Ahh yes, the good old 'race the fuel gauge' routine. The mountains and curves and and all of that aren't the only beautiful part about driving up and down I-77. There's also a paucity of company-approved fuel stops. I should have known this before I started driving today. I did not know this.
I managed to sleep nice and late this morning after watching a couple of movies last night. Apparently it was chick flick night in Virginia, and I didn't even have a chick to blame. Pathetic. (Couples Retreat - mediocre at best. Valentine's Day - dumb as hell. In my defense though - Both movies did employ plenty of lovely 'scenery' to help pass the time, if you catch my drift.) By the time I got up today and figured out where I was, I also figured out something else. "Tomorrow" wasn't tomorrow anymore. It was today. Italian BMT with double meat for breakfast. Kickass.
Somehow I haven't seen any rain since I left home. This has been entirely unexpected since I took a look at the forecast before I rolled out of Taylor on Monday. Rain all week, starting Tuesday, they said. Given the terrain that I covered over the last few days, we can take the inaccurate forecast as good news. The drive through the mountains wasn't quite as tedious as usual, mainly since the aforementioned fuel situation had me keenly tuned in to things. Since I hadn't taken on any fuel in Charlotte yesterday, the next option on my route would be the Pilot in Columbus, Ohio. Once I noticed that the red light (1/8 tank) had come on, I started doing some quick on-the-fly calculating. Unlike some in our country, I happen to be pretty good at mathematics. I needed to see if I could reach Columbus or if I would have to take I-64 westward to Nitro, West Virginia and then re-route myself from there.
Satisfied that I should make it to Columbus, I stayed on I-77 up to US-33. I then got an unwelcome dose of reality when I saw a sign on I-77 saying that Columbus was 124 miles away. Shit. That's further than I thought it would be. I guess math skills don't really help if you start with the wrong assumptions. The gauge went totally below 'E' while I was still a good 40-50 miles from my fuel stop. Previous experience suggested to me that 40-50 miles shouldn't be too bad, but when I got stuck in rush hour traffic I started to get a little concerned. Shifting and accelerating are the enemies of an empty gas tank. I got there though. 192.56 gallons to top 'er off. I don't know if these tanks have a total volume of 200 gallons or if that's how much you can actually put in them, up to the fuel caps. In any event, I heard the stuff hitting the bottom of the tank when I turned the pump on. Probably should be a little more diligent about checking my fuel book before I start a trip.
I had a nice peaceful two hours of rolling through the Ohio countryside this evening, with a pre-plan for tomorrow thrown in for good measure, so all's well that ends well. I grabbed a spot at the rest area on I-75, just a couple of miles from where I'll have to get onto the skinny roads to finish off the run to Whitehouse. I'm guessing that I have around 35 miles left fom here. Good enough.
Since I'm going from Maumee, Ohio to Lynchburg, Virginia tomorrow afternoon, I suppose it's time to try a little reverse psychology. I love driving through West Virginia. If I could get trips through West Virginia every day, I would be the happiest driver on the road. Maybe that'll help or something. Maybe. At least the miles keep coming though. You know, paid by the mile and all.
Couples Retreat was the movie I was suggesting last week. You and Steve are too much alike. He said it was ok. I thought it was funny as hell. I even purchased it the other day. When you get a chance watch Role Models.
ReplyDeleteRoles models is a great one.
ReplyDeleteBeen in the fuel situation. Was on half a tank leaving henderson, co for the inlaws 45 miles away assuming we'd have a con-way load. 3 days later we were sent to ND to pick up a load bound for TX. By the time we were 50 miles away from the fuel stop in Colby, KS we were well past the "E" mark. Sucking it up we threw in $30.00 or so at a podunk fuel station along the way. It wasn't pretty when we got to Colby but we didn't have to call roadservice and Ops. You wanna talk about incompetent... that would have been bad on us for sure!
I guess I'll check that one out if you're both saying it's good. If it was only Ms. Ashley there, I'm not so sure.
ReplyDeleteI've run into a few guys that have had to call Road Service and have them send out rescuer with a gas can. In fact, I've had to do that myself once, but I don't consider it my fault if it happens while I'm parked and I still have a bunch of fuel.
I'm pretty sure they could throw in a few more stops in some of the sparsely populated areas and help us out, especially out there in the wilderness where you guys were running. I was in northern Michigan once, having left the Taylor terminal while the pumps were out of service. Then they sent me to the U.P. When I called Joplin, the gal in the fuel department said that I could go anywhere that takes ComData. No place up there did, so I had to pay with my Amex and get reimbursed, but I've seen those ComData signs at some pretty rustic places. There should be a few more options authorized, in my amateur opinion.
Thankfully Daryl backed me on my recommendation of Role Models since you don't trust my judgement!!!! :-) I see how you are!
ReplyDeleteYeah, other than along I-90 there isn't much else out there to fuel at.. and we were indeed in the sticks! We only tossed the cash into the tanks because, well, you can't claim incompetance on someone else when your incompetant.. lol. Its not perfect logic but it gives me a reason to bitch when I really need it.
ReplyDeleteYou got it Ashley. I watch that movie whenever its on the tube. The wife can't understand it but I find it funny as hell every single time no matter how much or how recent i've seen it.