Got Gas?

Yep, we ran out of gas tonight. In Lucy Blue. LOL

See when we bought Lucy Blue, the gas gage didn't work very well. It fluctuated from empty to full. But I always kept gas in it for fear of running out and being stranded with all the kids. Jimmy kept saying, "Oh we can go about 500-600 miles before we have to fill it back up. The gas tank is huge." Yeah okay! LOL

We're on our way home from Books A Million this evening. All four kids in the car. We pass a mustang on its side in the ditch near Carey Hilliards on Rivers Avenue. (For those that live around here, you know about where that is and that's it's not really a place anyone wants to run out of gas. LOL) So as soon as we pass this car, we go through the light at Eagle Drive and the van shuts off. I'm struggling to pull it over into the grass, thankfully we were in the far right lane, but the steering wheel was hard to turn. I look at Jimmy and say, WE ARE OUT OF GAS!"

So I grab my cell phone and call GEICO's ERS service, where I'm told it will be at least 2 hours before anyone could get to us because of all the accidents from the rain. NO way in HELL am I sitting on the side of Rivers Avenue with 4 children in the car for 2 hours! I had one bottle for Jackson and it had maybe 2 ounces of juice. I knew if we sat there much longer, he'd be crying. So while I'm on hold with ERS, she's calling other companies on their list, Jimmy decides to walk back a quarter of a mile to see if they had gas cans. I tell the woman on the phone to call me when she hears something because I didn't want my phone to die while on hold. (Jimmy had conveniently left HIS cell phone at home.)

As I'm sitting on the bumper of Lucy Blue, I see all those cop cars that had been with the mustang leave. 3 or 4 passed me and didn't even look back. This Cadillac pulls up in front of the van and this young black guy pulls up with his stereo blaring rap. He turns the radio down and asks if we're all okay. I tell him we'd just ran out of gas and my husband had walked up the road to the gas station. He said, "Oh okay, so no one is hurt? You're all okay?" I thanked him and said yes. I said, "You're the first person to stop and ask." By this time we'd been there at least 30 minutes. He smiles and says, "I had to stop. I would want someone to stop and make sure my sister, or my mother were alright if they were pulled on the side of the road. I thanked him again and assured him that I was fine. So he left. I thought that was very nice. Chivalry is NOT dead! LOL

So finally Jimmy makes his way back to us and puts in just enough gas for us to crank up the beast and turn around to the gas station. Our usual hour long trek to and from Books A Million lasted 2 hours.

And YES Jimmy took full responsibility for us running out of gas. LOL Though all I can say is, I'm soooooooo glad we weren't on the interstate when we ran out of gas. I'd have been scrambling to find someone willing to bring us gas without having to wait 2 hours for a tow truck. LOL WHEW! What a night!