We ran out of gas in a very inconvenient place
Living in the suburbs of Boston, one thing we never had to worry about was a lack of nearby gas stations. We knew that once we hit the road, this would be one more thing we'd need to consistently monitor. Our gas mileage would severely decrease while towing, plus we may end up in places that didn't have an opportunity to re-fuel around every corner. I had full confidence in our ability to plan ahead and be diligent. We survived RVing the Big Bend, where gas stations were sometimes hours away, despite our truck's gas gauge not reading accurately. We even were able to make it to a gas station when we needed to evacuate our campground with short notice.
So how did I end up standing on the side of the road holding a funnel and a 5 gallon gas can?!
It's true that our gas gauge still wasn't working properly. The needle would often read higher than our actual fuel level, almost as though it was getting stuck between 3/4 and 1/2 full, before racing to catch up to an accurate reading as we approached empty. The digital miles-to-empty estimate doesn't have this problem, but we can't readily rely on it because it calculates based on average gas mileage, which changes drastically as we switch from towing to not towing. So we made sure to do two levels of preparation: 1, pay extra attention to our gas gauge and fill up early and often. 2, fill our reserves: two 5 gallon gas cans and our on-board gas tank, typically for ATC owners to be able to conveniently fill their toys with gas, but for us, just a back-up. The on-board tank also houses the gas we use for our generator.
When we made our way out of Texas and into Tucson, we felt like we were out of the boonies enough to not worry so much. One day, we noticed a gas smell coming from the back of our truck. One of our gas cans was leaking. I decided to empty that can out by pouring the gasoline into the tank in our trailer. I never refilled that can.
We left the Las Vegas area and headed on US95 south, the same road we had taken on our way into Nevada. We knew we'd pass no services for a large stretch on 95, but soon after, we'd hit the interstate and head west into California towards Joshua Tree National Park. We thought we were home-free. Even if we didn't hit any gas stations the whole way to Joshua Tree, we'd technically still be OK according to our calculations. Over the past year, we’ve learned that on a full tank of 93 octane gas, we can go about 270 miles towing. It was only 253 miles to our campground. We would never ideally want to cut it that close, but we could swing it in a worst-case scenario.
On our way down US95, we noticed several signs alerting drivers that there would be no services for X miles (usually somewhere between 40 and 60). As we turned off 95 and onto the road that would connect us to I-10, there was one small gas station at the corner, with a line of cars and trucks filling up. We still had over 100 miles left in the tank and didn't notice any sign stating that we'd be without services for a while, and so we decided to continue on instead of waiting in the line. Yes, in that instance we completely ignored our own advice to fill early and often.
60 miles later, we looked at our surroundings and realized that there was only desert and mountains for as far as the eye could see. Our GPS had no options for upcoming stops, and so Nicole began checking Google Maps for gas stations along our route. We'd be hitting I-10 soon, but even still, the nearest gas station once we got on I-10 would be another 18 miles from our on-ramp. That meant 36 miles from where we currently were. I didn’t want to risk it, so when we found a spot to pull off, I dipped into our reserves. I took out our 5 gallon gas can that was still filled with a few gallons of gas. I used that, plus some of our gas from the on-board gas tank. Because we don't haul toys and the generator fills from the gas lines automatically, we’d never even tested this gas nozzle, but today we used it to transfer about 3 gallons into the gas can, so I could put it in the car. It's not hard, but it is a little tedious, especially because I needed to use a separate funnel in addition to the nozzle that was on the gas can in order to bypass the valve to our truck's tank. The whole process took about 15-20 minutes, and we gave ourselves about a 20-mile buffer, ensuring we'd make it to the next gas station. We felt proud of ourselves for planning ahead of time and filling our reserves. Crisis averted!
Or was it? Unfortunately, geography had other plans. We only had 2.5 more miles before reaching the gas station, and there it was: a hill. Not a very steep one, but one thing you need to know about the Californian desert is that the hills can be deceiving. You'll often see signs warning drivers to shut off their AC as to not overheat their vehicles, because the grades can last for miles. As we started up this hill, the little gas we had sloshed to the back of the tank and couldn’t make it to the engine. We stalled out. I was able to get over and put on our hazards, thankfully in a spot with a wide enough shoulder that I was fully out of the right lane, but still, this was exactly what we wanted to avoid when we pulled over the first time. It's always scary to need to tend to your vehicle when trucks are blowing past at 70mph. I took another 3 gallons out of the generator tank to transfer over, and stood with my back against the truck, getting buffeted by wind from every passing vehicle as I poured it in. The engine stuttered as I started the car, but luckily we had done enough to get us the last couple of miles.
As you might imagine, when there’s only one gas station in at least a 60 mile radius along a major highway, it gets pretty crowded. We pulled to an outer pump lane and waited for two cars in front of us to finish up. This being California, the price of gas is very expensive, so as we waited for an open pump, we noticed that almost everyone was going inside and waiting in line to pay cash and save 10 cents per gallon. Good thing we had enough fuel left to idle while waiting! Waiting for people to go inside to pay (where there was also a long line) was stressful enough, but what really angered us were the people at the first pump in our lane, who were clearly finished getting gas but decided to just hang out without any care that other people were waiting. That's one of our biggest pet peeves on the road.
