Big shock at the gas pump in Big Sur
It's a wide spot in the road, a clutch of cottages and businesses strung along rustic Highway 1.
Brochures dub tiny Gorda "The gateway to Big Sur." But with gas at the Amerigo station now selling for five bucks a gallon, it's also the gateway to the Big Squeeze.
"The most stunning view in town is the one at the pump," says the NYT. (Great line.)
James Willman seems to be a nice enough guy: polite, good-humored and hard-working, pumping gas seven days a week at the Amerigo Gas Station. But at least once a day, Mr. Willman says, someone pulls in and starts cursing him.
“They say all kinds of stuff — ‘You ought to be shot,’ or ‘Where’s your mask?’ ” Mr. Willman said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, I just work here.’ ”
It's all about oil prices, of course, and supply and demand along the isolated stretch of road that serves Big Sur. So how much will you pay to gas up? Regular's $5.20 per gallon. Premium goes for $5.40. Motorists, if they can, go right on by. Full NYT story here.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo - David Middlecamp / San Luis Obispo Tribune
