Running on empty due to stubborn pride


Posted On: Wednesday - March 15th 2017 12:44PM MST
In Topics: 
  Humor  Geography  Peak Stupidity Roadshow

This short story is from way, way back, to when I traveled everywhere in this here land.

On this trip I had been cruising northwest out of Corinth, Mississippi. It was time to gas up the old V-8 Camaro (actually not that old back then) by Olive Branch, MS, just south of the Tennessee border. I knew the vehicle very well already, and it gets 21.5 mpg, windows down or windows up, rain or shine, on the highway @ 70-75 mph. The gas tank is rather small, I would say, and I don't think it holds more than 15 Gallons useable. That doesn't give it much of a range; I'd normally start seriously looking for gas at 250 miles from fill-up. Out on the Nevada back roads, I'd just stop wherever there was a gas station.

It's great to get off the main roads, but the I-40 seemed like the best way across Arkansas from my present position toward somewhere way out west.



Well, here I come up to the Mississippi Bridge on the I-40 and I see this big sign, with the same words as our file photo below, except without the disclaimer at the bottom, and right overhead all the westbound lanes.



WTF?? (I guess this was the late 1990's). I was so pissed to see this this creep lauded on an expensive highway sign, that I resolved myself not to spend a single buck in the state of Arkansas on this trip. That meant gas, nabs, anything. OK, there were already about 15 miles through the SW corner of Tennessee that I'd driven and now I was at AR mile-marker 282 with 0 at the Oklahoma border - kind of dicey right from the start. It really did become worrisome looking at the fuel gauges into Ft. Smith, but I wasn't gonna stop. I'd been keeping my speed down both to get slightly better mileage and to avoid a ticket that would cause me to also spend money in the state. I came in on fumes off the first exit with gas in Oklahoma - made it - screw you Clintons, you're not good for business!

Was it worth it? Who knows, but it made the trip interesting for 1/2 a day.

As a postscript, as I cruised across the great state of Oklahoma, I needed to get gas again about 250 miles across the state. Next big town: Clinton, OK! OK, OK, it's not the same guy, I told myself.

This story only came to my mind when I read about an Arkansas legislator who wants to remove the Clinton name from the Little Rock Adams Airport:
State Sen. Jason Rapert says some pilots are not happy about flying into Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, and that the name of a former president who was impeached for having sexual relations with an intern should be removed, according to the Associated Press.

Yeah, not happy at all - I know the feeling.

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