IF YOU WANT GAS at a bargain price, you’ll find it at Gus’ Station in Owatonna. The price is locked in at 38 cents a gallon. “Pull up to the pump,” I urged Randy recently after he parked in the gravel lot near the full service gas station and garage in the Village of Yesteryear. We laughed.
In my imagination, I pictured the station owner bounding out of the 1931 building to pump our gas, check the oil, note the water level in the radiator and wash the windshield. But all of that was simply wishful thinking.
The gas nozzle wouldn’t fit our 2008 van. The fuel was leaded. Few stations offer full service anymore. And gas is certainly not selling for 38 cents a gallon.
Instead, last check of prices in Faribault several days ago, unleaded gas was selling for $4.50 (rounded up a tenth) a gallon and diesel for $5.49.
Are those prices fueling your anger? When Randy and I saw gas prices that high while traveling to and from eastern Wisconsin on May 2 and 3, we were feeling smug that prices were lower in Minnesota. But some two weeks later, here we are with those same ridiculously absurd, sky high prices.
I lay the blame on one person. The president. If not for the war in Iran (which he started) and his blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices would not be bordering unaffordable.
It’s no secret that I oppose the war, the actions of this president, his cabinet and most Republicans. I could write a lengthy list of everything he’s done to make life worse and less affordable for the average American. But I’ll stay on topic and focus on gas prices.
If I bought 15 gallons of unleaded gas at $4.50/gallon today, that would cost $67.50. If I bought 15 gallons of leaded gas in 1970 at 38 cents per gallon, the cost would have been only $5.70. I’d like to flash back in time, pull up to Gus’ Station and tell the attendant, “Fill ‘er up.”
TELL ME: What are gas prices in your area? Please specify where you live. How are you feeling about the price of gas and the economy in general?
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Oh my Audrey, I wish gas was 38 cents per gallon! Last Saturday(?) I think the price in Pequot Lakes was 3.99? But my husband is a member of a program that gets a few cents off per gallon. This month has been terrible for us in gas costs. We have grandchildren who run in track events in many different cities. We have grandchildren graduating from preschool and kindergarten. We have lots of younger relatives graduating from high school. We’ve had baby showers and birthdays. And other loved ones who needed us in hospitals and in crisis. We’ve been on the road many days per week for many hours to support the people we love, from Minneapolis to Newfolden, from Fargo to Bemidji, and many cities in between… All while trying to do regular life/work/worry/stuff… We often pack food instead of purchasing any along our routes, to try to save some money.
I remember many of my Republican family and friends posting on Facebook when the President won, “Daddy’s Home!” and now the prices will come down! Instead, they’ve ballooned to ridiculous proportions while the President and all his Cabinet members have gotten ridiculously rich! Yet they still believe in him, “just give him more time” they say. As an Independent voter, I don’t understand why people continue to follow their chosen candidate, when they obviously can’t do the job. I didn’t understand when people insisted Biden be president when obviously he was struggling. I don’t understand why people support Trump when he’s obviously struggling…. This makes no sense to me. Those two men should have never been running a country.
And our country should never be so Politically Divided, we insisted on sending our most elderly unfit men to do the job… This political division is ruining our country. Sorry if I got a bit off topic. But it’s not easy trying to survive these times, especially for those of us getting closer to retirement age. We can’t run and work and keep up like we used to. We’re tired, and tired of ‘hoping things get better’, and exhausted in our worry for future generations…
Please do not apologize for this truthful comment. I feel your anger. I feel your frustration with those who continue to support our current president and his team. I, too, heard the “prices will come down” comments. Really? And still people continue to stand by a president, his cabinet and his loyalists who are destroying and dividing our country and threatening our very democracy. I could go on and on. I understand your feelings. I hear your voice.
I’m sorry for the personal challenges within your extended family. Thank you for always being there for the people you love. Stay strong, my friend.
oh, to be able to go back to gus’ station… the gas prices have been horrible, another reason i’m happy that i’m not commuting anymore –
Randy commutes 60 miles round trip to work so expenses add up quickly. I’m thinking twice now about all those little drives in the country and day trips I like to do. After seeing the last credit card bill for gas, well, cutting back seems necessary. Just wait until food prices go even higher due to increased transportation costs.
What is really bugging me on an unrelated topic is the nearly $2 billion in taxpayer monies (anti-weaponization fund) that our president is getting from the justice department to pay January 6 insurrectionists and others who supposed suffered injustices. That is wrong on infinite levels.
Funny you should bring up the cost of gas. This is nothing but an indicator of things around the corner – your next purchase. The best job I had before I retired was $20 an hour, Now, you can make that flipping burgers! Yep, My last trip to the gas station was $5,00 (premium) a gallon (required by my baby buggy size sport car which in itself as a used car has cost me over twice what I paid for it a YEAR ago!. My daughter and her hubby in California are paying around $7 – $8 a gallon for Regular, I have seen EVERYTHING go up!
You’re right, Gunny. Everything will go up in price due to rising gas prices. It’s a ripple effect. Gas costs more so it costs more to transport goods. That is then passed on to the consumer. Ouch, $7-$8 gas in California. Even $5 is too much. We’re closing in on that here in southern Minnesota.