Running Out of Gas - Literally

I never, ever drive with the tank less than half full. I have never been in a position to run out of gas - I am too practical to allow that to happen. People have made fun of me for being so paranoid about it. Our Subaru Forester also has a few readings in the dashboard that show the fuel status, as well as how many more miles one can drive until the tank empties. Driving back home on the day of my mom’s funeral in Florida, we were already in a weird state of mind. Our destination was Savannah, Georgia and we had at least thirty miles worth of gas to go - or so we thought - to reach the exit which was only a couple more miles off I-95. Without any warning or red light or anything, all of a sudden our car stopped in the middle lane right before dusk on an overpass/bridge. I’m not sure how we managed to reach the side of the road - in all the traffic - without getting hit. I had just asked my husband if we should stop for gas - at this exit - just to be on the safe side. When we looked to our right, and down the hill there was a gas station. So we put the flashers on, got out, locked the car, and slid down the muddy incline. Of course, no gas can was available to buy, and none of the customers coming in had one either. So the attendant called the gas station across the very busy street - during rush hour - and found out they had one gallon containers. So we ran for our lives across the street as the sun continued to set. We purchased the gas can and one gallon of gas, ran again across the highway, and back up the muddy hill to our car. Neither one of us could figure out how to use the darn thing - just sticking the nozzle in the slot didn’t do anything - it was splashing on us. Finally I figured out to turn the gas can and nozzle a different way, and pump the nozzle until the can emptied. We lost the cap to the can but kept the nozzle on. We started the car and got off the next exit to fill the tank. Looking back we were so fortunate that this event happened while it was still light outside, the weather was fine (no rain or snow), we didn’t get hit while miraculously pulling to the side, the gas station was within walking distance and not in the middle of no where, and we had AAA if we really needed it. I’ll be writing Subaru a letter about our experience. It just should not have happened - especially on the day of my mom’s funeral.