Ever been scared and don’t know exactly why? I’m not talking normal scared, like when a dog growls at you or your wife tells you she is trying a new recipe. I’m talking living-in-a-teen-slasher-movie kind of scared. Well, read on.
We were driving back to Moncton from St. John’s, NF. Our van has this on-board computer that lets you know how the distance to empty. It figures the average fuel economy against the remaining fuel and estimates how many kilometers you can go before filling up again. We were heading towards Deer Lake and a highway sign says we are 80 km away. Our on-board computer says we have 90 km to an empty tank. Experience tells us that we have roughly 20 km beyond empty, so we have LOTS of fuel… more than enough to make it to Deer Lake. Or do we? By the time the highway signs say we have 50 km to go, our computer says we are 20 km to an empty tank! What happened? The kilometers click down, there are no gas stations and we are getting nervous. Zero km to empty… Deer Lake 35 kms. Oh shit. Deer lake 20 kms… but now we’ve been driving 15 km on a computer-calculated empty tank. That’s when we saw it. “Gas: 13 km, Howley Nfld” with an arrow pointing to a small country road. Quick decision and a left turn and we were on our way…
