I meant to take a picture yesterday, but no such luck. I was as frazzled as you can imagine as three girls had soccer practice quasi-simultaneously in separate locations. We got to church 30 minutes late and without supper. Gotta find a solution for this, since next week we also have a track meet for two kids at the same time in yet another location!

I found the following information intriguing, especially since I drive a beast of a vehicle. It is a 1990 Ford 15 passenger van. We are currently in the market for an 8 passenger in this century. We would not all fit, but find that we travel in 2 vehicles most of the time anyway. The gas saving( 9-12 mpg) and ease in parking and getting around would be great, plus it is just getting old! I really should have looked this up on snopes, but I have been on this computer too long already!

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon.. Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons. Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are c reated while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money. One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount. Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor.An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels

Chevron/Texaco...... ... 144,332,000 barrels

Exxon/Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels

Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels

Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels

Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco..................0 barrels

Conoco..................0 barrels

Sinclair..................0 barrels

BP/Phillips.............0 barrels

Hess......................0 barrels

ARC0.....................0 barrels

If you go to Sunoco. com ..; , you will get a list of the station locations near you.All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do.Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers !!!!!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!If it goes one level further, you guessed it ..... THREE HUND RED MILLION PEOPLE!!!Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take?

Personally, I am not expecting any of you to pass this on, or it to matter to Japanese readers. Just found it interesting and thought you might, too.