when did gas become such a rare comodity?

Ok I know that the economy has affected everyone in their own way but I just have to say something about the gas. I hate getting gas, I hate seeing the dollar box increase, while the gallon box is barely moving, as it slowly sucks my money just to fill up half a tank. I hate being so conscious of where I am driving and how often I leave the house. I hate feeling like driving to the coast to see family is a luxury that I do not know if we can afford. I understand that a house payment is a necessity, a car payment, a grocery bill, but really it frustrates me to no end to feel that driving myself away from my house is a luxury. So with all this frustration running through my veins while filling up my tank (half way) I glanced over and saw this abandoned pump and only thought to myself, "thank God that I can afford to fill up my tank half way and I sure hope that they did not have far to go cause it always sucks pushing your car cause you ran out of gas."
What happened to the good old days when you grabbed a handful of change and seemed to get enough gas to get you wherever you wanted to go and back again. I suppose that it will just be another one of those stories that I get to tell my kids of "when I was young."