I am baffled by what seems to be two conflicting realities: Google news search on "gasoline shortages" yields few actual reports of dry pumps, but the blogs have reports of stations here and there with no product

Keep in mind that there are tens of thousands of gas stations in the US, so hundreds could have no gas even while 99% of stations are fine. Moreover, most places have multiple stations from multiple companies, so there's little impact on the public - and hence less news interest - if it's only one station or one company's stations that's having trouble, as people would just gas up at other stations.

Personally, I don't see a dichotomy here; a simple explanation is that some stations are having trouble getting product, but vast majority aren't, so almost all of the public sees little or no effect, so it's not something that makes the news.