Remember when gas was only $3.03 a gallon? Ahh, those were the days! (I filled up my tank last night at $3.13/gallon at cheap-o Valero.)
Little-known fact (at least for me) I just discovered, thanks to this Reuters article: If you run out of gas on the freeway in Southern California, a publicly-funded patrol will come to your rescue -- with a free gallon of gas.
The problem, according to the story, is people are now gaming the system:
Some California drivers are resorting to desperate measures to beat the surge in gas prices at the pump -- deliberately running dry on the state's freeways and simply waiting for rescue.
"Every time fuel goes up, we start noticing it. But right now we are noticing it a lot more," Andy Lujan, owner of California Coach Towing in Orange County, said Tuesday.
Lujan's 20 trucks roam the busy freeways of Orange and Los Angeles counties as part of a publicly funded patrol that gives a free gallon of gas to drivers who have run out of fuel. It also offers other basic assistance to drivers whose vehicles have broken down.
"You say to some of them 'hey, you've run out of gas' and they say 'yeah, it's too expensive.' I think the percentage is going to increase," Lujan said.
Any of you out there have favorite cheap gas stations they'd like to share? These days, I find the best prices at the Valero on Virgil (near Santa Monica) and the 76 on Los Feliz (in Atwater Village, near the 5 freeway).
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