I'm just back from nearly two weeks in Maine.

It's a bit of a culture shock.

First and foremost, being that I was driving and not flying, there is the price of gas. I was never so happy to get back home.

It wasn't so bad in Maine, actually, as it was getting there and getting back.

We stopped in New York City on the way home and regular at most Manhattan gas stations was -- get this -- around $4.20 a gallon, which would be hard enough to swallow if I hadn't already been to Willington, Connecticut on the way to vacationland.

Gas there was $4.25 a gallon, the most I'd ever paid in my life.

Getting back to Hampton Roads, prices here are in the $3.40s and they were suddenly looking pretty darn good.