I don't have a car, and so don't worry so much about spot shortages in my area. But for everyone else who does drive, could you (or someone else) give pointers on what you mean by "being educated about the inventory situation - especially in your particular part of the country"? Where would we go about getting information like that?

One other thing that would be incredibly helpful, if anyone knows where to find it, would be numbers on heating oil inventory, broken down by region. I assume heating oil comes from the same refineries and thus is subject to the same kind of disruptions as gasoline. People don't need fill-ups nearly as often, of course, but "rationing by running out" would be even more catastrophic, especially in the northern states...