Mayday! Mayday!

I'm a day late but May 1 was our 26th anniversary. I just returned from a real-life adventure which either shows that we're still young and impetuous in mind or we're approaching senility. I can't decide if we should've videoed the event and laughed about it with friends or it's the kind of thing the kids will soon be saying "You'll never guess what Mom & Dad did today!" In either case it's a picture of what our high gas prices does to otherwise sound minds.

My wife is pretty intent on getting the lowest price around for gas. So when the low fuel light went on yesterday, she stopped at a random station and only put in $5. Of course, as she laughed before she left, that was only a little more than a gallon. So on her way home this afternoon, the car was sputtering coming up the last few hills. She theorized that the gas was thrown to the rear of the tank on the upside of the hills so on her trip out to the cheapest gas at the local membership club discount store on mostly level ground, she'd probably make it.

I told her she was going past one other station on the way about 3 miles from home and maybe she could put in another $5 there but the power of cell phones makes all of us more daring. She called me as she drove past and said the car was running fine. I'm guilty of concurring that she could probably make the mile to the parkway, 2 miles down to the next exit and a few hundred feet to the goal line. We both were off by about a mile.

She called from the cell phone on the parkway. "I'm only a mile from the exit." "I'll be right there."

Up on the parkway, there was our van with the emergency flashers blinking right next to the "1 mile to the exit" sign. She hopped out and had the gas can with her. She suggested I go get the gas and come back and stop on the other side of the highway! She said there were enough gaps in the traffic that I could make it. How much life insurance money does she think I have? While I'll admit to thoughts of the thrill of the adventure, I didn't like the idea of being the lead story on the evening news - "Man hit crossing parkway with full can of gas".

When I got back, I timed the trip to the next exit and back to the car after passing her in the opposite direction. It only took 3 minutes. We should all realize how much we risk to avoid a few minutes or save a gallon of gas. She watched for kamikazes as I filled the tank with the gallon and a half I had gotten. Then we both drove off and the adventure ended safely.

But I still wonder about the thought processes that got us into this one. More later on an anniversary flashback.