27 Jul

The Old Gas Stations

by Mark Norton In: Creative Baby Ideas - 0 Comment

The Old Gas Stations

Stay tuned to learn about the old gas stations. Have you ever heard of the Hydrogen Highway? Most people have not. Personally, I have been following this for many years, but I know that it is not gaining a ton of traction. Let me explain what is going on. Hydrogen is the most abundant elements on planet Earth. The best part is that it can be used as a fuel! One of the easiest ways of getting Hydrogen is to separate the molecules of water into their elements. You can do this by submerging both the positive and negative leads of a battery charger in a cup of water. The bubbles that appear when the charger is turned on are both Oxygen and Hydrogen.

The Hydrogen Highway is a stretch of road that has “Hydrogen Gas Stations” along the way. This is for those people who convert their vehicles to run on pure Hydrogen, or even run an Alcohol base or Diesel fuel boosted with Hydrogen. If done correctly, this can be done for cheaper than the price of a gallon of gas today. (You can read more about the Hydrogen Highway HERE and more about Hydrogen Vehicles HERE.) The best part of Hydrogen is that it can be generated with Solar or Wind Power!

Most people believe that Hydrogen is unsafe, but that is simply not the case! Hydrogen is no more dangerous than Propane or Natural Gas, but the people must be educated in how to use it. As with any new technology, there are safety precautions that must be taken. I hear your question, though! “Wasn’t Hydrogen responsible for the Hindenburg disaster?” While there are many people that do not believe this to be true, the ultimate answer is yes. Even if Hydrogen did not cause the disaster, the Hydrogen did explode and it was a tragedy, for sure. What you may not realize is that Hydrogen is also responsible for every launch of our Space Shuttle!Our Space Shuttle burns half-a-million-gallons of liquid hydrogen in 8.5 minutes! The provides the huge amount of thrust that is needed to propel the shuttle into the outer atmosphere of the Earth along with the crew and any payload in the payload bay. There can be no doubt that Hydrogen provides a huge amount of energy!

The Point to this History Lesson

Now, you may be asking, what is the point to all this? I believe that someday, we will no longer have gas stations. Or, at least gas stations as we know them today! I believe that our vehicles will run on Hydrogen, hydrogen fuel cells, Solar power, or any number of other technologies that we are developing or will develop in the near future. Regardless of the reason, our world is changing, and I believe our vehicles will also change.

Full Service Gas Stations

Don’t believe me? When was the last time you found a “Full Service” gas station? Until about 1970, all gas stations were full service. When you pulled your car into the station, a crew of people that would rival our racing pit crews of today, would appear to fill your car with fuel, check your oil and other fluids, check your tire pressure (and air them up for free, if needed), wash your windows and sometimes, even get you a drink. These services did not cost you anything more, they were included in your fuel purchase. What happened to these free pit crews? These crews of people have gone away, just like the words “free air” in today’s world! Now, when you pull into a gas station, you pump your own gas, get your own drinks, and have to pay to even get air in your tires. If you don’t know how to check your own oil, transmission fluid, and other vehicle fluids, you are pretty much out of luck! What were old gas stations like when you grew up?

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All of this doesn’t even take into account the price of the fuel and how it has changed over the years! My first experience with purchasing fuel was buying Regular at $0.89 per gallon for my moped and lawn mowers in the late 80’s. I began driving a car in the early 90’s and people were outraged that Unleaded fuel had risen to $1.49 a gallon! My dad used to tell me stories about gas being $0.12 per gallon! How much was gas when you were a baby? The reality is that the price of gas is changing daily, sometimes hourly, as well as the services that companies provide. Customer service is a different beast in today’s world than it was in years past. As a result, it is not that far of a stretch to think that we could even be changing fuel sources in the near future!

Save Your Gas Receipts in a Time Capsule

All of these things are Time Capsule Moments! I can’t imagine paying $0.12 for a gallon of gas! At the same time, I think that anything above $1.50 a gallon is completely ridiculous! What will cars be link in the future? Will we ever get to the flying cars that were promised by the movie, “Back to the Future?” Will we be driving on Hydrogen or will we just throw a banana into a “Mr. Fusion” and begin driving down the road?

No matter what the fuel source, or the pricing, you can be sure that cars, as a form of personal transportation, are here to stay! They will continue to change and evolve over time, and the people of the future will probably be just as fascinated by the changes as we are today! Do you ever think a kid from the next generation will say, “You mean you had to put fuel in your car? And you had to pump it too? And you paid someone else to let you do it? Wow! I would never pay someone else for the work I had to do!”

What do you predict will happen to gas prices in the future? Save your answers in your own time capsule. Put a gas receipt in a Baby Time Capsule today, for your child to open in the future and see 20, 30, or 50 years later. Help your child discover what life was like driving cars when they were born. Get your own Baby Time Capsule here today.

What was the price of gas when you were born? Comment below (along with what year that was).

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark