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Never ran out of gas before… I don’t think, but I did today.
I was cutting it close. I had 150miles to empty last night before heading down below Hartford to a fun little party at an art gallery. I got home and had 70 miles to emtpy, about average for a trip to work and back, 35 miles either way. I figured that would be enough to get to work and get gas on the way home.

I woke up late, sleeping in with a very big hangover headache from the party — got going and the guage was getting lower and lower. I had 20 miles, 10 miles, — miles, then I went to press the gas and the engine actually backed off. I would press the gas and the engine would slow the car down.

I immediately thought “is it the air intake?” and then assumed it was the gas given what the guage was indicating. I stopped at the top of the off ramp, feeling relieved I got off the highway. I checked the air intake and yes – it was good, got to be the gas. It only started once, and let me hit the gas in spurts. That only lasted 10 feet but I was now rolling semi quickly. I went down the ramp, only gaining a slight increase in speed, ran the red light given there were no cars coming and pulled a sharp right. I was rolling slowly, but still going… and there it was – a Citco. It was a mere 1000ft from where I was.

When the slow rolling stopped all together I knew I had to push. I did it quickly to keep the momentum and was able to get it almost there. A guy waiting for the bus saw me and without me even asking came over and started helping me push it. We got it up the ramp and next to the pumps, but the tank was on the other side, we pushed it forward and then pushed backwards again to swing the back end around. It wasn’t quite at the pump, but close enough for it to reach. I swiped my card, he pumped… and the car was good to go.

Carlos was the guy who helped me, and seeing as he’d already missed his bus, asked for a ride down town. I was a little hesitent, but he did help me, and I owed it to him to give him a ride. Attempting to return karma couldn’t be that dangerous. I called my boss as a precaution, let him know I was giving the guy Carlos a ride since he helped me push my car.

We got in the car and headed downtown, only a slight variation from my normal path.
He asked if it was a new car, I said yes.
He noticed the mileage, I confirmed 20,000 miles.
He noticed the Sirius and asked “whats that”
Satellite radio
For your car?!! Wow.
– with each question I was getting more and more uneasy. The last time someone I was wary about asked me questions like that it was regarding my XBox games and the specs of my laptop which he later stole.

I clicked it onto Playboy, to hopefully lighten the mood and easy my nerves. It was entirely possible that this guy would get me into a bad part of town and attempt to take my car. It was in the back of my mind the entire time.
We drove in a fair ammount of silence.
He asked if it had turbo… I pointed to the guage and said yes.

After a few minutes that seemed like eternity, I stopped at a red light and I let him out. He said not to let that happen again cause it could damage my injectors – that’s what he does, he’s a mechanic.

I got the sense that Carlos wasn’t being overly truthful with me, his last comment sounded like an after thought. I don’t think either of us really trusted each other, but he helped me and I helped him, and as it turned out we both lucked out this morning.