NEW RELEASES
The Gasoline Sweepstakes
This morning when My Honey was taking me to work, I noticed him peering at the gauges on his dashboard.
“I need to get petrolene (that’s what he calls gas. I don’t know – who understands men?)”
I lean over the cab of the truck and glance at his gas gauge. “No, you’ve got lots of gas in there.”
Right on cue we hear a loud “Bing” – the truck informing us that it also believes it needs “petrolene”. I scoff and reach up to the computer readout on the roof of the cab. The computer calculates, based on your driving habits and the available gas in the tank, how many miles you have left. It said 16.
“Pshaw,” I say, “you can keep driving on that until Wednesday or so.”
“Unlike you, I don’t feel compelled to gamble on how long I can still go on an empty tank,” he says.
That’s not it exactly. It’s really more of a game of skill. I look at that little “Bing” as if my Dodge is saying to me, “Game on.” I’ll ride those available miles until the calculation tells me zero. Of course, I get a little panicky at that point, but that’s all part of the game. It all begins with 13 miles or so and, I think to myself, work and home are only about two miles apart – give or take. Theoretically I can go six more days on that if I don’t go ANYWHERE else. And you need to factor in hills and such, that will change how many ounces the tank thinks are in there. My drive way sits at a slant so, in the morning, the Dodge tries to psyche me out telling me there are only three miles left. That makes me a little anxious, but I’ll soon remember that the computer told me eight when I parked it last night. Ha! The Dodge thinks I’m a fool, but it doesn’t know who it’s dealing with.
And then Ava or Isabella will call me for lunch and that disrupts my whole strategy.
I think I like living dangerously and, now that I’m a grown up, and my wild days are over, Gasoline Roulette is where I get my kicks. Of course, it could be that My Honey is just more responsible than I am – after all he’s the one who set us up with AAA. Which, I’d like to point out in neon letters, I’ve never had to use because I’ve run out of gas.
Sounds like a fun game. Unfortunately, I don’t have a computer in my car to tell me when I’m low on gas, just the yellow light that comes on, and then I get to guess whether or not I can make it to Tucson before I run out–facing a stretch of highway without gas stations that’s at least 35 miles long. However, that being said, I was once told by a mechanic that, when you run your vehicle with a gas tank under 1/4 full, you invite condensation to form inside the tank, which will eventually mix with your gas and strain your engine, which would take a toll over time. I don’t know if it’s true, but I thought I’d mention it.