Last night I decided to live life on the edge by not fueling up when my fuel light came on in Electra as I pulled into my apartment complex; I fully knew that a large snow storm was on it's way later that night. But work was my next destination and it was only about 5 miles away so I should be okay.
Well, I was correct to an extent. After starting up my car and clearing up the 6-8 inches of snow on Electra and pulling out quite gracefully, I drove to work on the highway going a measly 25 mph on a 65 highway (usually going at least 70). Knowing that I needed to fill Electra with Shell gasoline with the octane rating of 87, I pulled into the gas station that's nearby Raytheon. And I'm pretty sure that the fuel tank was emptied pulling in.
Thankfully I just filled up with a full tank of fuel. Without it I wouldn't have had the pleasure of stepping on the gas pedal to rotate my wheels, rev the engine, and head no where in the gas station. Put it in reverse, then drive, then reverse, then drive, then reverse, only to have ended up in the same exact position. All the while, the traction control light was on. I even took out the shovel to relieve the slippage that the snow has cause but it did not produce results. I thought about leaving my car behind just like the citizens of Atlanta did a week ago but I knew I was wiser than that. (I would have walked to work)
I felt hopeless for the first time in Electra and then an angel came in the form a skinny Caucasian man walking from his black heavy duty Chevy Suburban. It somewhat restored my sense of humanity that I had lost because of the lack of snowplowing on the street/gas station. But I didn't know if he came over to help from the kindness of his heart or that he felt extremely bad for me as my little Electra couldn't get out of a gas station even though it was like The Little Engine That Could. But this time the effort did not seem sufficient. The compassionate man rocked Electra back and forth in the snow but it was useless and I felt defeated.
Frustrated, I reversed one more time. Put it in drive, and it moved a bit farther than before. Just as it was about to get suck again I rocked Electra with my body weight and it worked!
Then I got stuck at the exit (blocking the entrance) and had to back up. Surprisingly driving in reverse seemed to always work. Then, I spent tens of minutes trying to exit the gas station once again. Drive, Reverse, Drive, shovel, drive, reverse, drive, shovel. My effort lead to results as I got into work! I should really request the gas station for their surveillance tapes to review my struggle.
After work, I had to dig my way into my apartment parking spot since the lot hasn't been plowed since the morning. With my luck with the snow, the snow plow came as I was entering my apartment.