Corn-Fueled In Cornhusker State

With oil prices rising to record highs this week, investors decided to take some of their profits Friday and the price of crude fell more than a dollar a barrel.

Meanwhile, CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod continues his drive across the country charting the impact of gas prices. He reports from Lincoln, Nebraska that many in the Cornhusker State are relying on a home-grown product to fuel their cars.

We're about half way through our trip cross-country. Having filled up five times now, we've been doing what everybody else is in America – seeing how far we can go between fill-ups.

In Nebraska, tow truck drivers are getting pretty used to getting fuel calls.

Michael Turner ran out of gas just trying to push it a few extra miles.

"I was planning on getting some gas, but I said, 'Well, I got enough to make it,'" Turner said.

They're hearing plenty of that old song at the AAA in Nebraska. Fuel calls have nearly doubled since this time last year.

Arriving in Nebraska today – having driven 1,614 miles and spent $238.93 on gas so far — we found the same hard feelings as in other states.

"I need to go call the bank and see if I can fill it up," said one gas-pumper.

But we also found the lowest price so far. Of course, it's 85% ethanol. Seven out of 10 gallons sold here are a blend of gas and ethanol, which is an alcohol distilled from corn.

"I can save 40 or 50 cents a gallon. That's good," said Mike Wardyn.

It's win-win for Nebraskans. One third of the corn grown here is now used to make ethanol, which is a cleaner burning fuel.

"It'll catch on as more vehicles are produced," said Brett Bosselman.

It all makes sense to Chris Steutelberg.

"One hundred and three miles, six days a week.... 300 miles on Sunday," he said.

Steutelberg delivers newspapers for a living.

"Why would you burn a product that's made out of oil where you're dependent on a foreign country when you can burn a product that's made out of soybeans or corn?" he reasoned.

This time last year, gas cost $625 a month. Now it costs $800 a month.

"There's gonna come a point where I don't put the key in the ignition because I can't afford it," Steutelberg said. "I mean when I can make more money working at Wal-Mart, why keep doing this?"

The main criticism used to be ethanol's higher cost to produce. But the high price of gas and a government tax break have taken a lot of wind out of those sails.