guessing it gets more than 20 mpg so it has to be a little better than those trucks and SUVS. But the tank is so big it's like we need to take out a small loan to fill it up.

The other day Carter and I stopped to get gas for the van. When I pulled up to the tank, I said, "Wow, it went up to $2.89!" Carter happened to have his wallet with and he pulled out two singles and handed them to me and said, "Here Mom, now you only have to pay 89 cents."

Oh, if only that were true!