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Pain At The Pump Pummels Pocketbook To Tune Of $250 FROM THE BLOG

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 7, 2008

It used to be we would pull out of Tampa with a full tank and try to make it just across the Georgia border, where gas would be 20 or 30 cents cheaper.

We gave it another shot over the Fourth of July weekend, heading for the North Carolina mountains and cooler temperatures. I'd read that the experts were predicting fewer cars on the road because of higher gas costs.

Somebody didn't get the word. Interstate 75 was packed solid in both directions. Things are going to change all right, but it wasn't over the Fourth.

We did make it to the Georgia border, but gas was still $4 a gallon for the cheap unleaded. We did see a billboard for $3.89 and immediately pulled off. So did half of the traffic on I-75, but it was too late and the station already had jacked up its prices to near the $4 standard.

Atlanta remained a traffic nightmare. We showed up close to the 5 p.m. rush hour and took the bypass. It didn't matter. We could have been on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard coming home on Friday afternoon. It was stopped in all directions.

It's going to get worse.

Donna Olmstead used to work for Hillsborough County government. These days, she and her husband spend most of the time in their RV on the road. Donna is one of the great e-mailers and sends out daily descriptions of their lives touring America.

Over the weekend, she reported they were tooling across North Dakota. "I received an e-mail from a Tampa RV dealer," she wrote. "They were offering $5,000 in gas or diesel with the purchase of a previously-owned RV.

"That was about the time we stopped to fill up. The going price for the diesel we needed was $4.74 a gallon. Our bill after filling up was a little more than $250. At that rate we would be better if we just got out and pushed."

Bulldozing The Giant

There were a number of e-mails commenting on the coming bulldozing of the old Giant's Camp in Gibsonton. Bill Garcia of Tampa recalls: "When I was a boy I used to love going to the sideshows and going inside a darkened tent. This was not the movies. These were real people and I think that's what made it so special. I never went to the Giant's camp but every time we would drive by it on U.S. 41 I would think about those circus tents. It was a part of our history and even if it is not acceptable these days, I will miss seeing the characters you described."

Betty Tanner of Tampa wrote: "Thanks for writing about the Giant's camp. What a piece of history will be gone when they bulldoze it down. I remember in the '40s when Al (Tomaini) had those giant turtles out back in a pool. I used to love going there to feed them."

As a follow-up, I received a call from a spokesperson at the Mosaic Phosphate Co., which owns the land around the old camp: "We are looking to do something appropriate to remember Al Tomaini and Jeanie (his wife, a legless lady who ran the camp after the death of her husband the Giant). We would like to salvage one of the old cabins but they are in pretty bad shape."

A Political Giant

There were several e-mails on the column about former Tampa Mayor Nick Nuccio. Sandy Finman wrote: "Your column on Nick Nuccio was a wonderful memory from my past. He would stop by my father's butcher shop on 7th Avenue often just to shoot the breeze.

"One day he came in to see me. He brought me a Davy Crockett knife, pinched my cheek and messed up my hair. I was only five at the time but he was larger than life. I still have the knife."

Finally, there was a note from Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputy Arturo "Art" Lence. You might remember he was involved in the June 7 rampage, when Jorge Orlando Bello Garcia killed his estranged wife, her friend and a Hillsborough County fire captain.

Lence was released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago and now writes he is feeling fine, which is a plus for everyone who knows the popular deputy.

Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto's blog.

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