Scootin' around high gas prices

I know I shouldn't. I know I should be more dignified and understanding of other people's pain. I know all of this, but I still can't help feeling more than a little smug when I pull up to the pump with Vinnie.

Take this morning for example, despite the needle persistently pointing to "E" for the past couple of days, I had put off getting gas. Since I had been pushing my luck for two days, I figured I better pull into the station. So I hang a louie into the gas station.

Beside me there is a guy with a big SUV. He has this look that I imagine as being somewhere between horror and resignation. I lifted the seat, insert the credit card and in less than two minutes and about $5, I'm ready to hit the road. As I get back on the bike, I glance over my shoulder and notice the SUV guy watching me rather than the dollars going into his tank. Still, I know I shouldn't (karma will get me), but I can't help feeling a little smug as I pull out of the station.

There is no doubt that soaring gas prices are sparking more interest in all things two wheels, especially scooters and mopeds.

Four years later, Mr. Biek is still hooked. "Once you ride one, you have to have one," he says. "It's consumed my entire life, and I have no real explanation for it."

The moped and its bigger, flashier cousin, the scooter, are swarming out of Jimmy Carter's America and into George W. Bush's republic - a movement propelled by soaring gasoline prices surpassing those of the late 1970s and by legions of Americans who take seriously the call for oil independence. If the serious intent is mixed with a little fun from "moped gangs" who call themselves the Heck's Angels [The Angry Bees] or the Hardly Davidsons, so much the merrier.

Ok, so maybe the original quote from the Christian Science Monitor didn't mention The Angry Bees, still the story about how high gas prices 'propel moped madness is an interesting read.

All smugness aside, saving money while reducing pollution and congestion are great things that factored into our decision to shift from cars to scooters as our primary transportation. The most compelling reason is feeling you get when zipping around town or down a country road.

If you have a scooter, moped or motorcycle do you feel a bit smug when pulling away from the gas station? If you don't have a bike, does the rising price of gas push you closer to getting one? Tell us about your experience by clicking the comments link below.