Семья в Пенсильвании чудом избежала аварии, проехав на иссякшем баке по шоссе

Recently, Ryan, a friend of ours, told us about a stressful personal experience that he and his wife Stephanie had. They were on a leisurely trip in the long, rolling hills of Pennsylvania with their infant daughter when he noticed trouble with their vehicle. He stepped on the gas and it wouldn’t accelerate and his steering wheel was hard to turn. He then realized he was out of gas. They immediately panicked and started coasting for a mile and then another mile. Meanwhile, their car was slowing down and they were getting passed. They noticed there wasn’t much room for a car to safely pull over on the side of the highway. They knew that’s when yards or feet were becoming important. That’s when they saw an exit coming up. Ryan didn’t step on the brake and took the corner too fast. They got lucky that the stoplight was green. They ran out of gas shortly thereafter. They looked around a bend and saw a gas station about 500 yards away. Then, it was as simple as walking to the station, buying a small gas can and filling it with fuel. After that, they were on their merry trip once again. Their story reminded me of several instances when I was younger and ran out of gas. The first time was when I was single and lived in an apartment right across from a grocery store. My car started chugging. I noticed the empty gas gauge and frantically coasted into the grocery store parking lot. My car was barely off the street. Fortunately, Uncle Joe owned a gas station nearby. I walked across the street and called him. He brought a can of gas over to my stranded vehicle and I had enough fuel to make it to his gas station. The next time was when I was married and we lived in Kansas. I was on my way to eat lunch with my husband. I was stopped at a light and noticed the car was chugging. I quickly glanced at the gas gauge and was shocked. The needle was on empty. As luck would have it, I was about to turn the corner and a gas station was nearby. I was able to coast into the lot and park beside a pump before the car died. Boy, was I ever relieved! When I told Ben about the incident, he asked, “Don’t you look at the gas gauge?’ “Not usually,” I admitted to him. “Well, you need to start doing that,” he instructed me. I knew he was right and from then on, I’ve never ran out of gas. It isn’t a fun position to be in. Thankfully, it only has happened to me twice. That’s enough of a wakeup call, isn’t it? Now that Ben is retired, he does most of the driving. He’s also the one who always fills up our gas tank. A lot of times, I glance over and notice the gas gauge shows it isn’t necessary to get fuel right then and I’ll ask Ben, “Do you want to get gas today?” “Might as well since we’re in town,” he’ll reply. Our friends, Ryan and Stephanie, got very lucky when they were travelling through the long, rolling hills of Pennsylvania and ran out of gas. It sure drained their emotions for a little while until a gas station showed up at the right time. Their “out of gas” experience was sort of like my “out of gas” experiences. Fortunately, fuel was nearby, bailing both of us out of the stupid jams we had gotten ourselves into. Susan Davis is a former Sterling resident and author of “Small Farm & Big Family,” “Ancestry’s Journey,” “Bushels of Nostalgia” and “Lovebirds for Life.”