As I think about this question right now, strangely the events that stick out to me right now from this year involve (almost) running out of gasoline. Now I've been driving for almost 6 years now and I had never come close to running out of fuel on a trip, until this year when it happened 3 times! Either I've become less responsible, or less aware of the gas meter, or something! Though I have to say it's really not all my fault....
It all started in April when my friend Ellen and I were driving to Edmonton.
You can read all about that here. Several months later in July (or August) Ellen and I headed out to go canoe camping with a couple friends on Harrison Lake (a couple hours from where we live.) We took Ellen's Dad's car to pull the four canoes we brought along. Normally we could easily make it to Vancouver (3.5 hrs) on less than a tank of gas, so we figured we would be totally fine getting to Harrison on a little less than 3/4 of a tank. What we didn't realize was how much fuel a vehicle pulling four canoes used. It seemed to use up twice as much fuel as normal. By the time we got into the little town of Harrison, we were very low. But it was Sabbath and we didn't want to buy gas. We would get some on the way home on Sunday.
Our camping trip hadn't really been planned. I had found a road on google earth that looked like it ran along the edge of the lake. I assumed we could find a place to park on the side of the road and there unload the canoes into the lake. We found the road on my GPS and set off, our friends following behind in their car. And we drove, and drove, and the road turned to gravel, and it kept getting higher and higher above the lake. It seems like we were miles above the lake's edge. Such are the depth problems of google earth, on there it had looked like most of the road was right on the lakeshore. Finally after driving for maybe an hour, the road made its way back down to the water and we found a place to park and put the canoes in. Unfortunately by this time we had been driving on empty for a long time. Would we even be able to make it back to Harrison? There was nothing we could do now, so we unloaded the canoes and after much debate began canoeing to an island in the middle of the lake that seemed to be 3 or 4 miles away. And then of course the wind had to come up so waves were almost washing into the canoes and then it got dark....we finally made it the island though. The next day after hiking a bit around the island, finding incredibly awesome moss and canoeing back, we remembered again the state of our gas tank. We had no choice but to drive. Our great solution was to coast as much as possible. At the crest of every hill Ellen would put the car in neutral and we would see how far we could coast. I even found myself pushing against the floorboards hoping to help the car coast just a bit further. Quite surprisingly we made it all the way back to a gas station! I think all the miles we spent in neutral on they way back must have really helped or something.
November found me driving alone to Kelowna for my great aunt's funeral, about a 4.5 hour drive. As I left my house and set off down the road, I realized I had less than a 1/4 of a tank left. No problem, I would fill up at the nice gas station in Lytton about 35 minutes away. But when I arrived, it wasn't open for the day yet and all the pumps were the pay-inside kind. But not to worry, I would buy fuel at next town, Spences Bridge, another half hour away. But at Spences Bridge I realized with a sinking feeling there were no gas stations in the tiny town. Now I was concerned. The next city was Merritt, a full 64 kilometers away. I drive a little car, its an older Toyota Corolla. I had no idea how far my car would go on empty, but since it doesn't have a very big gas tank, I assumed it wouldn't go extremely far. I was thinking maybe 40 or 50 k's. My empty light came on about 1 kilometer outside of Spences Bridge. I reset my mileage odometer thing so I could see far I got on empty. As my car sped along the curving roads, the empty gas light glared up at me. What would I do when my car finally drank the last drop of fuel and left me stranded on the side of the road? I would be late for the funeral and I didn't relish the idea of walking into the packed church in the middle of everyone's mourning. Would I be close enough to try and hike to Merritt for gas? Should I knock on doors of nearby houses until I found someone who would give me fuel? What if I met creepers or kidnappers. I had no cell phone. Pushing all the thoughts from my head I focused on driving and my music. Thirty kilometers rolled by, 40, 50, how much farther would I get? Signs announced I was almost to Merritt, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I finally pulled into the first gas station I saw after driving about 60 kilometers on empty! Thank God! I made it the funeral on time and had a nice time seeing a lot of family again.
So I guess the lesson I can learn for this next year would be to watch my fuel meter, and plan more for any trips I take. But then again, what would I do without the excitement and thrill of almost running out of fuel? Yeah...I think I can do without it!
So in closing, I wish you all a Happy New Year and a 2012 filled with full gas tanks. =)
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