The numbers on the pump seemed to be getting unusually high – $37.73 … $38.26 … $39.57 …

And my gasoline tank wasn’t full yet.

As the pump price kept rolling up – $40.10 … $42.90 – I was starting to take it personally. The foreign oil barons were dipping into my money for coffee and doughnuts.

That made me wonder about getting a vehicle that could burn an alternative to gasoline: e85, a fuel that’s 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Ethanol growth

“Energy is on the minds of a lot of people and we need to be doing more to be self reliant,” said state Sen. Roger Pine, a Lawrence Republican and corn grower.

Pine and other advocates have been working to build the ethanol industry in Kansas through legislation that includes lower taxes on ethanol fuel blends and tax credits for consumers who use e85.

But it’s up to drivers to make the decision to get off oil and onto alternative fuels.

I knew I could begin my personal war by using e10 – that’s gasoline with 10 percent ethanol – which is readily available throughout Kansas.

But that’s only going part way, according to Jere White, executive director of the Kansas Corn Growers Assn.

‘Sticking it’

“When you use e10, you can talk about sticking it to the Saudi Arabians,” White said.

But most of the e10 fuel, about 50 percent, still is coming from foreign sources, he said. The ethanol fuel that can make big changes in our dependence on foreign oil is e85.

If you burn e85 – at 85 percent ethanol – in your engine, only about 7 percent of your fuel is coming from overseas, he said.

While there’s not much difference between regular unleaded gasoline and an e10 blend in price, e85 is much cheaper, he said.

Last week in Garnett, a gallon of e85 was selling for 43 cents less per gallon than regular unleaded gasoline, White said.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks to e85: You need a “flex fuel” vehicle, and a gallon of e85 doesn’t get quite as much mileage as a gallon of gasoline.

Building the market

Fortunately, the growth in number of ethanol plants, such as a new one that opened this year in Garnett, is coinciding with increased efforts by car manufacturers to come out with more “flex fuel” models, White said.

Ford came out with FFV technology in the 1980s. Such vehicles have a sensor in the fuel line that measures oxygen/fuel composition.

Fuel injection and timing is adjusted so that the engine can run on any combination of gasoline and ethanol.

In the past, flex fuel vehicles were marketed more to corporate fleets, White said.

“Now they are geared at the average Joe Sixpack consumer, which is certainly a switch,” he said.

Manufacturers like General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Nissan are expected to produce 600,000 more flex fuel vehicles this year.

GM has nine flex fuel models out this year, including Chevrolet’s Impala and Monte Carlo.

“My prediction is within the next five years to 10 years,” White said, “we’ll go 100 percent flex fuel vehicles, simply because the flexibility is there for the consumer.”

And there’s more flexibility to come.

Ford announced in January a new concept vehicle for the future designed to use “Tri-Flex fueling.”

Its an F-250 Super Chief pickup with a V-10 engine that will be able to run not only on gasoline and e85, but also on hydrogen.

Pumping up

Unfortunately, there are only about 600 e85 filling stations in the country, including about 10 in Kansas.

White said about 20 more e85 stations would open in eastern Kansas in the next year. But so far, no filling stations in Lawrence are joining in, he said.

Well, there was one thing I could do while waiting on a local e85 station and dreaming about getting a futuristic Super Chief Tri-Flex pickup.

I went out to my garage and found my old bike. It had a flat.

So I hooked up the tire pump and started flexing my muscles and counting the pumps: 15 … 27 … 44 ….