1. Furnace Creek? Sounds familiar, from a long-ago family vacation… yeah, that’s in Death Valley. I think gas has always been expensive there, even when it was hay.
   But, yeah, regular gas in ordinary parts of California is (checks online) – yikes! Palo Alto / Mountain View, right around $6; Vacaville, likewise; Sacramento, pretty much the same. Diesel, about $1 more. Google Maps is showing somewhat lower prices at some stations, but those may not have been updated yet this morning.

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2. Well, they wanted to be more like Europe. They appear to be well on their way. I wouldn’t mind if it weren’t for the fact we all get to eat the crap sandwiches they make, one way or another.

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   1. As Eric says, Furnace Creek is in Death Valley National Park. Given the location (far from everywhere, in a park so other expenses for the store owner, sole supplier) I’m not surprised to see it 20-30% higher than in a metro area. Pretty common across the years.
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      However … As of yesterday in the Silicon Valley area, regular unleaded was around $6/gal. Most I saw was $6.60 near SJC, lowest was $5.70 or so at a Rotten Robbie a ways from the freeway.
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      Over the past week, while I was on travel, gas went up by more than $0.50/gal at home. It’s literally more than double, now, what it was when Big Joe took office.

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3. Furnace Creek is at the center of Death Valley, the literal dictionary definition of Bumfuck Egypt.
   It’s like posting the gas prices at McMurdo Sound Antarctica, the pak of Mt. McKinley AK, or at the extreme tip of Tierra del Fuego.

   Real-world reality is bad enough: $5.50-$6 gal for unleaded 87 in most of SoCal, higher in the totally leftarded Bay Area.
   About a buck of that per gallon is fed and state taxes.

4. It is not just the added price of the Trucks hauling fruits and veggies (NO! Not the Fruits and Veggies in Frisco!) to your store.
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   Think of how much the farmer spends running his tractor to plant, fertilize, weed, and kill pests?
   Think of how much that fertilizer is going to cost?
   https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/03/10/gardening-and-canning-regain-popularity/
   Pesticides? They are petrochemicals
   Herbicides? Petrochemicals too.
   Ever heard of a Grain Dryer? Those miraculous thing keep grain from rotting and molding from too much moisture. Dry grains also prevent many insects from making a home in the grain. Dryers are run on Electricity and propane or NatGas.

   Some farmers may decide this is the year to leave those less productive fields fallow, or plant less lucrative crops that need less fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticides. Maybe they are locked in by previous planning for 2022? What about 2023?

   It will not get really bad here. America is still a rich nation. But think of Africa, especially North Africa, the Mideast, China, India, starving people with starving children do not have a lot to lose if they revolt. All because America elected a doddering senile idiot. The Arab Spring started because the price of food went up by 32% in 2011, after increases for years prior.
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   https://medium.com/something-about-everything/food-riots-and-the-arab-spring-4886e4c3604

   1. Yup. Price of a gallon jug of RM43 (persistent herbicide, good for clearing areas around buildings and such) has near doubled since a year ago. And fertilizer in victory-garden quantities is getting problematic, but I snatched up about a 3-year supply while it was available at a reasonable price. Industrial-strength fertilizer seems to have disappeared from retail channels.
      I don’t know what’s going on with fertilizer supplies in agricultural channels, but will likely hear about it when next I make my way to the ag co-op.

5. I think we are going to be more serious about gardening this summer. We are lucky, at have chickens and rabbits to make fertilizer.

   I was looking for a pair of goats. The price of goats has gone up over $1500 for a pair.

   I still might have to do it. The cost of feeding and carrying for the animals is now worth it.

   1. We were thinking goats when we moved out here, but ended up deciding that goats would involve more additional chores than we could take on. We might be able to make a deal with neighbors to trade goat fodder for goat output. And, we might be able to scrounge some cow flops, there being quite a few cattle in the neighborhood.
      Chickens are part of the plan for this year, for a wretched oversupply of eggs and to convert this year’s scraps into next year’s fertilizer.

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