Living Right

bycosmicradio

5.9K followers

7 years ago

(Oh, no, this wasn't to be, but very well could have been!)

I thought I'd make a quick trip up to the next little town, Port Richey, to grab an Italian sub at Firehouse Subs. (Great subs, by the way) I saved half a sub for lunch at work tomorrow.

I got my sandwich, and was headed back across the bridge on US 19 (What I call "Useless 19"), a couple miles from home, when all of a sudden, there was no response from the accelerator, and I thought "Oh, my gosh" (Or, something to that effect), I'm OUT OF GAS!

I was coasting across the bridge, and moved to the right lane, preparing to pull off in a parking lot, when I saw a little Mom and Pop gas station, on the opposite side of the divided road, about a quarter mile ahead.

My speed was still at just under 50 miles per hour.

I glanced in my rearview mirror, and saw a big blue Silverado coming up behind me, but no other traffic, so I let the truck pass, then swung my vehicle back across two traffic lanes and into the left turn lane.

There was oncoming traffic in all three lanes going the other way, and I would have "given her some gas," if there was any to give, but there wasn't, and I couldn't stop coasting and still make the gas station, so I signaled left and negotiated the turn, in enough time that none of the people even honked their horns at me! (Thanks, guys!)

A few feet of street, and I careened into the gas station parking lot, where, mercifully, there were no cars at the first row of pumps.

Now I had a new issue, however, as my route had brought me in at a 90 degree angle to the pumps. Not wanting to brake too soon, I cut the car sharply, applying the brakes at the last moment, only to realize that, with no gasoline, and thus no running engine, I also had no functioning power brakes! (Can you say "Towering Inferno?)

I pumped what little brakes I had, missed hitting the pumps, and ended up at an odd angle, some three and a half feet past the end pump, but gratefully still barely reachable with the gas nozzle.

I eased out of my car, smiled, and thanked the man upstairs for bringing me safely home once again!

The expressions on the faces of the couple outside the laundromat next door told me my stunt driver-style approach to the pumps had been a tad unnerving.

I had the one credit card I had taken to the sandwich shop to pay for gas. Sometimes, I just grab 10 or 20 bucks out of my wallet for these little trips.

I filled up my tank, and was home in a couple of minutes.

It could have been so much worse. There were so many places for things to go wrong!

In retrospect, the wiser decision may have been to simply pull off to the right, walk home and get my gas can, then walk back and get myself on the road again.

Probably no more than an extra hour of my time, and a bit of inconvenience. Heck, I could use the exercise!

But, I'm adventurous, I made a split-second decision, and I'm very grateful everything worked out OK.

It's times like these I think "Maybe I'm living right," because somebody was definitely looking over my shoulder today!

Ever feel like somebody's bringing you home safe?