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| Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash |
Are you a risk taker in general? Do you prefer safety?
How about when it comes to the fuel gauge of a rental car? What team are you on?
This is a story of my ex-boyfriend and I on a road trip across Southern California, I think it was in 1999. A time before navigation systems, smart phones and public WiFi.
We wanted to explore the Death Valley and had made a reservation at Panamint Springs Resort. It was late afternoon / early evening when we entered the National Park, and he was driving. I mention this because I couldn't see the fuel gauge and maybe prevent what was going to happen.
You guessed right, at some point we were getting low on fuel.
In the middle of the desert.
It was getting darker by the minute, and we could hear coyotes howling. An eerie atmosphere.
Given that the National Park map stated that there was going be a gas station at our accommodation, we were not too worried. Only upon our arrival the gas station looked like it had gone out of business years ago. And unfortunately it was true. No gas at Panamint Springs. Until today their website says differently, though!
You've got to make it till Stovepipe Wells, we were told. If you don't make it, stay in your car and wait for a ranger on patrol duty. Make sure you have enough water with you.
NOW I was worried. It was only 30 miles away, but we had gone into reserve mode a while ago. If it was our own car we might have had a feeling about how far it was going to take us. But a rental?
The next morning we got up early, and a scorpio in the shower caused me to actually not take a shower.
Panamint Springs Resort sits at about 2,000 feet, making it the coolest lodging in Death Valley National Park. The temperatures here are generally 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Stovepipe Wells or Furnace Creek, which are both at or below sea level.
We were on our way early, so we could avoid the extreme heat. Even so, at 6am the air was flickering. We were driving as low-speed as possible as to not to use up too much fuel. I even urged him to switch off the A/C as surely this was fuel consuming as well.
To cut the long story short, we made it to Stovepipe Wells. Boy, were we glad to see a gas station!
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| Photo Source: Zaubee.com |
When I entered the store and said I wanted to pay for our gas, the lady asked "what pump?"
I told her. She looked down on her display, then out of the window at the car, then she looked at me and said "No way! You did not put that amount of gas in that car! Did you push it here?"
Phew, that was a close one.
Have you ever run out of gas completely? As in you had t wait to be rescued?
Let me know below. Please include the link to your post so I can visit back. Note that I can't reciprocate the favor if you comment anonymously.
Yes, I ran out once. Fortunately it was a small car, 1958 MGA. Two friends were with me and we had just passed a station. We were headed up a hill so it was easy to roll back down the hill and into the station. When I bought the car, the previous owner told me that a particular switch on the dash was used to connect the reserve gas tank. That was when I found out it did not work. I later found out that it was not connected to anything and assumed it may have been for fog lights that were no linger on the car.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha, I'm usually pretty good about getting gas when the light starts flashing. But the first tank on my new Prius emptied when I went up a hill on the highway....
ReplyDelete"I can drive 10 more miles" -- I have to admit that I have this mentality when filling up gas. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh I definitely have pushed the limit but I can't remember a time that I actually ran out of gas. I'm usually more of the filling it with over 1/4 tank left variety. Scary to be going through the hot desert!
ReplyDeleteJanet’s Smiles
Oh that's wqy to close for me, and especially since there are all those dire warning signs in the desert about being carenful not to do just that. Glad you made it Iand avoided close encounters with scorpions.)
ReplyDeleteI ran out of gas once on the freeway. My reserve tank light had just come on, so I thought I had a bit of cushion. WRONG! I have been paranoid about reserve tank lights ever since.
ReplyDeleteOMG you were so lucky! I've never run out of gas but hubby is the type to fill up when half full. On the other hand our granddaughter will run on E and think she has enough to go forever. LOL
ReplyDeleteMy brother used to leave my car empty - I am definitely more conservative and like to have some reserve in the tank.
ReplyDeleteOne time like you though my husband and I were travelling with the red light as the gas station had closed - we drove very slowly to the next station conserve fuel.
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No, I have never run completely out of gas, but I have let it run so low I was majorly stressed! Thanks for the great story!
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