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It's nice the prices have come down a bit, but it's a drag they've got us thinking that $1.50/gal for regular is a good price! (I pay $1.39, usually; a buck, maybe $1.09 would be more like it.)
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Well, if you take inflation into account at $1.50/gal gas actually is only slightly more expensive than it was before the first oil crisis in 1973: $1 (1973) ~ $4 (2000), so $0.30/gal in 1973 would be ~$1.22/gal for 2002. Sorry, off-topic

Mmm. So many factors go into the pricing of gas that I really don't bother adding inflation into the mix. Gas prices vary wildly by state/local taxes: I can drive from NJ into NY and easily pay 40

Eh, stop whining about gas prices.  It's like 4$ / gallon someplaces in Europe, and probably about the same in Canada.

1.50$  / gal isn't bad, in world perspective.

Back to travel: One of the nicest things you can bring is an iPod, stocked with loads of music and a variety of playlists. (Don't forget the battery charger and wire.)

On past trips we'd bring a portable CD player and a big (and heavy and insanely expensive) canvas gym bag filled with many CDs. Locking the CDs in the trunk every time we left the car was a hassle, and if you're in the heat you risk warping your discs. Then there's the interruption of continually digging through the bag for a new disc, extra tough when it's dark and the passenger is sleeping.

The iPod's tiny, holds way more music than we'd ever want to lug, and has the added bonus of storing your OS X address book (handy for your mailing addresses for postcards, and e-mail addresses if you're lucky enough to find a public computer that'll let you e-mail [we weren't]).

Without question, having that thing along for the ride was a real plus (we bought it pretty much just for the trip, and it was worth it).

Here's a great tip for long car trips: Bring along a spray bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels. Your front and back windows will get really filmy/dirty inside and out, and it's next to impossible to clean the insides (and mirrors) with the squeegee at gas stations.

Especially for night driving, having a clean windshield cuts eyestrain and keeps you safer because, well, you can see better.

Now gather 'round boys and girls, have I got a story for you.

It was the summer of 2002 and my sister just got done working and touring with Cheval Theatre (the horse circus) and wanted someone to drive home with her from San Francisco, California to our home in Denver, Colorado.  So I fly out to her leaving Denver at 10 pm stoping over in the most hellish smurf hole of an airport in the worst town in America.......... Las Vegas, then fly on to San Fran.  I arrive at 12 am and  walk out into an almost deserted airport.  I have no clue were I am or how I am going to get to the hotel were my sister was.  I call her and she  tells me that a shuttle from the hotel should be there.  So I go outside to were I think were the shuttle are.  I step outside and there is nothing but an empty road and parking garage.  After running around for an hour I finaly find a taxi.  50 bucks later I get to the hotel, and some drunk homless person is puking in front of the doors. After one week in San Fran our time there ends with us getting jumped by a really really drunk guy (I beat the smurf out of him), and us leaving by train to find her car in San Jose. 
It took two tries to get there, she forgot the keys back at the hotel.  That train trip wasn't all bad, it was the first time I ever rode on a train and in the town we got out at when we had to go back I found the name of a song I had wrote for the love of my life.  It was the name of a little resturant I could see from the train stop.  So we get to San Jose and I quickly see why she wanted ME to be the one to drive out to her.  I'm pretty good with cars and hers was broken.  So we find the part we need, but its in Oakland.  Another train trip later, were back at the car and its fixed in about 5 mins.  So we set out for our grandmothers house, in Lampoc by San Barbra.
Most of our family lives in Lampoc so the one good part of being there was our oldest cousin.  She is pretty cool and one night took us to this cafe she hangs out at.  It was okay for such a small town, it was were all the punk/alt kids/different people were.  The night we went it was open mic night and they talked me into playing some of my songs.  It was cool because everyone was pretty amazed I played my own stuff and not covers.  I rocked there world and alot of people came up to me and talked to m .  We spend on week in that hell hole and finaly set out on the last leg of our journey.  Looking back at it I don't think we had a plan, we just had to get out of Lampoc, away from our grandma and away from Cali. 
We set out at 4 pm and just kept on driving.  We stoped in Las Vegas so she could show me where the circus was at when it went through that town.  I don't really remember our time there, all I do remember was alot of drunk people and lots of strip clubs (we didn't stop at any, I was pretty upset, it seemed like the only thing worth going to there).  I remember getting a huge energy drink sometime around 2 am.  We drove for a few more hours and then we had to stop.  We didn't have enough money for a room and gas to get home, so we choose gas.  We pulled over at some casino/hotel parking lot and just fell asleep.  I woke up 4 hours later with the biggest urge to pee I ever had.  I stumbled over to some dumpsters and wiped it out.  As I'm pissing, some security guard drives up in his golf cart.  He looks at me, kind of chuckled, and drove away.  I get my sister up 2 hours later and were off.
We finaly make it into the grand state of Colorado after driving so fast with the windows down because damn....it hot, and me thinking I've gone def.  In the mountians the car wouldn't go past 35 mph.  I was so tired that I refused to stop and see what the smurf was going on.  I just wanted to get home, and we were so close.
So after driving for more hours than we should have straight, we finaly made it home.

That, my friends if a mother smurfing story.
My bass player in my band and I are going to San Dego this summer.





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