Happy Earth Day, filthy hippies!

I will celebrate by complaining about the price of gas these days!

I promise this will not be one of those smug tirades where I crow shamelessly about how little it costs to fill Oscar’s tank, and I will endeavor not to feign shock that my last fill up cost almost $4 instead of the usual $3.20 (although seriously, that is crazy high). I know I am endlessly amusing to myself when I do that, but it must be really irritating to people who drive things that burn through upwards of $70 in fuel a week. While it completely must suck to be you, I’m sure you have valid reasons for driving your Turbo Hummer Cayenne Lexus Rover – perhaps it is that you have too much money. Anyway, this rant won’t be about any of that. I swear.

I’m worried about the expense associated with our road trip next month.

Ed’s cousin is getting married, so we’re using up most of our vacation time (again) to go out to Edmonton for the better part of a week. Flying is ridiculously expensive and puts us at the mercy of the wheels of others for our late night donair runs, so we’ve opted to drive. Road trips are fun, and I’ve actually made a pledge to not fly anywhere in 2008 so’s there are no extra CO2 emissions made on my behalf (I’ve also pledged not to own any cows because methane emissions are no fun either). Driving to Edmonton just makes a lot of sense, really.

But it’s going to be REALLY FUCKING EXPENSIVE to do so because the price is gas is so damn high.

I don’t remember the last time we fueled our car to fill the tank. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I bought gas at all – we use the Mazdabator on average twice a week, maybe. When I DO buy gas, it’s a) only because the “need gas” light is on and b) never, ever a full tank because the other $40 I’m not spending is clearly better spent on ale and whores. It’s going to take at least two full tanks to get us to Edmonton, and that’s going to be about $125-$150 in gas EACH WAY. That is EXPENSIVE.

No, seriously. I love going on road trips, and it’s sad to know that it’s no longer quite as simple as jumping in the car and taking off for adventure. If I had more leisure time to plan out my fun, I might look at taking a train – but that adds so much time to a trip, and when you’re working on mere scraps of vacation time each year you’re really looking for things that’ll bang your buck with conviction.

I wonder if I could scoot to Edmonton?