taken to the limit

i had a first tonight... at least i think it's a first.

i ran out of gas on the way home.

now, i've taken cars to the limit before, pushing the line past E just to see how far i could go, but i always made it to a gas station safely. the problem with owning the moped i do (besides the fact that they're totally not cool - well, anywhere else other than Hawaii that is, and they're still not "cool" here, they're just acceptable) is that there's no indication of how much gas you've got left other than when you're low, a light comes on.

i've pushed my moped to what i thought was the limit before, driving at least 15-20 miles past the point when the light comes on (my bike only goes maybe 100-125 miles on a full tank i think) but i've always been able to make it to a gas station - just like my experiences with cars. well i don't know what it was about this tank but yes, tonight, on my way home - i ran out of gas.

funny thing is, i was actually going to stop at a gas station on the way home, and when i ran out i was about 4 blocks away. i pushed the light too far.

what happened? well i noticed that i lost a little bit of juice and was like "oh man, i'm outta gas" but thought maybe i could make it the next few blocks. nope. not 5 seconds after i felt the change, the moped just stopped and i coasted to the side of the road. luckily i was already in the right lane so i just pulled over and pulled my moped up onto the side walk... the humiliating part was walking my bike the 4 blocks to the gas station.

good thing about running out of gas on a moped in Honolulu? well, you're going pretty slow already since you're on a moped, so coming to a stop is less dangerous, and being that this is Honolulu, there are gas stations every few blocks.

however, i've learned my lesson: don't push your luck once the gas light comes on. don't push it TOO far (i totally know this is going to happen again).

- kawitchate