Running on Fumes!

May flew by!  With our fabulous trip to New York and then leaving again four days after I got back to go to Disneyland with the girls, there hasn’t been a weekend without stuff packed into it.  I have been running almost non stop to fit everything in and get everyone where they need to go.

I read that you should always keep your car gas tank at least half way filled up.  It is supposed to get better gas mileage and it is good for emergency preparedness situations.  I have been trying to be more mindful of the gas tank.  I don’t ever want to be stranded.  I have only ever run out of gas one time in my life- and it was in the parking lot of a gas station!  I had to have two guys push my car to the pump!  Wasn’t horrible but I still never want to be in that situation again.  Paul is always good about filling up my tank whenever he drives it and I really appreciate that.

He and the kids were out dropping something off at Paul’s nephew’s house and on their way home Paul noticed that I only had about a fourth of tank of gas left.  So he swung by the gas station to fill it up.  Once he got there he realized that he didn’t have his wallet with him!  He had been working out in the yard and then got in the car with out going inside. 

Not a problem though.  He was just trying to be helpful.

Two days later, I left to take Allie to music lessons.  As we headed down the road, I noticed that I was hovering dangerously close to the ‘E’.  I decided to drop Allie off and then go get gas before taking the kids to the park.  So we did just that.  I dropped Allie off and then I went and found the gas station.  We weren’t in our neighborhood.  We were about 20 minutes from home and I had to drive for 3 or 4 minutes before I found the gas station.  As I pulled up to the pump, my gas light turned on. 

Perfect timing!

Cooper and Cassidy had both fallen asleep in the car and Kara and I were just chit chatting away.

I reached down to grab my purse and to my horror, I realized that I had left it AT HOME!

AGH!! 

Now, I know that once the light comes on, it is supposed to mean that I have about a gallon left.  And I should be able to go 15 miles or so on that.  But, I can’t explain it.  Something about that little light glowing next to the big letter E, that is so unsettling to me.

So Kara and I searched the car for money.  We came up with $3.85.

We looked all over the car- in all the pockets, the seats, the cup holders and the floor.  Some pieces were stuck together with who knows what.  We kept looking until I had enough for one gallon.  Then I gathered it up and headed in to pay.

I handed the cashier the hand full of coins with a kind of embarrassed expression and I apologized for all the loose change.  He was very kind and told me not to feel bad and told me that it happens all the time.

Kara and I got a good laugh about the whole experience.

Especially when we realized that we were 4 cents short of a full gallon!

The gas light didn’t even turn off!

I am happy to say that we were able to pick up Allie, make it home, get my purse and get to the gas station with out running out of gas.  And all was well! But I think I held my breath the whole car ride home!

I have now added a few more coins to the cup holders and will be working even harder to use the half way mark as the empty mark!