Ran out of gas today...

Yep, that's right. I ran out of gas on the way to the theatre this morning. I'm 35 and this has never happened to me before. My dad trained me early on to never let my tank get below a quarter tank. Apparently that lesson has been forgotten.

This morning started off so well, aside from it being only 45 degrees outside when I woke up. Because we have rehearsals after the morning show this morning, I decided to pack lunches for Adam and me. Turkey, Muenster cheese, sprouts and sliced cucumbers on homemade whole wheat bread, grapes, chips and a yummy veggie salsa that I make every year. I'll have to post that recipe some time. Anyway, I was prepared. It was going to be a great day.

At the moment I have bills on my steering wheel console thing/dashboard, thus blocking the gas gauge. I decided to stop at the gas station near my house because I knew I was getting low. I normally pay with my debit card but accidentally put in a credit card and it wanted me to go inside to pay. It was already 9:45 AM (our show starts at 10 AM) so I thought I didn't have enough time and would just go to the station near the theatre. Silly me. So, I'm on the way to the theatre and I notice my car starting to stall a bit. I have a Subaru Forester, automatic...my first automatic car. I'm all about manual cars because I detest having to wait for the car to kick into gear. I like being able to control the gears on hills. I also like the fact that you can push start the car. Anyway, the car didn't seem to want to kick into gear...then I noticed the gas gauge. The bar was way below the empty mark. Oops. I was about half way there and there was bumper to bumper traffic and a slight hill. I decided to turn back around and go back to the first gas station because it was mostly downhill and I figured I would have a better chance driving in neutral and coasting to it. Uh, I forgot that there is a slight uphill curve about 1/2 mile from the station. As soon as I hit the hill the car died. Foot to the floor...nothing! I was running out of "speed" and turned left down a driveway just as I lost the last of my "speed". Yes, I had to almost cut off a car. I had turned down a gravel driveway to a used car lot. Of course I ran into one of the 22 Mexican people that lives in Branson. No, I'm not being racist AT ALL. Just factual. I grew up in Southern California,which is a melting pot of cultures, so....no racism here. I am 1 of 2 Chinese people who live out here (unless you count the cast of the Chinese Acrobats. That would bring the total to about 18). Needless to say, it's a predominantly white town out here in the Ozarks. It took me a little time telling him what was wrong because my Spanish/Mexican is a tad rusty. I also kept coming up with Italian words now that I am trying to learn that. I only had a $20 bill so I paid him that to get a about a gallon of gas. SO WORTH IT.

After that I made it to the gas station and through the awful traffic. I got to the theatre around 10:25 AM and still had plenty of time to get on stage. I don't go on until about 10:30 or so.
Hopefully the remainder of the day will be less eventful.