Wild

I think we are at the start of some kind of major transformation in our world's transportation.

Airlines can't survive with fuel prices what they are. Heck, the average American family is struggling with fuel prices as they are. I put $50 in the van this morning and that was only 3/4 of a tank. It was 4.349 per gallon - I got a 3 cent per gallon discount (Safeway) so it was 4.319. It will hopefully last a couple weeks, now, since I don't drive much other than to/from work and Starbucks. No CBO classes - just work. So that will help.

We haven't really noticed much 'savings' since I started commuting just 1.7 miles each way 18 months ago - but that's largely due to adding a new driver to our household. We are most definitely saving TONS - I was filling up the van every 4-5 days when I was commuting to Livermore - so we're saving a lot. It just doesn't feel that way since we are filling up 3 cars now, instead of 2. And B. is known for his 'lead foot' - he starts fast. Too fast. But that's another post for another time. He's a great driver except for taking off from dead stops like a jack rabbit.

We have ordered a Hybrid Mercury Mariner. I really just wanted to look at one - but one of my fellow Lion's owns the Ford/Mercury dealership in town and my inquiry on 'do you have any hybrids on the lot I could look at' led to 'we can't keep them in stock - let me order what you want - I'll sell it to someone else if you don't want it'. But he knows, and I know, and J. knows that when I see that new car, with the new car smell and leather seats and nav and moon roof and Sirius satellite radio and an Mp3 hookup, I'm going to buy the car. Rather, we're going to buy the car. We need to - the van is 5 years old and it's approaching 100K. It's still running great but I'm done with being a minivan mom. It's time. I am getting a nice increase in July - my last 'step' combined with a stipend for finishing the CBO program - and I want the car. So it will most likely be in our driveway within the next 6-8 weeks.

So here's the thing - airlines are going under. People won't be able to afford to fly anywhere because the ticket prices will be too outrageous for people to go anywhere. Flying will become what it was when I was a little kid - something you did on very rare, special occasions. I remember my first flight - to Oklahoma City for Christmas when I was 10. We dressed up - in dresses - for that flight. It was really a BIG DEAL - it was hugely expensive (to my widowed mother with three kids to get 1/2 way across the country) and it was 'special'. It wasn't something you did often in those days.

I think we're headed to that kind of time again - flying will be unnecessary for the most part. Unaffordable, too. Business travelers don't really need to travel anywhere - they can have meetings and transact all they need to via instant emails or video conferences. Technology can bring people together in ways never imagined 40 years ago. So things will be wildly changing in the next decade, to the point where flying for any reason other than to visit family, or the occasional vacation, will not be 'as necessary'. I'm not saying people won't fly - but it will be a 'treat'. Not an everyday thing. People will think of flying as 'special' - like they did back 'when I was a kid'.

Wow. Turning a year older has suddenly made me refer to something IN MY LIFE with the 'back when I was a kid' statement. I'm becoming my mother.

Eeeee gads.