Turtle Disquise

Gasoline prices skyrocketed and then came back down to Earth in the last twelve months but just how much longer before they return to outer space prices is any ones guess. There is nothing in the fundamentals of supply and demand that justifies the doubling of oil prices in one year. Most experts expect oil to cost $200 a barrel the next time the economy ramps up. If we thought $4 a gallon was high and almost unbearable what will we do when gasoline is priced at $6 a gallon? The only real difference between $4 and $6 gasoline is we will just curse a little louder when we fill our tanks with $6 a gallon gasoline.
I went through the oil crisis of the 70s when the US government told every one what days they could buy gasoline based on the odd or even letters on one's license plate. Even on the day you were allowed to buy gasoline you had to find a gas station that even had gas to sell then wait in a long line just to fill up your car. That's still not as bad as during WWII when drivers were only allowed to buy four gallons of gasoline each week and the national speed limit was set at 35 MPH.
What are we all suppose to do, buy a Prius Hybrid? Prius is a great car but everybody does not want one and even fewer are willing to wear a turtle disguise so are we going to be stuck with $6 a gallon gasoline? It's up to every one of us to win the war against the Black Scourge. Do we have to slow down and only drive to and from work just so we can have a chance at winning the war? If the government was serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil they would set the speed limit at 50 MPH, harness the wind and drill off shore but and there is always a but! It would take at least 5 years to harness the wind, 10 years to get sustainable production from off shore and no politician in his or her right mind is going to vote for a 50 MPH speed limit. If any politician ever entertained the ideal of a 50 MPH speed limit, his or her head would be paraded around Washington on a pole faster than the HWY Department could dig the holes for the new speed limit signs.
As individuals we can turn the problem around and we don't have to wait for Barack Obama to mandate it or some whiz kid from silicone Valley to invent it. Over the last year I decided to put my money where my mouth is and donned a turtle disguise. My automobile usually gets around 20.5 MPG so if disguising myself as a turtle would prove the turtle theory then I was all for it.
I drove 55 MPH and rarely over 60 MPH, keeping my RPMs as close to 2000 as I could. The only thing I didn't do was turn off the AC in the summer time. I don't mind being called a ridiculous looking turtle but I'll be dammed if I am going to cook my turtle ass just to prove a point.
A year has passed since I started the Turtle Experiment and the results are in. I increased my mileage by two and a half MPG, saving a little over 100 gallons for the year's experiment. At today's prices of $2.50 a gallon, that translates to about a month and a half worth of gasoline for my car so it looks like my turtle disguise was worth it giving me an incentive to continue driving at warp turtle speed. I really don't mind knowing I look like a fool I just don't want people telling me that I am a fool. The next time I get run off the road by some Jack Rabbit driving 80 MPH I'll remind that Jack Rabbit of the fable about the Tortoise and the Hare.

One day a hare saw a tortoise walking slowly down the road and began to laugh and mock him. The hare challenged the tortoise to a race and the tortoise accepted. The agreed on a route and started the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise he thought he would sit under a tree for a little bit and rest before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodded along and over took the sleeping hare, winning the race before the tortoise woke up.
Slow and steady wins the race every time.