>>Does that mean I have to stop just pumping it onto the ground? What am I going to do this weekend now?
>
>Don't you have a bike?
>
>Can't you walk for a while?

Have you been to the States recently? In 99% of cases there's nothing you can walk to, unless it's the walk itself that you want. Lemme check, in my area:
- nearest grocery, 3km
- nearest 7-11, 2.5 km
- nearest shop of any kind, 1 km - and it's a gas station :)
- nearest mall - 1.5 km, but there's nothing there that you may need day-to-day, just fun and fashion stuff. Luckily, it also has a bookstore, but it's on the other end - 2km.
- nearest park - 1 km
- nearest library - 6km
- beach - 13 km
- daughter's school - 9 km

Maybe two of these are worth riding a bike. This is completely different from what I saw back home (or in Germany, for that matter) - wherever I was, there were at least two shops within a 1km radius where I could buy at least basic food. A little supermarket, a baker, a butcher, a newsstand.

In my old street back home, there's about one square mile of 4 story high project buildings (5 floors in SAE) adjacent to it, and all around the edges of this area, and in some of the ground floor spaces within it, there's all sorts of shops. Nobody has to get into a car to buy what he needs. And, ah, yes, there's a green market on the other side of the area. And the people do walk and they do ride bicycles, and mostly take the city bus when going further.

Here, no way you'll get me on the bicycle for anything, because there's nearly nothing within a mile, but residential area. For starters, I'll do my grocery by dumping several trips into one - this time, it will be the Kroger which is right across the street (i.e. only 500 m away) from Office Depot - it's back to school time.

>Stay home read a book until prices go down again... hmmm perhaps you'll be forced to read many books before that happens.

May I paraphrase Terry's tagline: "Gas prices are God's way to teach Americans to read"... though I think they'll just watch TV.