Getting Gas

Effing fuel prices.

So... where does one go to get gas in Stamford? Aside from the obvious places like Ole Mole and Kit's Thai Kitchen?.

I'm tired of spending $50 to fill up the minivan. It really chaps my ass, especially since I never wanted to be driving a minivan in the first place. I got hoodwinked into that particular purchase by Manager Dad. ("Don't worry...I'll drive this one, you can drive the other car! And just think of how convenient it will be for road trips and Costco!")

Somehow, the next thing I know, I'm driving it to the office every day, hating on NPR Media Commentator Paul Janesch because I can't bring myself to listen to hip-hop in a Honda Odyssey, on the grounds that it makes me seem like a complete poseur jackass.

So how does a middle-class mom minimize the family gas expenditures? Why, by driving all around town to find the gas station with the lowest price per gallon, of course.

There are three Mobils (two on High Ridge, one on Hope) within a two mile radius of our house that have three different (yet all ridiculously high) prices. The hell? How can the same gas chain in the same zip code be so far off?

There's a couple of Shells that are priced in the same stratosphere as the Mobils.

So I usually go to the Citgo on Hope. And yes, I am fully aware that Citgo is owned by a Venezuelan company and therefore supports dictator (and world-class head case) Hugo Chavez. But what can I say - homey gives cheap gas. I paid $3.45 per gallon of unleaded today while the Mobil right across the street had it for $3.57. Double huh? I think you know what you can do with your Speedpass, Mr. Exxon Mobil Corporation.

But the cheapest gas I've found has to be the 95 Express right on Route 1 near the Exit 9 entrance to rt. 95. This place routinely has gas for at least 10 cents cheaper than any other gas station I've encountered. Because of this, the station is more crowded than your average Amsterdamian discount brothel on payday.

Unfortunately, the station is terribly designed and laid out, with an extremely narrow ingress and only one tiny exit (from which you really should not try to cut across three lanes of the busy Route 1 to turn left, but everyone tries anyway). The traffic flow is frightening. You see a flock of jerks angling to get around other cars in an effort to either get to an empty pump or get out of the parking RIGHT THAT VERY SECOND so that they can get to Hooters or wherever they're in such a hurry to go on 6pm on a Thursday. I actually saw a guy in a Ford Expedition run over another man's foot in an effort to escape, rather than just waiting the two seconds before the car in front of him finished gassing up and pulled away.

So rather than endanger my own life (and the life of the much-despised minivan) I guess I'll stick with the Senor and Citgo of the Despots, unless anyone has any other suggestions.

And by the way, how can Stamford POSSIBLY sustain so many gas stations? (Not to mention strip mall pizza places, banks, and hair/nail salons, but that's a whole other post.)