Embarassing Moment
It is with some degree of shame that I must admit to having deliberately avoided writing about an incident on my first day of driving in the last four months.
The last three days of driving before arriving in Manitoba were very, very long days. As you can imagine, sitting strapped into a car seat 8+ hours a day will take its toll, both on a 3 year old and on her mom, who is trying to entertain her in the back seat. As a result, on day two, I asked Dave to switch seats with me and drove the entire day.
I had a fleeting worried thought as I took the wheel, which unfortunately came true. Whether the thought caused the action or vice versa, is a mystery.
After filling up just outside of Sioux Falls, we planned to end our day in Grand Forks. As hours of snow crusted prairie whizzed past, my mind went into a lull and I bobbed my head happily to the soundtrack running through the earphones on the ipod. We were passing through flooded areas and I suppose my thoughts were more on the flood than on properly manning my post. As we approached I called out “Only 20 minutes to Grand Forks!” Dave immediately asked me the dreaded question: “How are we doing on gas?”
“Uhhhhh…. Oh shit! How long can I drive on the red before we run out of gas?”
“I don’t know!” Dave answered, laughing from the back seat.
“This isn’t funny Dave, and you’re not exactly being supportive back there. What the hell am I going to do? I can’t believe this – this is my worst fear come true! When I took over this morniung, I said to myself, ‘Can you imagine if I ran out of gas on the one and only day I drove during the last four months? Wouldn’t that be the most humiliating…’ So what do I go and do? How am I going to live this one down?”
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll make it.”
“Would you still say that if I told you the needle is on the bottom line in the red zone?”
“Is it really? Hmm, that’s not good.”
“Right, that’s what I figured. Thanks.”
Well, we did make it to a gas station in Grand Forks. Just barely. The engine sputtered as I turned toward the pump, but the important thing is we’re here today to talk about it. And talk about it. And talk about it. So that’s the explanation for the picture Dave couldn’t resist posting re. gas gauge (see below). Ha ha.
