Out of Gas, Out of Road

On Friday night I was heading over to Kyle. After going for a run, watching an episode of Newport Harbor, and then calling home to wish my dad a Happy Birthday, I was already a good hour and a half behind the scheduled start of the grilling that was supposed to be going on, and Wes had already called me once to say that my burger was on hold and rapidly cooling off.

A couple miles after I left Wanblee, a white car went whizzing by me in the passing lane. Then about 10 miles outside of Kyle, I see a white car ahead of me again. It slows down, then stops in the middle of the road. I slow down to see what is going on (and not run into the car). The car shifts into reverse, but doesn't go anywhere. I'm now at a complete stop, but since no one is coming, I signal, go around the car, and head on.

As soon as I'm passed the car I start to feel bad. The car was, as they say, pretty "rezzed out": the windshield was shattered, the car was rusty; basically it wouldn't be legal to drive anywhere that those kinds of laws were really enforced. A lot could be wrong with the car. I always feel bad when I drive by hitchhikers out in the middle of nowhere, but not bad enough to actually stop. But helping out a stranded car seemed more reasonable. So I turned around, pulled up to the car (which was still sitting exactly where I had passed it) and asked the driver if everything was okay. He said that they seemed to have run out of gas. I told him I could call the gas station, but unfortunately I didn't have any gas on me. "What about the gas in your car?" he asked.

I didn't have a siphon. He did, though--two, actually. I guess it pays to be prepared. I pulled over and we spent a good 15 minutes trying to siphon the gas out of my tank. Unfortunately (at least in this circumstance), my tank seems pretty siphon-proof.

What was best about the whole situation was that the guy seemed entirely unfazed by anything. He just kind of giggled about the whole thing. When it became apparent that we would not be getting gas out of my car, he just shrugged and said that someone else would drive by before too long. So I went on to Kyle. (I didn't come back the same way, so I guess he could still be stranded out there).