I’m not a speed demon – I just like to get where I’m going in a timely manner.

Sometimes it’s because I’m running late, it’s true, but that’s not the point. I just don’t like to dilly and dally around on the highway.

And to be quite honest with you, if you were to make a listing of the Top 10 drivers with places to go and things to do there would be the UPS guy, the FedEx truck and then me. I had always been told that if you want to get down the road to get behind someone who has someplace to be and those delivery service guys and gals have never let me down – not once.

But on the opposite end of the discussion, if you happen to find yourself behind someone with a handicapped sticker in the window, prepare yourself for a long ride. Who is in a hurry to get to their next checkup? It’s not a condemnation of these drivers, but on the average they seem to drive below the posted speed limit signs no matter the terrain or time of day.

And I tend to stew a bit when I find myself stuck in neutral, it seems, behind them.

However, things have changed (a bit).

With our travel seemingly increasing week by week and gas prices now levitating as they have north of $2 per gallon for some time, it was time for a reassessment of my driving practices. As usual, my first bit of good advice came from my wife.

Sheila said, “You know, if you don’t drive as fast you won’t burn through your tank as quickly.”

She explained that she stays around 55 miles per hour as often as possible on the highway and it’s allowed her to conserve fuel and not have to pull in at the pump as often. So I swallowed my pride and eased my foot off of the gas.

And you know what happened? It worked.

Since altering my driving habits, I have made a tank of gas last an average of three to four days longer. So a tank that I once burned through in a week now lasts a week and a half.

Isn’t it amazing what a bit of truth can do?

Truth is a rare commodity these days as both sides of the aisle hurl vitriol in their spin rockets. It’s hard to tell which way is up if you listen to these morons on television spreading their fear and hatred. If one says the earth is round, the other will surely say it is flat – each with their “experts” in tow. What ever happened to common sense?

We live in a nation which placed the first person on the moon, eliminated polio and a host of other diseases and cracked the power of the atom. And you mean to tell me that we can’t come up with a car that will get 60 miles to the gallon while driving 55 miles per hour?

Please.

Do you know why the aforementioned advances happened? They happened because someone in power deemed them as plum necessary, that’s why. We HAD to beat the Soviets to the moon, and we did. Polio HAD to be eradicated, and it was. We HAD to be the first to harness the atom, and it happened (just in time).

We HAD to do these things, and they got done.

But conserve and curb our dependence on fossil fuels? Cure modern diseases? No sir.

Why should we stop using fossil fuels? You mean leave perfectly good oil in the ground while people will still pay exorbitant prices for it? Don’t we already have an expanding problem with overcrowding? What would happen if all of these diseases were cured?

Think of how much money is being made by certain groups of people with things just the way they are? There are people in power who will simply not allow the type of innovation we have experienced in the past simply because it will hinder their bottom line.

Before everyone can even stock their homes with high definition televisions, we sure can invent a 3-D television that doesn’t feed anyone or transport you anywhere.

You can have a cell phone that plays HD movies, takes 10 mega-pixel pictures and streams satellite television. Again, something that’s plum unnecessary. It’s funny. Somehow, the R&D departments in those arenas don’t have any problem making a lighter, faster gizmo just in time for the Christmas buying season.

You get my point.

So in place of technology we actually need, we have to do what we can to get by on our own. Like taking your heavy foot off of the gas pedal and driving 55 for a while.

Now that’s a bit of truth you can hang your hat (and your wallet) on.