The Gas Crisis

DECEMBER 1973

Once in Miami, I occasionally drove 7 hours up to Jacksonville to visit Dru. In late 1973 gas prices had gone up tremendously and gas stations had little or no gas to give.

I was in the first part of my journey dozens miles away from the Turnpike when I ran out of gas. All the gas stations along the way had been out of gas. I parked my car on the side of the road and hitched a ride with an empty gas can to the next gas station 15 miles down the road. When I got to the station the attendent told me they were out. So I prepared to go the next few dozen miles to the next gas station, but as I was on my way out, the attendant told me to wait. He closed the station, pumped me a couple of gallons and I hitched back to my car. The gas was no doubt from the bottom of their storage, because from then on my car had gas tank problems from dirty gas.