running on fumes

So I was coming back from Merida, a small city about 40 minutes away, last Saturday night. I was driving a car that had a dysfunctional gas gauge. It permanently stated that the tank was empty. According to its owner, there was a good 10 euros worth of petroleum in the tank. Easily enough to get to Merida and probably back.

Well getting there was no problem. And we were well on our way back when suddenly I felt a bit of power drain out from under my foot. We were off the main highway a good 10 miles, dropping someone off in their little pueblo. And the sun was rapidly setting.

Another 25 seconds went by and the power dropped a little more. Along with my stomach. And so on for a few minutes until I was going 50 kilometers per hour. At that point, no joke, I decided to ask God to put a bit of gas in the car to cover my stupidity.

The car continued to run, increasily slower, for until we got back to the main road. However we were still a ways from a gas station. Still I continued to nurse the gas petal, pleading for every last foot of road it was willing to cover.

I continued to do that until the car finally died. Some 20 minutes after I first felt the car drop in power. Some 15 kilometers further down the road. And as the car settled to a halt, I looked across the road, on this empty and barren highway and saw a gas station, some 20 feet away.

I guess my thought is that cars don't take 18 minutes to slowly run out of gas.