All Blog Posts from Eye On The Road

St. Louis, like almost every town along our route, is struggling to absorb the higher fuel costs these days. The city budgeted $3 million for fuel this year, but is on track to exceed that by nearly $1 million.

On our way here we stopped in Louisville, Ky., where they're seeing a domino effect that starts with high gas prices and ends with lost jobs.

When we arrived in Louisville, we headed straight for the Breslin Park Pool.

Half the city's public pools will be padlocked this summer, leaving the little girls high and dry.

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This story appeared on the CBS Evening News.

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In Platteville, Colo., you'd think corn farmer Dave Eckhardt struck gold.

The price of the crop he sells, up 66 percent in a year. But that's not the only number he's looking at.

"We're spending twice as much on fuel this year as we did last year," Eckhardt said.

So, I said, "you're making more on corn, but you're also spending a lot more on fuel?"

"Right," he said. "I guess in a sense it caught us off guard that it went up as much as it did."

And it's really going to cut into profits?

"It will," he said.

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This story appeared on the CBS Evening News.

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Tonight we're at Legion Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians.

Indiana's been aggressive about investigating alternative fuels. It has seven ethanol plants and a fledgling wind power program.

But when it comes to sheer inventiveness, one small town takes the cake.



Reynolds, Ind., isn't much more than a crossroads. Only 500 people live there. But what they do have is plenty of is pigs. In fact they're filthy with them …150,000 in all.

A few years ago, the small town had a big idea: What if the pigs could power the whole town?

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This story appeared on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

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My half of the CBS News Eye on the Road trip started in San Francisco with something they call "slugging."

It's an unusual form commuting where total strangers actually "hitch" a ride to their 9-to-5 jobs.

We picked up Jason Mendrey.

"Even people around here that I've told that I do this think I'm crazy," Mendrey said. "'Cause it does sound a little funny to say I do organized hitchhiking, which is ultimately what this comes down to."

Whatever you call it, it helps everyone. Cars carrying three people get to use the HOV lane, and don't pay a toll.

Up next, 120 miles east, the Sly Park Campground in Pollock Pines.

That's where our CBS News crew found Mike Morrasy, who's owned a 38-foot RV for 10 years.

"She's been all over the place, right?" I asked Morrasy.

Morrasy replied: "Yeah, yeah."

Since it gets only 7 miles a gallon, this year, Morrasy's vacationing only three miles away from home.

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This story appeared on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

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We are a nation of drivers.

Only 5 percent of the country's commuters take public transportation. Everyone else is stubbornly sticking to their cars.

In fact, since 1990, the number of so-called "super-commuters," those who drive 90 minutes or more, has risen 95 percent.

One of them is Brian McCausland, a father of four. I met him in Pennsylvania farm country, and joined him on his ride to work, 50 miles away.

"Of course like the rest of the country we had no idea that the price of gas was going to essentially double," he said.

Now, he's spending $300 a month to go back and forth.

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