I’m not necessarily a NASCAR fan, but was amused when hearing that Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas while on the last lap of a race costing him first place. I thought only individuals with broken gas gauges did that—like my husband! Only there weren’t crowds to help my husband out, or a team of mechanics waiting around the next bend with a gas can in their hand. Nope.
I have to set the scene for you before going any further. He worked second shift which normally put him home just after midnight. One night a week he was on a bowling league that met after work. This was before the concept of ATM’s on every corner. (Okay, I’m dating myself just a little.) It’s before cell phones. AND, there were very few all-night gas stations in our area.
About 2:30 my phone rings. I had just gone to bed after a late-night Mommy-I-need-you session with my infant daughter. He tells me his car is stranded alongside the road, he had to walk a mile to get to a phone booth, and wants me to bring him some gas.
I have no money in my purse, my daughter is finally asleep, and needless to say, due to my lack of sleep, I wanted to tell him to call someone else. But, I didn’t.
I dug into our penny jar. Rolled several dollars’ worth of pennies. (Now as I look back, I’m thanking God it was a time gas prices were what they were—cheap!) I pulled my sleeping daughter from her bed and put the slumping bundle into her car seat and went in search of an open gas station, which turned out to be several miles away. The man at the station got a chuckled out of the rolled pennies, but he took them anyway.
In the end, everything worked out fine. My hubby got gas. I finally got some sleep. And my daughter didn’t even realize she’d been moved.
Your turn: Have you ever run out of gas?
The only time I ran out of gas was on a bridge while riding a motorcycle. I'd accidentally toggled over to the reserve tank so when I ran out of gas, I didn't have a reserve tank. So... I had to push the motorcycle up the bridge. Fortunately, I was able to coast down. :-)
ReplyDeleteI never made that mistake again.
You're right...you run out of gas once, you'll never do it again!
ReplyDelete