“Out of Gas” Not something you really want to hear, but hear it we are. The discovery of a leak in the Colonial Pipeline gas line which distributes 1.3 to 1.5 million gallons of gasoline per day from Houston to New York has sent convenience stores and gas stations into a tailspin. This is just one more evidence of how dependent our economy and everyday way of life is on “just in time” delivery of goods.
Here in my sleepy hometown in the mountains of western North Carolina, we have four main convenience stores and a couple of “mom and pops”. Yesterday at 5:00 PM, everything was normal. By late this afternoon, only one had gasoline. The line of cars snaked down the block. I remember seeing this sort of thing back during the oil embargo of 1973, but the circumstances were totally different. Back then OPEC dramatically raised the price of oil, then reduced output 5% every month until its objections to US involvement following the Yom Kippur War were resolved. That is, the 1973 embargo was a geopolitical move. Today it was one leak in one of a handful of fuel pipelines that serve our country.
Overnight, gas prices shot up, but the gas stations and convenience stores simply ran out before prices went too high. At least for the moment. Who knows when the flow of gasoline will be restored, but the point in this blog is the emphasis as to how easily our normal routine can be disrupted.
History has shown that as a nation or civilization becomes more and more technologically advanced, it becomes more and more vulnerable to disruption by single incidents (such as today’s pipeline leak). This is one reason I wrote back in January that if you’re going to have a bugout property, you should attempt to locate it within a half a tank of gas of your home. After all, if you run out of gas before you get to your survival property, what good will it have done you?
So contact us here at Retreat Realty and let us advise you in finding the most suitable North Carolina mountain survival property.
