Date: August 26th, 2010
Some days are amazing, but have no obvious lesson. Others have an obvious lesson and are, well, less than delightful. Such was the case last Thursday. I planned on doing one of my at home kits for a new thing (I still have a paint by number gathering dust and waiting to be ceremonially broken out) once i got home from work, but that was not to be. As part of my job, sometimes I have to do what are called "court runs". That's the generic term for any time someone has to leave the office to drop something off, pick something up or file something. I was dropping off an overnight request for documents at an office complex that turned out to be in the middle of East Deliverance Nowhere.
As I got on the road, I noticed that my gas tank was showing thirty miles to empty and figured I'd get gas on the way back. Surely there would be a gas station near my destination, I reasoned, with no actual logic or evidence to support that belief. As I got off the highway and saw a lone gas station that had clearly been out of business for the better part of a decade, I began to get concerned. My tank now showed ten miles to empty and it was at least fifteen miles back to the last easily accessible exit. Well that's... not good.
As I pulled off the highway and my tank sensor dipped into single digits, I entered into panic mode. I immediately pulled over and started punching buttons into my GPS, hoping there would be a working gas station within my tank's limits. While I sat, entering numbers, I watched the tank tick down another number.
8 miles to empty. Crap.
I found a gas station that was only 4 miles away and started heading that direction. As I went up hills, the tank dipped down to 7, 6, 5 miles left. As I went down hill, it sloshed back up to 7, 8, even 9 miles to go. I began to think I'd actually make it, even if I was running on fumes when I got there. I pulled over the last big hill, thinking I could coast in. The station had just entered my view as I coasted to the bottom of the hill.
There were about two blocks of flat land between me and gas so I gently pressed the pedal and... nothing. A sputter. I realized I wouldn't be able to make it around that final curve and let my car coast off to the side of the road. With the windows up and the doors safely shut, I threw a minor tantrum. Some swearing was involved. Followed by embarrassment at having let myself run out of gas.
In the course of thinking through how dumb I felt for letting that happen, I realized that I'd never let it happen before. One of the silver linings that this project provides is that even really annoying, inconvenient firsts are still firsts. As I started walking from the car to the station, I thanked my lucky stars that I'd remembered my wallet and worn comfortable shoes. How much worse it could've been. I could've been miles away from anything. I could've been in heels. It could've been 100 degrees and humid. It could've utterly not mattered that something happened for the first time.
As for more practical lessons? I learned not to push my gas tank. It'll push back and I'll lose. Good to know.
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