Giddy at the pump
Some people are just down right giddy about the falling gas prices. Rancho resident Awni Dababneh filled up his tank at Value Gas, the tiny station on Foothill near Klusman, for $55 at $3.49 per gallon. That station has been at that rate for a week now.
"It's the cheapest in the city," said Dababneh, who spent $85 filling his tank at the height of the price surge. "It might be the cheapest in the whole state!"
It's funny how happy we get when the price of gas goes down just a little. Many motorists this summer probably didn't care if it ever went down just as long as it stopped going up. In the scheme of things, $3.49 a gallon is still very expensive. A year ago, gas was just $2.91, according to SanBernardinoGasPrices.com.
About three years ago, when gas prices weren't much of a headache, Bill Alexander, who was mayor at the time, pulled up in his gargantuan truck next to my tiny Civic two-door. It was one of those trucks that would require a step bench for this 5-foot reporter to get into. Ever since that encounter Alexander would poke fun asking, "You still drive that tiny, little white car?" Look who's laughing now. Alexander has put his gas guzzler on hiatus and is driving the more sensible Toyota Camry.
Other drivers are even more serious about saving gas. Take Darius Tarman, for example, who was featured in the Times recently for driving a 16-year-old Honda Civic for his commute from Rancho to Irvine. Tarman, described as a hypermiler, joins a whole community of drivers who scrutinize every gas-saving measure at GasSavers.org. A few years ago, people like Tarman might have been called cheap, now they're just smart.
"It's the cheapest in the city," said Dababneh, who spent $85 filling his tank at the height of the price surge. "It might be the cheapest in the whole state!"
It's funny how happy we get when the price of gas goes down just a little. Many motorists this summer probably didn't care if it ever went down just as long as it stopped going up. In the scheme of things, $3.49 a gallon is still very expensive. A year ago, gas was just $2.91, according to SanBernardinoGasPrices.com.
About three years ago, when gas prices weren't much of a headache, Bill Alexander, who was mayor at the time, pulled up in his gargantuan truck next to my tiny Civic two-door. It was one of those trucks that would require a step bench for this 5-foot reporter to get into. Ever since that encounter Alexander would poke fun asking, "You still drive that tiny, little white car?" Look who's laughing now. Alexander has put his gas guzzler on hiatus and is driving the more sensible Toyota Camry.
Other drivers are even more serious about saving gas. Take Darius Tarman, for example, who was featured in the Times recently for driving a 16-year-old Honda Civic for his commute from Rancho to Irvine. Tarman, described as a hypermiler, joins a whole community of drivers who scrutinize every gas-saving measure at GasSavers.org. A few years ago, people like Tarman might have been called cheap, now they're just smart.
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