Close to Nowhere

I’m one of those people who is either too impatient, too lazy or too busy to stop and get gas. It makes for interesting driving.

The late Pop used to give me all kinds of grief about not stopping. I’ve heard the horrors of what happens to an empty gas tank many, many times. Funny, I don’t remember any of it.

In spite of that, the only time I’ve ever run out of gas is driving Pop’s car -- and it had a pinhole in the gas tank.

I was rescued that time by two elderly black ministers. They got out of their car and stood there with their hands out -- “We won’t hurt you, we just want to help.”

They wouldn’t let me sit in the back seat when they drove me to a gas station. I had to sit up front. Very nice, sweet gentlemen. The world needs a whole lot more people like those two.

My little red car that I drove for over 10 years didn’t have any new kinds of gadgets. So when I gave that car to my granddaughter and bought a Volkswagen van I was delighted that one of the new gadgets was a little gauge on the dashboard that told me exactly how many miles I could go before I ran out of gas.

That gadget, when it said I had 30 miles, instead of flipping to 29 miles, it flipped to a gas pump light telling me I had to get to a gas station now!

Monday morning on the way to work I discovered how far I could push my little black car that I traded the van in for. The van, while a nice van, gulped gas like an alcoholic. I’d bought it thinking we could all go on family vacations. I forgot that the granddaughters were grown, with husbands, etc. and they didn’t want to go with me to quilt shows anymore.

So now I have a little black car that gets over 30 mpg and has lots and lots of gadgets.

My favorite is the back-up camera. I don’t guess the sunroof counts as a gadget, but I like it! And I don’t actually have a key. I have a fob, with buttons on it. The fob has to be in the front of the car to start and within about a foot of the door to unlock, when you push a button on the door handle.

I have a navigation system that tells me where I am when I get lost and of course bluetooth for my phone.

Monday morning that gas light was my favorite. When I parked, it said 12 miles. When I cranked it up to go to the gas station at lunch, it said

“- - -.”

I guess that means right now!