A fable

[HornedToad]

A FABLE ABOUT MIKE & HELEN

MARCH 2009
On the way home from picking up their new travel trailer in Buda, TX…
In San Angelo Helen ask Mike “Do we need to stop for gas?”
90 miles from home Mike checks his gas gauge and it reads 141 miles to empty…
Mike says “NO, we have plenty of gas.”
Mike runs out of gas on the outskirts of town within sight of a Texaco.

DECEMBER 2012
The first trip out in their new Heartland fifth wheel toyhauler…
In Abilene Helen ask Mike “Do we need to stop for gas?”
50 miles from Coleman, TX Mike checks his gas gauge and it reads 75 miles to empty…
Mike says “NO, we have plenty of gas.”
Mike runs out of gas one mile from the Allsup’s in Coleman, TX.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

1. Helen is always right.
2. Learn from history or be doomed to repeat it.
3. Mike is a dummy.

 

[cookie]

Good story. Always listen to the navigator.
I moved your thread to the appropriate area.

Peace
Dave

 

[Nabo]

Never doubt the wife!!!!

 

[scottyb]

That's a good one. I gotta ask, if you are in San Angelo, and you are 90 mi from home, why and you are going through Texaco? Not even Google Maps knows where Texaco is.

 

[2psnapod1]

Hahahaha....must be the name. Cuz my Mike's a dummy too! Thankfully, that last time he was a dummy was almost 8 years ago...let's hope that's the last time!

 

[Speedy]

I doubt her all the time; but I let her have her way and when she's wrong I remind her for several days. Helps to keep my sanity.

 

[HornedToad]

Home is Midland, TX... Texaco is the gas station south of I20 on Hwy 158 to San Angelo. I think only a few independent stations remain after Chevron bought them out and rebranded.

That brings up another topic... why did I pay $3.11 for a gallon of gas today in Midland where I can see thousands of pumpjacks on the horizon, and filled up for $2.93 a gallon in Lubbock this past weekend without a pumpjack in sight???

 

[TXTiger]

$3.11 a gallon is cheap here in Calif. we are paying $3.69

 

[danemayer]

why did I pay $3.11 for a gallon of gas today in Midland where I can see thousands of pumpjacks on the horizon, and filled up for $2.93 a gallon in Lubbock this past weekend without a pumpjack in sight??? Mike & Helen Bowden

I don't know much about how gas is priced, but maybe it has more to do with distance from the refinery than from where the oil comes out of the ground.

 

[scottyb]

Home is Midland, TX... Texaco is the gas station south of I20 on Hwy 158 to San Angelo. I think only a few independent stations remain after Chevron bought them out and rebranded.

LOL. I thought you were talking about Texaco, that old oil camp between Big Lake and Rankin. I too have learned to listen because it's not worth the consequences.

 

[rgwilliams69]

But maybe now you can emergency re-fuel from the fuel station on the Torque, right? Problem solved! See you really weren't out of gas after all. (unless the Torque was out too!)

 

[pegmikef]

A FABLE ABOUT MIKE & HELEN

MARCH 2009
On the way home from picking up their new travel trailer in Buda, TX…
In San Angelo Helen ask Mike “Do we need to stop for gas?”
90 miles from home Mike checks his gas gauge and it reads 141 miles to empty…
Mike says “NO, we have plenty of gas.”
Mike runs out of gas on the outskirts of town within sight of a Texaco.

. . . . and fuel stops can be pretty sparse in a lot the the areas between San Angelo and Midland, ergo, I upgraded to a fifty gallon tank . . . another Mike

 

[HornedToad]

But maybe now you can emergency re-fuel from the fuel station on the Torque, right? Problem solved! See you really weren't out of gas after all. (unless the Torque was out too!)

This was my first trip out in the Torque and I had not put any gas in the aux tank. (was waiting to install the generator I bought on eBay)
With my track record I'll move that to the top of my checklist. I'm sure that will save me one day in the future!!!

 

[jayc]

I had a similar situation one time a couple of years ago. I misjudged the Distance to Empty but instead of running out of fuel, I had to make an unscheduled stop to transfer some fuel. When I told my wife about this story, she just looked at me and said "see, you're not alone".

 

[rgwilliams69]

I have a diesel truck so unfortunately the old "grab gas from the Cyclone" wouldn't work for me. But with a 65 gal tank on the truck I never let it get below 1/4 and have plenty of range. However with my old F250 and the 26 gal tank I had plenty of white knuckle "where's the next fuel stop, and can I get my camper under the awning" moments. Almost had to unhook it once to fill up, no fun...

 

[TravelTiger]

However with my old F250 and the 26 gal tank I had plenty of white knuckle "where's the next fuel stop, and can I get my camper under the awning" moments. Almost had to unhook it once to fill up, no fun...

We had one of those... we only have a 28 gal tank. We were heading into Flagstaff. A wildfire was burning close to the highway, and we really needed to stop for fuel. Of course the exit we needed to take for the truck stop was blocked due to the fire.... We had to pass it up and head into Flagstaff looking for an alternative, as the low-fuel light was on and chiming! In in-town traffic, I had to jump out of the truck and run ahead to the corner gas stations to see if they had diesel and see if we would fit. Not a fun time! Luckily we found one with diesel and a high overhang, but it was a bugger to get out of and get going the direction we needed to go.

We are now more diligent about stopping before we "have to".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rgwilliams69]

I agree, when you are pulling something this big proactive stop planning is a must.

 

[Kbvols]

1st ever trip to Fla several yrs ago about 1am rolled thru Columbia SC knew I was getting low but thought oh next exit i'll stop only problem there was no next exit..then fuel light came on fortunately my on-board fuel monitor (DW) was sleeping she never knew the ole "pucker factor" was hitting a 9.5 on a scale of 10 by the time I stopped for fuel.