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I recall that the drive across Kansas was incredibly slow at 55 mph and we tried to stay occupied playing highway bingo and slug bug bop in the back seat, which eventually led to kids just hitting each other at random. We would sometimes drive all night because we didn't have ac. Eventually, very tiny Subaru wagons appeared on the scene and they said they got great mileage.
I was 16, had just got my driver's license, and I was happy to be doing ANYTHING in a car.....even waiting in a gas line. Our car license plate ended in 0, so we were allowed to get gas only on even numbered days.
I remember the gas crunch of the 70s, but because we lived on a small ranch, we had our own 300 gallon elevated gas tank that our coop filled up once a month.
It was horrible, but look how we grew. It showed Americans up close and personal how relying on fuel so much wasn't very smart. We are slow to change, but that time of our lives helped. As I recall it was odd and even license plates.
Anyway, it was a good lesson. It got cars going in a better direction as far as economy goes. Now we have 300hp cars that would crush any car back then getting 30+mpg. I think it was hard times, but good times in the end.
OPEC doesn't have that power on supply now. The US is essentially, or could be, self-sufficient for oil, and we never really imported that much from the Middle East even back then. The production impacted world supplies, especially to Europe and Japan, and put pressure on our regular suppliers like Mexico, Canada and Venezuela.
I was working in a factory at the time (1979), strangely enough in the natural resources department tending the gas wells that supplied the glass furnaces, and was considered an essential person. Those of us in the department were given chits to get gas for our personal vehicles at the facility's pump if we couldn't get any at a commercial station.
I just heard a guy on the radio yesterday say that we are currently self-sufficient. And I THINK he said we are, or will be soon, exporting.
I just heard a guy on the radio yesterday say that we are currently self-sufficient. And I THINK he said we are, or will be soon, exporting.
We are exporting. In fact, we export nearly all the oil that the US produces.
OTOH, we the oil we use is imported.
That's because US refineries are set up to refine the "sweet, light crude" that comes from the Middle East, not the much more sulfurous "sour" crude that comes out of North America.
We would have to substantially revamp our refineries to process our own oil.
So we import what we use and export what we produce.
We are exporting. In fact, we export nearly all the oil that the US produces.
OTOH, we the oil we use is imported.
That's because US refineries are set up to refine the "sweet, light crude" that comes from the Middle East, not the much more sulfurous "sour" crude that comes out of North America.
We would have to substantially revamp our refineries to process our own oil.
So we import what we use and export what we produce.
We didn't seem to have a supply problem in Wyoming that I can recall, but I did see news stories on TV about the shortage, and for a short time, gas stations on I-90 across South Dakota had shortages. My wife and I were both from Iowa, and we made a lot of trips back there, but I also owned a small plane then so used it for most of those trips. I never experienced any aviation fuel shortages. The biggest impact for me was the 55 mph speed limit, but the plane cured most of that problem -- no speed limits affected me up above.
We didn't seem to have a supply problem in Wyoming that I can recall, but I did see news stories on TV about the shortage, and for a short time, gas stations on I-90 across South Dakota had shortages. My wife and I were both from Iowa, and we made a lot of trips back there, but I also owned a small plane then so used it for most of those trips. I never experienced any aviation fuel shortages. The biggest impact for me was the 55 mph speed limit, but the plane cured most of that problem -- no speed limits affected me up above.
I was in rural NWPA at the time, for the one in 1973 I was in college and was working for a manufacturer for the one in 1979, and also don't remember any supply issues although prices, of course, went up.
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