It's been a wild "gas" chase for a lot of people across the southeast lately.

Drivers are having a tough time finding stations where they can fill up their tanks.

From Nashville to Columbia, South Carolina, and every major city in between, plastic bags cover gas pumps... and notes on the pumps limit gas purchases.

Kentucky stations have gas and some Tenessee drivers went across the state line to find it.

Refineries in the Gulf are still not up and running at 100 percent after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which means there's less fuel coming up the main pipeline.

Fuel Distibutor Tex Pietfield, President of Saraguay Petroleum Corporation, says Atlanta receives supplies on a five day schedule, but because so many people are in panic mode, supplies are being depleted ahead of the delivery schedule.

Pietfield says, "A normal delivery for these stores is coming in over the weekend. So the terminals will have fuel to get to these stores. Here's the catch... the demand is such that there is not enough of the normal supply coming in to get to not only this guy but the other 400 guys around town."

As more refineries get up to speed, the supplies will continue to increase, but it will still be a game of catch up that could last another week or two.

The few stations that are open are jammed and they often run out of gas within three or four hours.

One suggestion is to restrict the amount customers can buy so more people can buy gas and the station can stay open longer.

Another word for that is rationing...a word no one has wanted to hear since the fuel crisis of the 1970's.

Pittfield even urged the University of Georgia to cancel the weekend football game to stop tens of thousands of football fans from putting additional pressure on the system.

"It's a quarter million gallons of fuel that's going to be utilized for a
football game..maybe cancel is a horrible word ..but what about postpone it?" said Pittfield.

The Georgia governor stepped in to claim that wasn't necessary.

There have been reports of some gouging, but some frustrated drivers here would be happy to find gas at any price.