Wife ran out of gas

Always cracks me up when i see cars on the side of the interstate with something headed the wrong way in front of it trying to jump it off... has that ever gotten one of the side of the road?
My jumper cables are 25' long, so I can park behind the vehicle and still get the job done. :)
 
Oh my, I feel confused about the OP's story and his wife. But let me share my own really really stupid "run out of gas" story. Hope it takes some heat off the OP and I'll take some flaming... I can laugh now, years later.

About five years ago I took my girlfriend on a romantic weekend spontaneous drive to remote areas for some sightseeing. We both had to work Monday, so had to be back; she was starting a new job. Long story short, we drove for hours all around and had a lovely time. But I grossly underestimated range and distances between gas stations on our return trip. At one point I could have filled up but the station's prices were twice the normal price, so I decided to wait until the next station. HUGE mistake. Always fill up in such situations. We had no cellular reception. We had hours to drive home, and it was already 9-10pm.

I was distracted for a long time, but looked at the gas gauge and it read 1/8th tank. My GPS said there was no gas station for a distance far greater than the remaining fuel. We were probably 100-200 miles from any civilization. It was dire. She was able to search and search and found a station 20 miles in the opposite direction so we took a gamble on time and distance in the wrong way. We arrived and the station was long-ago out of business. The situation was very very bad. There's just no way for a rescue allowing time for us to get back and to work on time at that point.

She was panicking. I was remaining cool on the outside but panicked on the inside, saying prayers. I am not making this up, we were driving on probably 1% remaining fuel, and it was now 10:55pm. We drove past an unmarked miracle gas station that was just about to close at 11pm! I had to do a fast U-turn and get there. I ran in, prepaid, and filled up. It was an absolute miracle to fill up. As we left they were turning off the lights and closing for the night. A miracle to get there.

We got back around 2am, exhausted, and immediately went to bed. She woke me up at 5am, saying HER car was out of gas and she needed help. She had this habit of turning her car on and letting it warm up while she got ready, and it ran empty. But on this occasion, she moved her car behind mine in my garage so she could keep a better watch on it! So at 5am, with her rushing to get to her 1st day, she was out of gas, blocking me in. I had no extra gas in any cans.

I said I'd push her out of the way. She put it in neutral and I moved it about 2' but could not push it further. I looked at her tires and noticed that in her haste, she dropped her purse which slide right behind the rear tire! I had rolled her car onto the purse, crushing a bunch of stuff and busting a bottle of water! We moved the purse, moved the car, and I drove took a gas can to the station and returned to fill her tank and she somehow made it to work on time.

CRAZY NIGHT/MORNING!
You've got to finish the story. Are you still with this "girl?" Facing adversity together and overcoming it will either seal the relationship or kill it. Where is she now?
BTW, my wife is in the camp of filling up early. I doubt she's ever run out of gas in her life, even b4 we met. But her car not only has a gas gage, but it has a heads up display and chimes that go off when fuel is low. You gotta be a real ditz to run out of gas in such a vehicle. 3 separate warnings and lights flashing.
 
You've got to finish the story. Are you still with this "girl?" Facing adversity together and overcoming it will either seal the relationship or kill it. Where is she now?
BTW, my wife is in the camp of filling up early. I doubt she's ever run out of gas in her life, even b4 we met. But her car not only has a gas gage, but it has a heads up display and chimes that go off when fuel is low. You gotta be a real ditz to run out of gas in such a vehicle. 3 separate warnings and lights flashing.

I'm not really sure whether i should "like" his story or not, but it was a good story...
 
You've got to finish the story. Are you still with this "girl?" Facing adversity together and overcoming it will either seal the relationship or kill it. Where is she now?
BTW, my wife is in the camp of filling up early. I doubt she's ever run out of gas in her life, even b4 we met. But her car not only has a gas gage, but it has a heads up display and chimes that go off when fuel is low. You gotta be a real ditz to run out of gas in such a vehicle. 3 separate warnings and lights flashing.
Nah, it didn't work. We tried, off and on for a few years but it was not meant to be.
 
The only time I ever ran out of gas was in 1986. Was driving across a bridge that went over a lake. Started sputtering about halfway across, and I coasted perfectly to a gas pump at this station on the other side of the bridge:D
 
running out of gas is not as rare a phenomenon as one would think. Years ago, I got to chat with a fellow who works at a busy gas station on a busy road, and he says they get around 4 people PER DAY who have run out of gas.
 
honestly, there is much to unpack here...unless a gas gauge is dysfunctional, why would anyone get under 1/2 without looking to refill? that lesson was drilled into me by a dear uncle who was a cold war, curtis lemay era, usaf sac tanker navigator.
My mom drilled the same thing into my head. Works out perfectly for me, that’s a week of normal driving.
 
I will have to say. One thing about my wife is she won't let a car get anywhere near 1/4 tank when she's driving it. I used to drive all over the place with the gas light blazing in my Accord. I knew it had something like 4 gallons left, she'd always get super edgy when I did that.

Now...she did drive her accord 20+ miles with the oil light on, in July, in Georgia, on the highway, when it puked out the balance shaft seal and therefore all the oil (There's a post here somewhere about that Survivor Accord). But gas, nope she's good about keeping that in the car.
 
With the price of gas today I fill up at a 1/2 tank.
Thats about $36
I just don't want to see $65 or more on the pump.
I know I'm fooling myself.
But I won't run out while driving.:cool:

Haha, I do the same thing. For exactly the same reason. I fill up every time I'm off work, which these days is every 3 days, so I'll fill up the night before I start another 3 days stint.
 
We have never been out of gas. Close..., stuck waiting for the gas station to get back electricity so the pumps work or waiting for a truck to come refill the station. Having driven a lot of diesels hammers it home that you don't let it run dry.
 
My wife ran out of gas once.. My boys never let her forget it. They got to ride the bus home, quite the adventure for a 10 and 7 year old.
 
So your wife left her phone at home and ran the car out of gas all in the same trip… Sounds like something my wife would do too.

The trifecta was running out of gas right where she parked. And she doesn't typically leave the engine running, so I'm sure that it just happened to be that perfectly timed.
 
This is also one of the reasons why I gladly take charge of filling all the vehicles for us both. My wife hasn't touched a pump more than maybe 2 or 3 times since we married 10 years ago.
 
This is exactly how something comes about. If you, for what ever reason, are not taking care of it and she is not used to having to check she won't. Sometimes life is crazy and sh#t happens. If a lot of stuff is happening around you, you can miss something like this if you are not in a habit of taking care of fueling, checking oil etc.
 
Many decades ago, I think 1976, my wife was working the evening shift as an RN in Tacoma. The weather was well below freezing. She called me (from indoors, this was way before anyone thought of cell phones) to say the car started then died and would not start. The security guard had suggested maybe the battery was dead, but she could figure out the car was still cranking. This was also back when gasoline was just that, gasoline. On other's suggestions, the next day I bought some alcohol additive and then poured a little gas in carburetor several times until it warmed up enough to melt the ice in the fuel line. 10% ethanol in gasoline has since solved that problem.

Then, in the 80s she called me from a rest area pay phone to tell me she had locked herself out of the car. Everyone was trying to help her, but they could not do anything. I drove up there, over 20 miles, parked on the old highway paralleling I-5, crossed a field and fence to the rest area, and unlocked the car. Then I took the key to someone at the free coffee table and told them to give her the key and tell her they got the car open. She was pretty panicked about what I was going to say when I got there before he saw me a few second later.
 
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