GarageGabs

Wanna know how to cause some commotion in a small town? Call 911. That’s just what I did today…..

There’s this nice little Mexican restaurant up the street from my house. My fiance and I decided to ride up there and grab a bite to eat….nothing special, just sorta hungry. So, we got in my truck and headed out. The trip went about as expected, a short ride, no traffic and some casual conversation. I pulled into the parking lot, and as usual picked out a nice open part of the parking lot. As we got out of the car my fiance noticed a liquid coming from the right rear tire of my truck.

She said to me: “Ummm, what the hell is dripping out of your truck?” I immediately walked around to her side and noticed a LOT of liquid running out from underneath my vehicle….I moved in closer and IMMEDIATELY smelled GAS. I didn’t panic, I approached the vehicle inspecting the under carriage…all I could see was gas running everywhere…I figured I had torn some sort of fuel line…I’m no mechanic.

I calmly reached into my truck and grabbed the handbook with the roadside assistance number. The lady on the other end of the phone asked me: “are you in a safe place?” I told her that I didn’t know if I was safe, gas catches on fire. Once she heard of the gas she informed me she was useless to me until I called the fire department. The area had to be cleared of gas before a wrecker would come. By this time onlookers were getting curious.

So, I called 911 and explained the situation. A police officer arrived within 2 minutes of my call. Pretty nice guy, I told him what was going on, he agreed with me that it was a bit of a dangerous situation….He and I camped out by my truck to make sure no one threw a cigarette in the area.

The Fire Department was next on the scene, complete with a giant fire truck. By now, lots of people were watching and waiting for my truck to explode or something….The firemen spread some dirt on the ground and started asking me if I was sure the gas came from my truck. I was, and we were all in agreement that I should definitely NOT start the vehicle, and I should go ahead and call roadside back.

As I began to dial the number, one of the head firemen asked me for my keys. Ya know, I wasn’t even wondering WHY he wanted them, I just gave them up. I was frustrated and tied up on the phone going through all the automated stuff. About a minute later, I hear him say…”Well right here’s your problem”….He lifted a 2 gallon red gas can from the back of my truck. It had fallen over, evidently the gas had run into a drain hole in the bed of my truck. I have a cover on my truck and totally forgot the can was back there. I tell you this was a true Mayberry moment….I felt like an idiot, and all the firemen and the officer got a good laugh out of it.

I’d like to thank J.C. for providing some actual video of this moment. She is truly amazing.