The first time I put gasoline in the car I was driving it was 1977, and it cost me about 60 cents a gallon. Naturally, I didn't fill it up, but I really didn't blink at spending $6 for more than half a tank. Heck, I was a 16-year-old kid making $35 a week writing sports for the local newspaper. That $6 was chump change.
Of course, gas costs more these days. During the course of the year that I traveled between Mason City and Algona, I paid from $1.78 to $2.69 a gallon. Gasoline is a commodity, and the price changes minute by minute as traders buy and sell.
Read the rest of On the Side in the June 20 Advance.
