The Shell stations in town that closed rather suddenly in late August have now reopened. A big sign proclaims "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT" which doesn't hurt, considering the circumstances surrounding the closure. While they reopened about a week ago, I only stopped in the one closest to home this noon and it looks almost unchanged. Almost. There are a couple minor changes inside and it looks like things are still in the process of resuming.
This weekend the two Shell stations, or Food and Fuel convenience stores that sold Shell gasoline, anyway, in Fairmont closed. The local paper has an article but that doesn't shed much light on what happened. The closings were sudden. Around 12:30 Friday afternoon I stopped at the one closest to home for something. There was no indication of trouble, no sell-out prices, no gossip, and I think there was still a "help wanted" sign in the window. Friday evening it was still open when I passed it on the way home. Saturday morning the fuel prices were still up when Jay and I left for MNRF. On the way home I noticed that the prices were no longer advertised.
That station was the one that really wasn't on the other two streets (the other wasn't but only because one street changes names), and it was on what might be considered one of the three "main drags" of Fairmont. I do wonder what will happen to the place(s). They were not lacking for business. Whenever I stopped in, and it didn't matter what time of day, it was unusual if I was the only customer.
In the Spring and in the Fall there are times when I don't need to run the rear window defogger or the air conditioner in my car. If I drive mostly highway miles on a tank of gas then, I can get almost 40 mpg. Almost. Somehow I never quite seem to make it to 40 mpg. The last tank, however, did it. I got better than 42 mpg. While it was mostly highway miles, and at speeds of 55 and 65 mph, that's not likely the reason for the improvement. It was the gasoline.
No, really. It's not that it was a special brand, it was that I filled the tank in Wisconsin. Wisconsin, overall, uses straight gasoline. I had been filling the tank, naturally, in Minnesota. In Minnesota, almost all gasoline is 10% ethanol. It takes 1.4 gallons of ethanol do the work that 1 gallon of gasoline does. So by filling up in Wisconsin, I had more energy in the tank than I when I fill up in Minnesota.
Please note that I have not said that ethanol is bad idea. Or a good one. I'm just noting the difference in energy as it presented itself to me.
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