Embarrassing College Car Lesson #2: Your GMC Yukon Has a Fuel Gage for a Reason, I Think...

Sources of entertainment on the small campus, in the small town where I attended college, are not necessarily abundant.  Located way out in the cornfields of the midwest, it is a minimum of 30 minutes from any major cities.  The school has a fairly strict set of rules, including but not limited to, curfew and non-coed dorms.  I knew about the rules going into it, and I really didn't mind it all that much.  Still, certain activities are more difficult - for example: being out late at night, or doing much of anything with a group of girls & guys.  Dating couples have to be particularly creative to capture some quality time beyond sitting together in the cafeteria.

About half-way through my sophomore year I started dating the girl I eventually married.  The thing is, we weren't really all that creative.  Our go-to strategy for time away from school and friends was to hop in the car and take a drive.  Instead of just wasting gas and wandering around, we eventually found a few small parks where we could stop and, ya know, hold hands and chat.  This was generally in the evening after school and other social activities had wound down.  We occasionally cut it close with curfew, but always made it back on time.

That is, until one night when we were parked in one of our regular spots.  We actually hadn't been dating very long at this point, if I remember correctly.  Curfew approached and we decided to head back to campus.  I turned the key to start her 2001 GMC Yukon, and nothing happened.  I knew we had been low on gas, but it wasn't even cranking!  It didn't make any sense.  The battery seemed to have plenty of charge, and there really was a little gas left, according to the gage.  The fact that the starter remained lifeless was a mystery.

We finally, somehow, came to the conclusion that we should knock on someone's door and ask for help.  I didn't have a cell phone yet at this point, and my girlfriend must not have been carrying hers.  We trudged down the road in the cold and dark and rang doorbells until somone answered her front door... very, very, cautiously.  Mind you, I stand about 6'9" tall.  I'm really quite harmless, but I'm not sure knew what to think when I stood there, filling her door frame.  To make a long story short, they had a small gas tank in the garage, for the mower.  The best part was that it even had some gas left in it.  What a relief!  We made our way back to the park where the stubborn SUV sat.

I emptied what was left in the small can into the Yukon's tank and hoped for the best.  It started right up without hesitation.  Still puzzled as to why it only took a few added drops of gas to get the thing to crank, we took off, doomed to miss curfew.  The penalty is a small fine, and little bit of embarrassment.  That is, unless you're a RA, and you're on curfew duty tonight - true of my girlfriend on both accounts that night.  The stakes were a bit higher for her.  Sure enough, we both missed curfew.  Knowing the two of us were out alone, no one believed us when we plead our case, and several days of harrassment from our friends followed.  But hey, it could have been a lot worse, right?

[Image credit: chego101, creative commons]