Gas Station Sign, Death Valley
Gas station sign in Death Valley
Added 4/22/19: And now… since this has actually become a media story* I probably need to clarify some things. Here we go:
I have photographed in Death Valley National Park annually for about 15 years each winter and/or spring. Sometime before April 1 2011 — I believe it was in March of that year — I was in the park to photograph when I got the idea of creating an April Fool’s Day post based on the gas prices at the Furnace Creek gas station, a place notorious for regularly having the highest prices on gas in this part of the state. (Even back then the prices were typically $1/gallon more than other gas stations within a one hour drive.)
So I made an informal iPhone snap of the signs at this Furnace Creek gas station with the plan of photoshopping the numbers to produce what at that time would have been obviously preposterous prices, and then to share the picture in this April 1, 2011 April Fool’s Day post. (The photoshop work was pretty simple – copying and pasting different parts of the existing sign to create the pricing shown here.)
The post went up on April 1, 2011. It actually fooled a few people. You might enjoy the comments that are still on the original post.
I do not believe that I have the original, un-doctored photo any more. As I wrote, it was just a casual iPhone snap. Someone asked what the actual prices were on the sign before I altered them. I don’t recall for sure. I believe that I only replaced the first digit of the original prices with the “9,” leaving the remaining numbers intact. I’m positive the price was way less than $5/gallon, and pretty sure it was less than $4/gallon, so my best guess is that the real prices are found by replacing the “9” with “3” or “2.” (Remember that this was eight years ago!)
So, this isn’t evidence of anything other than my sense of humor and my photoshop skills.
What are the actual prices of gas at typical gas stations in California today? My last fill-up this week in the San Francisco Bay Area cost me $3.89/gallon. I was in Death Valley twice this year, at the beginning of March and then again at the start of April. I paid $3.19/gallon for regular gas at the Stovepipe Wells gas station in the park several times. At the station in the “photo” at Furnace Creek, I think that the typical “all the traffic will bear” price was $5.01.
It kind of wrecks the April Fool’s Day joke to have to explain it… but at least it is from eight years ago!
Dan
A social media entity used this photograph as “proof” of the high prices of California gas. Seriously. One media representative who contacted me said, “Your photo has gone viral!” ;-)
Heh, it was bound to happen!
This is the “all the traffic will bear” season in Death Valley, and this is the absolute worst place to buy gas.* It is usually a dollar or two higher than even the other overpriced places in the park. (I just saw a tracking service showing that the Furnace Creek prices has been in the $9-(almost)$10 range.
Advice to anyone visiting Death Valley:
If you are coming into the park (or exiting) from the east, you can go a few miles north of Death Valley Junction to a Nevada border casino where the gas is many dollars less. At this point I’d estimate the the price will be HALF of this Furnace Creek price.
Current (end of March 2022) prices in most of California are in roughly the $6/gallon range right now — a bit less in some places, especially at discount stations, and a bit more in others (popular areas and right along highways). These are the highest in the nation right now.
Dan
*The Furnace Creek complex of accommodations, restaurants, gas station, golf course (!), and so on is a special case in the national park system. It is an “in-holding” rather than part of the park, in other words a private holding that isn’t subject to usual park concession rules that control things like gas pricing. It is an interesting and sometimes aggravating story that I won’t recount here.
Diesel there is now 9.99
And now… since this has actually become a media story* I probably need to clarify some things. Here we go:
I have photographed in Death Valley National Park annually for about 15 years each winter and/or spring. Sometime before April 1 2011 — I believe it was in March of that year — I was in the park to photograph when I got the idea of creating an April Fool’s Day post based on the gas prices at the Furnace Creek gas station, a place notorious for regularly having the highest prices on gas in this part of the state. (Even back then the prices were typically $1/gallon more than other gas stations within a one hour drive.)
So I made an informal iPhone snap of the signs at this Furnace Creek gas station with the plan of photoshopping the numbers to produce what at that time would have been obviously preposterous prices, and then to share the picture in this April 1, 2011 April Fool’s Day post. (The photoshop work was pretty simple – copying and pasting different parts of the existing sign to create the pricing shown here.)
The post went up on April 1, 2011. It actually fooled a few people. You might enjoy the comments that are still here.
I do not believe that I have the original, un-doctored photo any more. As I wrote, it was just a casual iPhone snap. Someone asked what the actual prices were on the sign before I altered them. I don’t recall for sure. I believe that I only replaced the first digit of the original prices with the “9,” leaving the remaining numbers intact. I’m positive the price was way less than $5/gallon, and pretty sure it was less than $4/gallon, so my best guess is that the real prices are found by replacing the “9” with “3” or “2.” (Remember that this was eight years ago!)
So, this isn’t evidence of anything other than my sense of humor and my photoshop skills. What are the actual prices of gas at typical gas stations in California today. My last fill-up this week in the San Francisco Bay Area cost me $3.89/gallon. I was in Death Valley twice this year, at the beginning of March and then again at the start of April. I paid $3.19/gallon for regular gas at the Stovepipe Wells gas station in the park several times. At the station in the “photo” at Furnace Creek, I think that the typical “all the traffic will bear” price was $5.01.
It kind of wrecks the April Fool’s Day joke to have to explain it… but at least it is from eight years ago!
Dan
A social media entity used this photograph as “proof” of the high prices of California gas. Seriously. One media representative who contacted me said, “Your photo has gone viral!” ;-)
The date it was posted might provide a hint… ;-)