Driving to Cleveland this weekend, I experienced a very bizarre petro-nightmare. All 5 of the stations at I-71 & US-36 were sold out. Gridlock for 30 minutes as more drivers kept exiting to refill, only to become trapped by everyone else trying to escape. A few folks simply had to park and wait because they were too low to continue driving.
We experienced the exact same phenomenon at the next exit north. Fortunately, we were able to quickly get back onto the highway and hit the next gas station northbound, which fortunately had liquid crack available.
Being stuck in no-gas gridlock, and realizing firsthand how absolutely dependent we are on petroleum is disorienting and very disturbing. It doesn't take much imagination to see how bad things can get so very quickly when our God-given gasoline is not as readily available as we would like. The next fuel shortage will be much, much worse than the modest inconveniences during the '73 oil embargo. We are 30 years more dependent, and not much smarter.