I guess I am showing my age when I tell people I can remember when gasoline cost 25-cents per gallon and $5 would fill up most cars and trucks.

I even remember “gas wars” where two gasoline stations would keep dropping their prices until it was well under 25-cents per gallon.

Yes, you are right. That was a long time ago and the price of just about everything has increased. As a teenager back then I remember coming up with the $5 to fill the gas tank on my car was hard. Now it is difficult to spend the $90 to fill up my vehicle.

Like most people, my wife, Peggy, and I have become more conscious of gas prices and have attempted to conserve more. We leave our eight-cylinder vehicle in the driveway and travel mostly in our six-cylinder vehicle to stretch our gas dollars.

The price of gasoline has been on the decline the past several days to a point where I have seen some stations selling a gallon for $3.79 cents.

Like almost everyone else, I hope the price has reached its highest level and will continue to drop.

But not everyone wants to see the decline. The Associated Press reported this week Exxon set a new single quarter United States profit record of $11.68 billion.

If you have stock in Exxon, you might be one of few who smile when they pass gasoline stations these days.

Higher gasoline prices are causing more people to reduce their driving, especially for vacations or even the occasional trip out of town for dinner. Prices on goods and services have increased as a direct result of fuel prices and delivery companies are quick to charge a fuel surcharge to offset gas price increases.

Hopefully we will see a major emphasis placed on locating and capturing new oil supplies as well as new technology that will reduce our need for oil-related products. But such change will not be felt at the pumps for some time.

Until then, we may all find ourselves saying “I can remember when gas was only $3.50 a gallon.”

Note: Mike Kelley is the publisher of The Clanton Advertiser. His column appears on Sundays.