ABSTRACT
Thirty years ago, we watched in stupefied horror as the American dream that we believed was our future disintegrated into a much grimmer vision. Twice in the 1970s, real or manufactured shortages in the global oil markets sent American fuel prices skyward. Worse, gasoline supplies became unreliable due to the wave of gas station closures, both temporary and permanent. “Sorry, no gas today” signs sprouted like weeds at service stations across the nation. These closures made long-distance traveling by car precarious, at best. Gasless Sundays became the norm as station owners responded to their reduced supplies by cutting hours of operation. Travelers took unwanted hiatuses to avoid being stuck with an empty tank and no open station nearby. The nation’s highways, once filled with the drone of vehicles on Sunday afternoons, became virtually empty and quiet. The Sunday drive, once a symbol of American prosperity and leisure, now became a sign of courage or recklessness.
