Fuel station to the rescue.......

oscar

Well-known member
The short version of a long story is that we're driving East on I-80 somewhere in the middle of PA. Me and son in Max with the Castle (Cyclone 4100) behind us. In front of us wife and daughter in Suburban, pulling a flat bed trailer with a small cottage on it. (that's the long part of the story). Wifey started out with a quarter tank and I had told her to tell me (we have CB's) when it was down to 1/8th and we'd gass her up at the next exit if we hadn't reached the Flying J with RV island I was aiming for. Anywho, we run into some major road construction with lane shifts and narrow lanes and much delay. Wifey is a good driver, but does not have a lot of pulling experience so she is a little preoccupied. At some point a flag went off in my head and I asked her how much gas she had. Ooops! E for enough....not. Seconds later the low fuel light came on. 5 miles of one lane construction to go in heavy traffic.....next gas station 15. So, I'm sweating it. Running out in a single lane with nowhere to pull over is bad.....Two miles later there's an exit. No signs for gas stations, but I have to get her off the interstate so we exit. We quickly found a large parking lot when I remembered the fueling station. I've never used it, but this seemed like a good time. (We do use the genny so I keep the tank full...) Driver side to driver side I quickly put about 7 or 8 gallons in her tank and minutes later we were back on the road...... Got to the Flying J and topped everyone off, dumped and had a nice lunch. The difference between adventure and ordeal.....
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
Last summer on our way back from South Dakota on the day before the Sturgis rally started, we skipped a gas station in Chadron, Nebraska as there were at least 15 motorcycles and at least that many RV's waiting to get at the gas pumps, thinking we could make it to the next town instead.

NOT!

Ran out of gas about 17 miles shy of Alliance, Nebraska . . . out in the middle of nowhere!

Here is a shot of us along the road:

OutOfGasInNebraska-IMG1198.jpg

I was actually amazed the we had cell service out there . . . got ahold of Good Sam's Roadside Assistance, who sent out a tow truck with five gallons of gas to get us down the road.

We had about an hour and a half wait, so went back to the camper and had lunch and listened to the radio!

Turned out to be a godsend that we ran out of gas as the delay made us miss a bad hail storm about 50 miles down the road that we would have been right in the middle of had we not spent that two hours sitting along the Nebraska corn fields.

However, now when we venture away from civilization, I take a 5-gallon gas can to cover my rear end!
 

scottyb

Well-known member
Nice move Oscar. Having a fuel cell is great. I keep the Mule, commercial mower, and all my gasoline powered tools fueled up year round with it. This also prevents the gas from going stagnant. I just got home today after using the generator 96 hours straight while dry camping at a race. No problem making it 24 hours and could probably go 48-60 hours w/o refueling.
 

porthole

Retired
Scott I think the longest I have gone so far is about 48 hours during our Dover week.
 
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truknutt

Committed Member
Great story Oscar. I actually had an owner of one of the Heartland luxury coaches tell me the fuel station was a waste of money....I just shrugged, "my money"!
 

szewczyk_john

Well-known member
That stretch of I-80 has been under construction for years. I do not remember ever being on 80 and not finding construction. I have never used my station either.
 

porthole

Retired
I with you on that Dave. I would like to see it as an option on non-haulers as well. Nothing like having 25 - 30 gallons to run the genny, even a portable genny. We use both at Dover for the races, and having the station makes filling the portable that much less of a chore.
 

scottyb

Well-known member
Scott I think the longest I have gone so far is about 48 hours during our Dover week.

I would try it if I didn't have my dogs with me. I was able to keep it full with 2 x 5 gal VP Racing fuel cans which will hold 6 gal each, and making one gas run / day. I only run the LR AC during the day and the BR at night and both for a couple hours in the afternoon after racing was over. It was 102-104 with 110 heat index each day but I was parked in 75% shade.
 

porthole

Retired
Scott, did you see my 14 gallon tote and fuel pump in my other thread?

The tote made last years race much easier. The fuel pump made this years race even easier.
 

scottyb

Well-known member
Scott, did you see my 14 gallon tote and fuel pump in my other thread?

The tote made last years race much easier. The fuel pump made this years race even easier.

I remember your tote but I don't think I saw your pump. Maybe you can point me to the topic. I have to say that pouring 12 gal of fuel grows a little tiring when it is 85 degrees and 90% humidity at 6 AM.
 

oscar

Well-known member
Another great use for the fueling station. We're dry camping the entire weekend which we usually don't do in the Castle. Don't want to run the on board generator all the time as it would eat up a lot of gas, and be too noisy, especially at night. Only when we need AC or the microwave do I fire it up. So I brought my little Honda 2000eu which is plenty for battery charging and powering TV/computers etc. As I was looking for a gas can for it the lightbulb went off. So now it's parked at the rear end of the trailer, with the power cord in it, and twice a day I fill it up with the fuel hose. No muss, no fuss. Perfect.
 

porthole

Retired
Do the same with my honda 3k.
Only bring for the week long Dover trip and use it when we don't need all the Onan's power.
 
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