It was a bad weekend to take a road trip. We’re relocating the Autofiends’ East Coast office (from Virginia) to Knoxville, Tennessee — land of Sun Spheres, Krystals and more orange than should be legally allowed in city limits. With a hurricane looming in the Gulf, we ignored warnings of sky rocketing gas prices and hit the road to check out our new digs. Bad choice. We filled up our P.O.S. Honda in Virginia with premium for $3.80, but by the time we hit Bristol, TN gas had jumped to $4.99/gallon. Regular. Follow the jump for a dark look at our petrol-induced future.

Hoping that prices would be more reasonable in Volunteer country, we pushed on. It got worse. By the time we hit Knox County Friday afternoon, a handful of stations were already bone dry. The rest bore lines of cars that ran into the streets, even with prices well above $5.00/gallon.  By Saturday afternoon, the whole eastern half of the city was without petrol. It’s an unnerving site to see gas station after gas station completely vacant, and it’s a decidedly worse fear to wonder if you’re going to be able to get home—at any price. While the governors of several neighboring states stepped in and capped gas prices, Knoxville’s market wasn’t so lucky. Rumors of rising prices caused people to run out and buy as much gas as possible, filling jerry cans and every vehicle they could. Stations reacted by hiking the price, and everyone else who just needed to get to work bore the brunt. We hope this isn’t a peek at the future. If it is, things are going to get hard, quick.