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Run out of gas? | Pad Patter 10.3

bestcee

bestcee

In love with places I've never been to
Joined
Dec 18, 2013
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19,337
Have you ever run out of gas?
On our way home yesterday, we didn't stop in our normal spot, but continued on. With the car telling us we had twice the needed miles left in the tank, we weren't too worried about it. But there was a tiny part of my mind that still wondered if we'd run out.

We didn't, but it made me wonder if anyone else had?
 
So many times, back in the day. I was a single Mom with 2 jobs 2 kids, and usually about 40 bucks to last between each payday. I got really good at "doing the loop" and scheduling my drives. It had to be dual purpose, lol!

I carried a 1 gallon gas can in the trunk, and more often than not watched people drive right by me. It was foolish on my part to think it would always get 1 more mile, bwahahaha! Not safe at all. I cringe now thinking of the places I chanced. Ugh
 
I did in my teens. And then once in college. The first time,as a teen, I was so close to home, so my Dad came and saved me ... but at the price of a hefty lecture! It didn't happen again until college. I was riding on fumes for awhile and wasn't overly familiar with the route I was on, but was desperately trying to find a gas station - no cellphones with google maps/navigation back in those days! I was lucky enough to run out at the top of a highway overpass, so I coasted down the hill .... and literally rolled into a gas station that was conveniently located at the bottom of the overpass. I was SO lucky! This was NJ where you do not pump your own gas. I remember the guy working at the station coming out to help me and asking if I just ran out and rolled in. We both were crying with laughter. That's it just those two times - but I will never forget them!
 
omigoodness, Jenn! I'm laughing at your luck and can picture you and the gas station guy laughing! :giggle

I have not run out of gas... knock on wood, but always worry, when that gas like blinks on and says I have 30 miles left (or whatever). I stress until I get to the gas station... and then breathe! :P DH is always laughing at me.. since half the time there are LOADS of gas stations all around us! (NJ)
 
My husband and I used to work events at a local arena. We had worked an event one night and were headed home well after midnight. My husband was driving his grandfather's truck at the time-- a huge brown truck from the 70's. It had no power steering and the tires weren't too much shorter than me, but he loved that truck. I was behind him in our car. We're driving down a dark road and I see the truck start slowing and the flashers go on. He had ran out of gas. I got the pleasure of pushing a giant truck up a hill until we could get it to a turning lane. He had to steer because regardless of what a beast it was to push, the non-existent power steering made it harder to steer. I was so furious at him-- and the people who drove by and wouldn't help. Needless to say, we have stopped to help numerous drivers who needed a push since then! And neither of us has ran out of gas since then. This was shortly before we got married almost 13 years ago and I don't think I will ever forget it.
 
I have never actually run out but this is a very familiar sight to me:



Not sure how much longer I could have gone but I managed to pull into a station before it happened. My friends said I obviously love to live dangerously, :-)
 
No never. Somehow I was trained by someone to never let the gas tank get below half. I am pretty diligent about that, in fact that's a chore for today. I only say chore because my Golf takes diesel so it's not as easy to find. I usually combine it with a Costco run since there is a Royal Farms on the way that usually has the cheapest price for diesel round here AND all 10 or so pumps HAVE diesel!
 
I have had that where the car alerted me I was on fumes and I was stuck at a red light. I remember praying .. please oh please, turn green so I can get to the corner gas station! LOL I hate that. It happened twice in my 39 years of driving!
 
I've never ran outta gas, but I'm afraid my kids will. I like to keep the tank on the top half but my hubby and kids run on fumes. I'm always asking them if they need gas so we can take both cars over and fill up using my smiths fuel points.
 
Just once. On the way home from a homeschool group activity several years ago, with friends riding with us. On a well traveled main country road in Stafford county, Virginia. I'm very grateful to the person who stopped to help, who went to get us some gas.

My habit is to go until the warning light goes on and then get to the gas station as soon as I can, but sometimes I refill as early as ¼ tank.

Oh! This reminds me my van is at a ¼ tank right now. Maybe I should take this as a warning to go fill up today!
 
