One thing that's always certain besides death and taxes, gas prices will rise in the spring.  Prices have been creeping up here in North Dakota for the last several months.  Currently, as I look outside at the Cenex station across from the radio station, gas prices sit at $2.79 a gallon.  That is a bargain for most of the country, as the current national average is at $2.94 dollars a gallon according to an article on ABC News and the Energy Information Association.  According to most experts, $3.00 plus gas is almost certain by Memorial weekend.

But wait, there's another problem on the horizon.  According to the same article, we could be looking at a gas shortage in North Dakota and the rest of the country.  Not because we're lacking gas.  Our supplies are very ample.  The problem?  We don't have enough truck drivers to ship the gas to stations.  In fact, right now 20% of the trucks gas companies use are currently parked.  So, why the shortage of truck drivers?  Many were laid off about a year ago with the COVID-19 pandemic, and many retired or moved on to other careers.  I smell a job opportunity.  However, petroleum delivery drivers need a special license to further complicate things.    We have not seen a large gas shortage in this country since 1980.

Kind of ironic, life just gets back to somewhat normal and now we won't have the gas to travel when we want to.

Other impacts with the lack of truck drivers nationwide includes, substantial price increases in toilet paper, soda, baby care products and other everyday products.  Look out, here comes the toilet paper hoarders again.


 

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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