That Story I Promised (Why is this man hugging a gas pump?)
(Mom, you can scroll down to the next headline…this is not a pretty story)
I mentioned in an earlier post that we have a lot to learn about driving this 42-ft monstrosity. On one of our first days traveling, we saw a sign for a gas station and took the exit off the highway. The town that housed said gas station was a bit…small for our big rig, and well, turning into the station was…tight. So tight, in fact, that between the low clearance over the pump area, our back end sticking into the intersection, and our axles straddling the curb, John was a little…stressed.
After pulling out of the street and into the station as best we could, we put into action our quickly-developing problem-solving skills. We purchased a plastic gas can from the wide-eyed gal at the station and John proceeded to tote 6 gallons of diesel back and forth from pump to truck. I sat on the curb with the dog who was seriously freaking out. (Might have had something to do with that curb we hopped coming into the station.) I had to wrap my arms around her in full “thunder coat” style to keep her from running to her daddy across the lot. I admit I wondered at that moment if they make a man-sized thundercoat 🙂
The pump shut off a few times and no one knew in the end just how much we owed for the fuel, but the gal at the station was pretty ready to be done with us, so I think she may have just made up a number. We made it out of that gas station in one piece and a minute or so down the road, one of us had the brilliant revelation: “Maybe we should just get gas where the trucks get it.”
Soooo….we googled the nearest Pilot. 40 miles away. The fuel range gauge said 35. Oh boy, were John’s knuckles white as we rolled along with no AC, praying that we would not run out of gas before we reached the truck stop! He will tell you that we were on fumes when we pulled in and found A LINE of trucks waiting to get fuel. We turned off the truck to preserve what we could. There was much rejoicing when our engine started up again and we pulled up to the very pump you see in the photo below.
AND THAT IS WHY THIS MAN IS HUGGING THIS GAS PUMP!!
OYAN Summer Workshop 2017–Where We Belong
June 12-17 our oldest three participated in One Year Adventure Novel’s annual Summer Workshop. Five years ago we brought our son to this life-altering event and after that for the sisters, it was all about being old enough to be an OYANer! I suspect we will attend until the youngest ages out in college. Or maybe we will have some more children so we can attend some more!
The Blessing of Friendships, Old and New
After West Virginia, our next stop was Trenton, Illinois at the home of Ray and Julie Swogger, friends we had gotten to know in Maryland. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them and their girls. One day a number of years back, Julie stood in my kitchen in Maryland and said to John and me, “You guys aren’t (cut from) cookie cutters.” Those words have stuck with me all these years. The Lord knew I needed to be encouraged that my family was not meant to do things the same way as everyone else. And here we are camping in their driveway!!
