my car has a 19 gallon gas tank

I usually don’t put gas in my car until there is less than 1/8th of a tank of gas left in the car. This is the fourth Ford Thunderbird or Mercury Cougar that I have owned. The earlier models all had 20 gallon gas tanks. The car I have now has a 19 gallon tank and a gas gauge that does not go to "E" even when it is empty. You are probably asking yourself "How do I know this?" and why am I writing about it today?

I know this because I ran out of gas today a half-mile from my apartment when I was hoping to have at least another gallon of gas in the car. Fortunately, it happened on a nice wide flat spot on one of my favorite scenic roads in Bellevue—the Lake Hills Connector. I could have called the auto club, but I figured a friend that lives close by would be a faster solution. I called Carol knowing she likely just got home from work. My idea was for her to come get my passenger, Shawna, and go get some gas. Her better idea was just get the gas and bring it to me.

Carol lives close by and is a very functional reliable person. I thought it would be about ten minutes before we were on our way. It took a bit longer than that. Carol had to go the not one, not two, but three gas stations to find one that would sell her a plastic gas can. The first had gas cans—but they were locked up for the night by 6:10 PM even though there was still a couple hours of daylight left. The second gas station was being remodeled and only had a tiny floor-space for consumer goods, thus no gas can there. The third gas station had a gas can, but it was a challenge to fill even with help from the station attendant.

It was a pleasant temperature with overcast skies after having rained in the morning. Shawna and I had a nice conversation about many different topics while waiting for Carol. Plus, I love the lush greenery surrounding the Lake Hills Connector road. My favorite part of the LHC has a canopy of trees growing over the two eastbound lanes. We were in the westbound lanes which offered a view of the newly rehabilitated wet lands and a 360° view of being surrounded by forested hillsides and not a house in sight.

I am grateful for beautiful roads, good conversation, helpful friends, a positive frame of mind that mad waiting by the side of the road a pleasant experience and now knowing that my car only holds 19 gallons of gas. That will avoid learning that lesson under less pleasant circumstances. This was the best experience I ever had running out of gas!