[Dane-ger]

I had to run a few errands in my car the other day. Normally I run errands on my bike but I had to go a long way in a short amount of time...so the car it was. It had been a while since I had put gas in the tank...and my gas gauge doesn't work (need to fix that). I had the option of running over to a gas station really quick, but I was in too much of a rush, so I took the risk.

Anyways, I was using hypermiling techniques as much as I could...turning off the engine at stoplights, EOCing on downhill sections, etc. I was traveling down a stretch of road with very few stops, basically nothing but fences along the road with an occasional gated entry to a residential area (rich neighborhoods).

While going down this road...my engine started cutting out. I put it in neutral to coast...and right then my engine died. I had run out of gas. I could see a turn up ahead, and I barely had enough momentum to pull in. I was at the entry of one of those rich residential areas with the gated walls and security. The security guard sees this 20-something kid (me) park inside this private residential area...and yells at me. I tell him I'm going to see if anybody has a gas can.

So he lightens up and lets me go. After knocking on a few doors, a nice guy had a gas can with a little over a gallon in it and helped me out. The thing is, if I hadn't used the right driving techniques...my engine would have died long before I could have pulled off into that quiet residential area, and instead I would have been stuck on the side of a busy road during rush hour.

Long live hypermiling!