I, personally, have not, but was in the car with my husband (before he was my husband) when he ran out of gas on our way home from a Blackhawks game. The area around the stadium has changed so much since then, but 20+ years ago, it wasn't a place to linger. He knew he was low, but was hoping to get out of that neighborhood before having to fill up. Problem was, once we were out of the area, we couldn't find a gas station. We ran out of gas right outside of the sketchiest hospital I've ever been in (it's since closed)... it was pre-cell phones, so we had to go into the ER to make the call.

cookingmylife said:
Somehow I was trained by someone to never let the gas tank get below half.
Click to expand...

I only drive like once a year now so it's not much of an issue, but like Maureen, I was trained to never let the tank get below half. I get a little panicky if it gets below that line.

Last year, my daughter and I were on our way home from her dance class and saw a car out of gas in the middle of the road... it was seriously in the center lane between two corner gas stations.... I guess they picked the wrong one! If they would have gone to the one on the right vs. trying to make a left turn across traffic to get to the other one, they might have made it!
 
Twice. The first time was when I was in high school. I worked about 3 blocks from our house. It was winter and my Saturday morning shift started at 6am. Rather than scrape my windows, I took my dad's car out of the garage. I got about 1 block and ran out of gas. (So, yeah, that one really wasn't my fault.) I ran back to the house, woke up my dad, and then just ran all the way to work.

The second time was when I was in my early 20s, working in North Dakota. We were staying at a hotel in the city, but it was about a 30-minute drive out to the rural job site. I just hadn't even thought about it. When I noticed how low I was on the way back after work, I asked my co-worker if I should stop at a nearby church to get help and he advised me to push through, hoping we could make it to the little town at about the halfway point. No dice. We walked to a nearby farm, and fortunately, the owner was home. Without a word he went and grabbed a 5-gallon can he had ready like it happened every day. LOL

These days I mostly just make short drives around town and there are stations everywhere, so I do still occasionally let it get to the fuel light on point, but usually I fill up when I drop below a quarter tank.
 
Buuuahahahaha!!! THIS is me!!!

Rikki said:
I have never actually run out but this is a very familiar sight to me:



Not sure how much longer I could have gone but I managed to pull into a station before it happened. My friends said I obviously love to live dangerously, :-)
Click to expand...
 
I used to run out of gas all the time. I had a 1959 VW bug that didn't have a working gas gauge, so I would measure it by dipping a doweling into the tank to see where the level was at. Sometimes I'd forget to check, so... :giggle
 
My hubby had a car back in the 90s that had a gas gauge but not a warning light. We ran out of gas twice -- once at the airport where an airport maintenance worker kindly gave us a little gas to get to a station. The other time was on a major highway but, fortunately, we had just passed an exit that had a gas station, so it wasn't too long a walk. :D He is much more careful now!
 
I am knocking wood as I say this, but I have never run out of gas. I've been really really close a few times, but never have. I hate getting gas and I have to fill up about once a week, so I put it off as long as I can. It was really touchy today when I was driving home and had about 60 miles on my range and we got stopped by an accident. I kept watching the numbers go down sitting there, but also counting my blessings that my worst problem was being low on gas. My car will tell me the range down to about 30 miles, but beyond that it just says Low Fuel, so I have to guess after that lol.
 
@KimJ - your story about the farmer reminded me about when we were first married lived in our first house that was on the frontage road. People who ran out of gas on the freeway would always jump the fence and come knock on our door and ask for gas or to use the phone. We lost several gas cans that we used for our lawn mower when we lived in that house because people wouldn't bring them back. Finally, my hubby told me to stop giving them the gas can and just let them call for help. There's a BIG cement wall along the freeway there now, so the current owners don't have to deal with stolen gas cans anymore.
 
Once, the car said we had 1/4 tank (just a little under) but found out that the car was wrong. Of course I ran out with my kids on way home from a cross country event in the middle of nowhere. Had to walk with 2 kids (age about 15 and 12) to a strangers house; call husband (collect since different city) and wait 45 minutes for him to show up. Needless to say that taught me and I never let it get below 1/4 tank.
 
I have never ran out of gas...but my first car was very unreliable & I broke down several times. I cringe when I think about some of the places I broke down...but there was always somebody kind to help.
 
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