After about 15 minutes, it was finally our turn. Both pumps in our lane were free; we basically need that to be the case because we're so long. The good thing about this is, if I line us up well, we can pull double duty and refill our truck's tank as well as the generator tank. Nicole began filling the truck while I got to work on the generator. Only…I couldn’t. No fuel would come out. I’d just seen another car use it to put a round dollar amount of fuel in their car, so I knew it couldn’t be an empty or non-working pump. I tried to refill our 5 gallon can instead: nothing. We didn't know why this was happening, but we also didn't have time to stand around and figure it out. Cars were waiting for us to finish and we needed to get to our campsite before sundown. We still had half our generator tank filled, which would last us a while, and we just made a note to fill that tank as soon as we had a chance.
After we settled in at Joshua Tree, I took some time to research what could possibly have been going on with that gas pump. Nicole suggested that it was something to do with not being able to pour out unless it was going through an automobile valve, and she was right.
Let's talk about California. As a materials science consultant, I hear a lot about the state's innovations and technologies. Plus, let's face it, the state is also known for very beloved ideas like the internet and the cheeseburger, which we can certainly be thankful for. What happens though, is that California is sometimes too forward-thinking too fast, causing the execution of these ideas to come off shortsighted. For example, out here in the western part of the US, 93 octane gas doesn’t exist. You get 87, 89, and 91 only. This is because of a required gas blend that's supposed to reduce smog and improve California's air quality. With this blend, there's no way to produce enough 93 octane gas from a barrel of oil to supply to gas stations. Since basically all the gas in the region is refined in CA, this affects the surrounding states as well. In a state that pledges to be climate-friendly, we end up getting about 5% worse gas mileage when we can't fill with 93 octane. We initially weren't counting this in our calculations, which is why we thought, if needed, we could travel our whole trip without filling up. But we weren't running on 93 at that point; since Texas, we had only been able to fill on 91 at most.
Don't be fooled! Western gas stations also tend to put the higher octane fuel on the left instead of the right.
As for why I couldn't fill the generator tank or gas can, turns out it’s because CA requires that gas stations put seal collars on their pump nozzles, so they won’t release any vapors while dispensing fuel. I learned that the only way to fill a can is to manually pull back the seal collar, which would leave my fingers in line to get gasoline splashed all over them. Better wear gloves! Plus, if you've bought a gas can any time since 2009, you probably noticed they don't work very well. You need either a very strong grip or a third hand to get the fuel out, and it’s very slow. That’s because CA banned gas cans that have a second vent hole, so there’s no way for air to get in and equalize pressure as you pour the fuel out. They did this to reduce the risk of fire, and again to prevent vapors from escaping. In 2009, the EPA adopted the same rule nationwide. Good idea in theory, but for the humans that need to take their lives in their hands to fill their tanks on the freeway, it's flat-out dangerous. I had to stand on the side of the road minutes longer than should have been needed. Think about how many vehicles pass per minute on the freeway. Each added car is an added danger.
This is an example of a nozzle collar you might see, which we took a picture of at a different CA gas station. The Chiriaco Chevron's nozzle collars were even worse.
What we really couldn't get over, though, was wondering what would have happened if we didn't already have our reserves filled? I would have likely walked or ebiked the remaining 2.5 miles to the gas station, along the busy interstate, only to arrive to a crowded gas station, wait minutes before getting to use a pump, only to not be able to get gasoline out. Then what? I either sit on the gas station sidewalk and frantically research how to get the nozzle to work with a gas can, struggle to get it out, thus spilling gas all over my fingers, and oops, didn't think to get gloves out of the truck before I went on my gas station pilgrimage! And then, if I'm lucky enough to get enough gas into the can, haul it all the way back, while reeking like gasoline. Then I'd proceed to fill the truck with all the speeding automobiles that have a blatant disregard for the safety of people on the shoulder. Or, I wouldn't have had any luck getting gas at the station, and I'd need to walk/bike back to the truck and call roadside assistance. Then as we wait who-knows-how-long for them to show up, we need to somehow make sure we and our pets are out of harm's way on the side of the freeway.
We tell this story to make sure that, if you're traveling out west, particularly in CA, that you have this important information. We advise you to carry a gas can with you at all times, and to fill it ahead of time when you're traveling long distances. Hopefully if you are in a situation where you need to fill a gas can and it's not working, you can learn from us to peel back that nozzle seal collar. We hope that works for you. And, we encourage you to stay diligent. We mistakenly thought we were out of the boonies and didn't need to wait in line at the first gas station. We ignored our own advice to just wait and top off on gas sooner than later, and we ended up spending a lot more time fixing our mistake. We hope that one day, the world will be ready for California's innovative thinking, but right now we just want to make sure our fellow travelers are safe.
With our ordeal behind us, we made our way into Joshua Tee National Park, ready to enjoy the very nature that California works so hard to preserve. And next time, we won't be in as much of a hurry when we come across lines at a gas station. They say a stitch in time saves nine? Well, in this case, a minute in line would have saved about 59! Filling right away would have kept us off the side of the freeway! Don't get filled and you'll potentially get killed. OK, you get the idea.