That Time I Ran Out of Gas or It Really Stinks to be Stuck on the Side of 290 in a Monsoon

My gas light always seems to come on two days before I get paid. Always. I hear that little ding and see that yellow light at the point when my checking account is completely wiped out and I've started playing check writing roulette. (If you are more financially independent than I am, you may not be aware of this game. It's when you are out of money until pay day-but bills need to be paid. Usually things like daycare and school tuition. So you write the checks and send them off, crossing your fingers that they won't try to cash them before payday. Sometimes it works, sometimes you pay the bounced check fees. You win some, you lose some.)

I grew up with a dad who made us refill the gas tank when it got to half a tank. I never really knew what kind of horrors would befall us if we failed to do this, but I always, always kept the tank at half full. But as I grew up, had children, and therefore had less dispensible money, I really started thinking about the WHY behind this practice. I mean, I live in a big city. The second largest city in New England. I have AAA. (Or so I thought...) Was I ever going to be in a situation where gas would be totally out of reach? Because of all these things, I often pushed the envelope when it came to putting gas in my car. My car tells me how many miles to empty. I knew how far I could go after that gas light came on...and how many miles I could go after it read "0 miles to empty," or so I thought...

On this particular day, my car had been 

on "0 miles to empty" for over a day. I dropped L off at preschool and then stopped to get coffee. I drove past a gas station. (OK-maybe the Honeydew I went to for coffee was AT a gas station. Minor detail.) But...it was 37 degrees and raining sideways. I didn't want to start my work day freezing cold and wet. So I pushed on...with a plan to get gas after work. 

As I drove down 290 towards work, it started raining even harder and more sideways. (Can something be "more sideways" or did I just make that up?!) I was in the left hand lane, driving my car, and mentally congratulating myself for being early for a change. Suddenly, my car made a little coughing sound. And then it turned off altogether. In the left hand lane. During rush hour. In a monsoon. Somehow I managed to drift over to the (virtually non existent) breakdown lane, after half the drivers on 290 flipped me off and/or layed on their horns. (Because...Worcester.) At this point, I still wasn't sure what was wrong with my car. I tried restarting it. Sputter, sputter...nothing. That's when I realized. I had run out of gas. Now here's where I had some decisions to make. First I decided to call AAA. Except I couldn't find the card. And when you google AAA you get numbers for AAA insurance and AAA travel, but not roadside assistance. What to do, what to do? I could call Joe-who was at work in Franklin, but then I'd have to deal with him yelling at me for being irresponsible. I couldn't call my dad at 8am-and he lived too far away anyway. Plus, he probably wouldn't be too pleased either. Everyone else was probably at work. So I did what any mature woman would do in the same situation. I sat in my car, in the monsoon, and cried. 

Finally I got it together and called Joe, who, as predicted, was not pleased. I told him that I needed him to look up the AAA number for me. That's when I learned that he forgot to renew AAA. Fail. (Good news though-you can renew immediately online. File that away for future use.) So there I sat. On the side of 290 in Shrewsbury. The road with the smallest breakdown lane EVER. In a monsoon. And every car that came by made my little Ford Focus shudder and blow in the wind. I called work. Told them my car "may have broken down, but probably ran out of gas" and that I was going to be late. 

At this point, I had no idea what I was going to do. I didn't have AAA apparently. Joe and my dad were both too far away. (Note to self: Make local friends who will bring you gas or at least pick your a$$ up when you run out of gas on the highway at 8am in a monsoon.) 

If this next part was a movie, a bright white light would shine down from the heavens illuminating the goodness that was about to happen. As I sat there feeling generally annoyed with myself, I noticed a van pull up in my rear view mirror. My first thought was, "This better not be a kidnapper." (I don't know about you, but whenever I see a white van, my first thought is "kidnapper." I blame the news during the 80s and America's Most Wanted.) A man came out of the van and walked up to my window and asked what was wrong. At this point I decided to 'fess up, throwing aside any concerns about stranger danger and guys in white vans. "I ran out of gas," I mumbled. What does this guy do next? He says, "I have gas in the van. I'll give you a gallon so you can get to a gas station." Always suspicious, I asked what the catch was. Get this. No catch! This was the Commerce Insurnace Cares Van. It patrols this stretch of highway, looking for broken down cars and helps for free. All I had to do was fill out a card rating the service. (Anyone who says New Englanders aren't friendly? Liars!!) So he put the gas in the car, waited to see if the car would start, and when it did, he drove away. (I wish I could say he drove into the sunset or something fabulous like that, but really he just drove onto the mess that is 290 during rush hour in a monsoon.) I drove to a gas station, got gas (just in case!), and then drove to work. Crisis averted. Commerce Cares Van-YOU ROCK!!!

Epilogue:

A week later my tire blew out on that EXACT SAME STRETCH OF HIGHWAY. I'm thinking I might need to adopt that piece of road in an effort to appease the highway gods, who are obviously pissed at me. (Or maybe I should just keep gas in my tank and stop driving into curbs. Meh. It happens.)