Worst day of the trip? Was it comical? Yep, so again, “All’s well that ends well” applies! Not a good day, but if it’s the worst I get, I’ll take it! Is it what makes this an Adventure? Yep. I gassed up, so this wouldn’t happen. I decided from Boerne on the west side of Texas, to Deming was too much to drive in one day, so I headed for Odessa, then I saw via the GPS that there was a MegaMart in Pecos, so that’s where I was headed. It was 7:30 a.m. when I left Boerne and watched mile after mile of sage brush rocky hilly landscape go by with few radio stations and long periods when there were none. Then the low on gas compu-message came on the odometer screen.
I immediately thought how can that be, but dismissed it, with that’s what it says, so deal with it. Plus the fuel gage was near empty too. The numbers started the count down from ‘50 miles to go’ to empty. I know 50 is a CompuGremlim lie, when it says there’s 50, there’s really about 35, because the number decreases faster than amount of miles I drive pass.
I look at the map ... no towns within that distance. Hopefully a gas station will be at an exit of US Rt. 10 where I was driving. I watch the numbers diminish till I feel the engine stop. I’m OoG (out of gas)! How can this be??? Doesn’t matter, I tell myself. I start beating and kicking myself in the a--!!! Dumb A--! There’s an exit within view with a sign with a big H. If there’s a Hospital there, there has to be a gas station. I get my gas container, put shoes on (1st time in months), get a warmer sweater, and start to walk.
Oh, now the wind is 30mph and rain is starting, and it’s chilly; bad idea. When I could get a radio station I heard there could be wind gusts to 50mph. Back into the cab, I check the GPS to see where the nearest gas station it knows about is. It says 13 miles. No, I’m not walking that far, so I call AAA. They say someone will bring me $9 worth of gas soon. I wait. I wait and I wait. The phone rings and AAA says they’re sorry for the delay, but someone will be coming from 40 miles away, now. I wait and I wait.
As I wait the mind starts wondering why I ran out of gas. I know when I started I had 26 gallons. The truck’s computer said I was getting 14mpg. The math says I should’ve been fine for 350+ miles. I check the compu-odometer which I set to keep track of the miles for today. It says 214 miles so far on this tank of gas. That’s 8mpg! What’s going on, how can this be. I remember, when I tried to walk the wind was too strong. I was driving directly into it. Did it cause that much of a decrease in miles per gallon? Obviously it did! Again, I say, doesn’t matter, I’m out of gas! A little side bar: I remember not far from here four adventures ago in 2009 on the second day after I purchased my slide-in camper, I ran out of gas north of Ozona! Here I am almost in the same place again and OoG!!! Amazing. Then it snowed the next day and I helped a 400 lb. woman who had fallen get up! The truck’s computer didn’t know I’d put a slide-in camper on its back, so its calculated gas mileage was based on before it had that extra weight to carry. Whatever happens I won’t top that day!
I wait some more and finally a AAA truck pulls up behind me. I tell him I guess the wind blew me out of gas. He said, yep it could cut the gas mileage in half! As he tries to pour gas into the tank the wind blows it all over the side of the truck. He says, do I have a funnel or the thing that came with the truck to trip the opening to the tank? No, but I have a gas can with a nozzle that will probably work. It works and he pours a bunch of gas in the tank. I tell him I’ve done the math and know that the $9 worth of gas, a couple gallons at best, won’t get me to a gas station. He says don’t worry, he’ll follow and give me more if needed. I drive for a while with him following. I run out again, he dumps more gas in, says that’s all he has, so go as far as I can, and he’ll check on me later. He had another call of a broke-down vehicle. I watch for him in the rear view mirror, but he turned off, I guess.
I watch miles to empty count down again to 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and empty, but I’m right at an exit sign and a gas station is in sight. I get my container and start to walk. I get about 20 steps and another RV camper stops. He knows exactly what I’m going through. He says get in and he’ll give me a ride. He says his mileage per gallon is way down, too. The gas station wants $3.99 a gallon. I paid $3.49 this morning. What are we going to do?!? Pay!!! I carry my gas back. As I’m almost there the AAA guy pulls in. He came back to check on me! Amazing!!! He earned a $10 tip for being a good guy!!! Plus he didn’t charge for the gas! I ran out of gas three times in the same day! Hopefully this’ll never happen again!
No matter, tomorrow I continue west to the oasis of Cibola, NWR, then to the Mojave Dessert’s mountain-sized sand dunes, Fremont Street in Las Vegas and more. This OoG day and another wind caused a much more scary event I don’t need! The other happened on one of the last days of my Adventure XV and will get its own article later. These two events make me ponder whether staying in Florida with the panthers, snakes, and bears and partying in the Keys rather than driving thousands of miles to go west may not be what I may be doing in the future.
Here on the Eastern Shore the crabbin’ is good and I’m looking forward to more, plus the DelMarValous Chicken Fest in SnowHill this weekend and I’m planning to overnight in my nest at Marumsco Point. I’m sure you know where that is! It’s another E.S. secret. See you at Fager’s Island Deck Party for Raymond’s BBQ feast, CocoNuts bands @ the fastest HH with ½$ ACBs, and MRs…..
Bob R o.c.FotoGuy
& facebook.com/OCfotoguy
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