I drive a Camry. It gets pretty good gas mileage and I can fill it up for around $60. Not phenomenal, but not bad. My little gift to the environment. *bows head modestly*
Sunday was, possibly, on of the busiest I've had in a very long time. Sunday morning a fellow YSA and I drove over to Quincy, about 30 minutes from Tallahassee, to give talks at the small ward there (VERY small, around 30 members, still not sure why it's still a ward). The other YSA didn't have a car, so I picked him up and, later, drove him over to the YSA ward in Tallahassee where I had to also give a lesson. I didn't think too much of all the driving, by the end of the day I still had a little of a quarter of a tank.
Monday morning on my way to the grocery store I decided to fill up and pulled slightly absent-mindedly into the gas station only to realize all the nozzles were covered in plastic bags. "Huh," I thought to myself. "That's kind of weird." With a shrug I start to drive across the street to the neighboring gas station only to find that their gas pricing has been taken down. What are the odds! Two gas stations on the same corner out of gas.
Two? Try the 5 or 6 I pass on the way to the grocery store. Or the tens of other gas stations located in Tallahassee. Yep. No bueno for my little tank (or the other couple hundred people that needed gas). Due to Hurricane Ike, a bunch of Tallahasseans panicked and went to the pumps "just in case." Gas stations were out all weekend. School is about a 15 minutes drive from where I live, so I was a little worried but figured my quarter tank could last me at least until Thursday. Tuesday morning on my way to class I noticed gas stations were still out of gas and, of course, glancing down I also realize my gauge has suddenly dipped to about an 1/8 of a tank.
Eep.
I began pondering the ethical technicalities of a siphon and a few large vehicles I'd noticed in the parking lots that, I figured, wouldn't miss a few ounces. All hypothetical, of course. Merely a scholastic inquiry. The serious thought didn't come until after class when I hopped in my car and the gas light came on. Where was that Hummer parked again? I say a few prayers (okay, more than a few, the thought of walking 2 miles to the nearest bus stop to get to class every day was entirely unsavoring). The thought comes to mind to try a different route home. I follow the prompting and, miracle upon miracles, the first gas station I see as I come up over the hill is an Exxon Mobil with a price listing for regular fuel.
Perhaps it was the glare on the windshield and the NPR station my radio was tuned in to, but a little beam of light shone and a small choir of angels began singing. Okay, the last part didn't happen (At least not in reality. My heart did, however, give a rousing rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus"... really spectacular, the stuff of legends... but I digress).
Thankfully I was able to pull into a section of the gas station/line at the gas station where I could both turn off my car to conserve my remaining fuel and was out of the way of other vehicles. Sadly the station was limiting fill ups to $30 a customer, but that pulled me up to a good half tank so I was considerably grateful. Bless the attractive station attendant who ensured no one cut in front of me in line.
That evening as I got home I figured it would be a good idea to find out when there would be gas in Tallahassee. That's when I discovered that there is no actual gas shortage in Florida, just panicked people. Over the last two days I've been noticing a few more gas stations opened and today, even, I was able to fill up the rest of my tank without too much of a wait. I've never been so grateful for a full tank of gas or a Heavenly Father who is willing to answer the prayers of a silly girl with an 1/8 of a tank.
But with some cars out of commission for running out of gas and others conserving what they have, it looks like the environment got a little extra breathing room this past week. I hope the trees appreciate it. Because once this whole gas "crisis" is over I'm burning my fuel and going to the beach. Hey, at least I don't drive a Hummer, right?
2 comments:
So how'd the talk and lesson go? You must have done something right to be able to get fuel before running out of gas. :D
Jojo and I were discussing emergency preparedness the other day and the topic of fuel came up. We figured if we kept all the fuel tanks on the farm, both in Fallon and here, full we'd have enough diesel and gas to keep all the equipment and vehicles running for a full year. Too bad only half are ever full. He wants me to build up our food storage too. I think being bishop he knows if anything were to happen here we'd not only be taking care of our family but a lot of other people as well.
Haha, the lesson went okay. It's teacher development so I'm still trying to figure out the best format (our class size is only about 6 people).
The talk in the morning went much better. I had a rather enjoyable time preparing that one. The topic was prayer, so I based it off of 2 Kings 20:1-7 and talked about the principles of prayer we can glean from from those verses.
As far as food storage goes, I imagine nothing particularly tragic would happen should I run out of gas. I have a fairly hefty supply of food that could most likely last me 3-4 weeks. Mom also made sure I had a 72-hour kit before they ditched me... I mean headed back to UT.
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