Saturday, February 5, 2011

Hey Greg,There's $.99 Gas...No Terry I saw it for $.98.... SOMEWHERE!!!

Well its February 5. Two short weeks until we roll.Phoenix sounds like the place to be after the last weeks weather here.-25 degree wind chill,frozen pipes,ice and snow and did I mention wind chill."Yikes".If we were not ready to start the season last week,well, we are now.
 We are still waiting on a lot of our parts to be returned to us.The ice and snow across the country has thrown a kink in shipping.Some of the vendors we deal with have lost power at there homes and businesses.So things have been slow this week.So next week should be very busy.I imagine most of our stuff will come in at one time.And then the thrash is on!!
  Sitting around the house,not wanting to be outside over 30 or 40 seconds at a time,gave me a lot of time to reflect on past years.Those years before we got a motorhome,when we towed with a 1-ton dually pickup and a 36 ft trailer.Man, we thought that rig was huge.Although we could pull through any motel parking lot and find a place to park,eat at any restaurant we pleased,Heck, we could even pull that rig through the drive-up at McDonalds,to everyone's amazement including me.But,What Greg loved about it was we could get that rig in all of the small "cheap gas" stations.Anyone who knows Greg very well is very familiar with Greg and his "save a penny a gallon" game.It has driven some into drag racing retirement.But Greg loves this game,so Game On!!!
  Name a place that you have been in the lower 48 states and chances are we have been out of gas there.One time at about 4:00 AM somewhere between Memphis and Nashville,I  have been watching the gauge for probably 60 miles{.In our gas game as long as the needle has some "bounce" we are good to go}.Well, we have lost our bounce and the next town is about 40 miles,No way,we are going to run out of gas.If we were on the way home we could fall back on some $6 a gallon racing fuel.But we are on our way to the race and we might need that fuel for the car.So I spy an exit with a sign showing gas and motel .EXIT,turn right 1/4 mile,station on the left.CLOSED.Well the motel has a restaurant,lets have breakfast  and wait for them to open,cause we have a fuel range of approximately twelve feet.(of course the pump is fourteen feet away).We go into the restaurant that has "just" opened and sit down for breakfast.when we came in, it was dark and very foggy.We notice a lot of pictures on the wall of people with fish.So Greg asked the waitress if there was a lake nearby. She looks over at the cook and says did you hear that.They chuckle a little,then inform us that we are blocking the boat ramp.While we ate breakfast,the station opened,we got gas and were off.
One time in Monroe,La. no bounce on the gauge,we spy a station on the other side of the interstate.If we can just make it half way over the overpass we can coast down the other side into the gas station,perfect,no problem.Just a little short,now we have to try to keep this rig from going backwards to where we just came from,blocking traffic and not making any cajun friends.The cool part of this one is we did get a new 2 gallon gas can,that we still use today.And then there was the time, we again had no bounce on the gauge.We are on the turnpike between Tulsa and Oklahoma City and there is not a lot of opportunity for gasoline on this turnpike anyway.I am getting pretty nervous about running out,but I know there is a Phillips about 15 miles up the road.If we can just make it fifteen more miles.Sweating,Sweating,alright there it is ,on our side,its open,were gonna make it. $1.20 a gallon,I saw it for $1.18 I think,says Greg as we pass the station.PASS THE STATION,you have got to be kidding me.I am in total disbelief. No more than two miles further and we are OUT of gas,parked on the side of the turnpike.Oh yeah, at MIDNIGHT, of course.Well,not to fear,we are on the way home.Racing fuel it is @ $6.00 a gallon.We put in enough racing fuel to get us to the next gas station.Cool part of this one is I met the band for David Allen Coe at that gas stop.They were playing in Amarillo the next night and I was invited to be their guest.There are so many of these stories,I cant tell them all today,but I will sneak a few in here and there in these blogs.
 One gasoline related story though.Everyone seems love this one.Greg and I are coming back home,we have been driving all night,as usual.We had just gotten a new dually and did not have our big tank in the truck yet.So we are just running on the factory 34 gallon tank,which would go about 214 miles.(wonder how I know this?).We had decided that one of us would drive through a tank and when we stopped for fuel,the other would drive out that tank,just switching at each gas stop.Brilliant.It worked well all evening and all night.I remember getting to the Arkansas,Oklahoma state line and we need gas finally. I have been fighting to stay awake,each mile seemed like a week.But,now I can get some sleep and let Greg have this thing for a while.Awesome.We get our fuel,Greg coffee's up and were on the road.Its probably about 4:30 or 5:00 AM,the sun has not started up just yet.I immediately am asleep.We roll into Oklahoma and its down to one lane.Good ole road construction.Who cares Im sleeping! Well, It seems that Greg was having a difficult time also.Hanging his head out the window,holding one leg up,slapping himself, all the old standby stay awake tricks we had learned to that point.Not me,Im sleeping like a baby,sucking flies so I understand.About this time Greg has an epiphany.He thinks, how does he know how far we have gone? He has been passed out since we left that station.So,the very next station he see's,he pulls in,gets out,puts the nozzle in the tank and then slaps the passenger side window,waking me saying its your turn.WOW,have I been asleep that long?   WOW,it seems like just a minute ago that I laid down.WOW,how can that be.W O W!!!! Well I better get in there and get some coffee,splash a little water in my face and get woke up for "MY TURN"! We get back on the road and I keep thinking how short my nap felt,how it was still a long way to Oklahoma city.I must have been further from the state line than I thought when I stopped a "FEW HOURS AGO".It takes a few miles and the sun coming up to finally get my wings.But I did and I drove that tank out,because we had a "deal".Funny,I never did put that together.To road numb I guess.A couple of years later,some of us were talking about something and Greg's wife (Marshi Lair) says somthing to the effect of Greg short tanked ya.WHAT!!! I look over at Greg and I can tell by the look on his face that Marshi has let the cat out of the bag.Thanks Marshi,I guess I would have never known.But now,I know who Im dealing with,I have to stay aware of milage and mile markers and TIME.I got SHORT-TANKED.I've got to admit,that was Brilliant.I wish I had thought of that.
 I guess I had better wrap this up.I could go on and on.But there will be time to tell some other stories later.Oh yeah,one last thing.Just the other day at the dealership,Greg calls my office and says ,wanna go to lunch.I say sure.He says I'll pick you up,lets go to" Green Chili Willys."Have any of you been to I-27 & F.M.2219.Well we ran out of gas there.
OH NO,I see that diesel is $3.45 a gallon at Love's.Let the game begin!

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