Piece of Saab

So back in my married days, I gave up my beloved camaro because it was too hard to get a baby in and out of the back of it. It was a sad day indeed, because the car was so fun to drive. And it smoked just about every car off the line. 5.0 litre with standard transmission, t-tops and got me a lot of stares. It was heaven.

Once it was sold, I started driving my then husband's '95 9000 Saab. It hasn't been a bad car and has actually held up pretty well over the years, but I relied on him to fix it since he was a Saab connoisseur. And it looks like just an average no-head-turns car. Now that we're divorced and he lives hundred of miles away, I'm stuck with a car that has bad memories attached to it and is going down hill. Since the new camaro doesn't come out for another year (and I probably wouldn't be able to afford one right off the lot anyway), I'm stuck driving this piece.

The worst problem this car has is something that afflicts many of the Saabs of that year - the gas gauge is not always correct. This has made my life a living hell on a few occasions as I do not know when its telling me the truth and when I'm about to run out of gas.

I usually try to watch the mileage but when the odometer was broken that didn't work either.

I've had the odometer fixed, so I guess what happened the other day was partly my fault. I was due to get gas pretty soon according to the odometer, but thought I could at least get to work. I was trying to get there early so I could leave a little early too so I pushed it too far.

I ran out of gas about a 1/2 mile away from the next exit. Ironically, the last time this car did this to me (when the odometer was broken) it was in almost the exact same spot.

I was prepared this time having bought a gas can the last time this happened, so I grab the can and my wallet and started walking - in the cold, on the highway. I was mumbling many things under my breath, mainly about stupid Saabs and their stupid quirks and many other things that I could not say in church or in front of my kids.

I called one of my co-workers that I knew took the same route to work in hopes that he would be coming my way soon. However, he was already at work. But being the nice guy that he is he offered to come and get me.

I told him that I would continue to walk to the gas station and to just meet me there.

I kept walking and down the road a bit a big truck with a trailer pulled over. They were so far down the road that at first I thought that they had lost something off the back of the trailer. A guy was running towards me and I started looking on the road to see if I could see whatever they had lost. Just then a little black car pulled over and I could see the guy clearing off the passenger seat.

"Hooray!" I thought. "I don't have to stay out in this cold! I'm saved!" He opened the side door and asked if he could give me a ride to the gas station. Now I don't usually take rides from strangers, but he seemed ok and I knew there were people who knew where I was if for some reason something went wrong.

So I got in the car and he asked me to hold some of the stuff that had been on the seat. I looked up and saw that the guy who had been running toward me was returning to the truck. So I had two offers for a ride almost immediately. Such nice people here in Utah!

I explained my situation and what a stupid car I had to the guy and thanked him for the ride. He then said something that made the whole morning worth it.

He indicated that he too was late for work and that I should really not think him too much of a good samaritan as he had an ulterior motive. He knew he was going to be in trouble when he got to work because he was late. He saw me walking and thought that I would be the perfect excuse for him being late! He told me he was going to tell his boss that he helped a lady who had run out of gas. What was he supposed to do? Leave her? :o)

The gas station was right on his way to work so it worked out perfectly for both of us. He had his excuse. I had a ride. Nice how things work out that way.

As I was filling up the gas can, another co-worker (Tara) called me and said "Is that your car on the highway?" When I indicated it was, she asked if I ran out of gas again. **sigh** She offered to come back and get me, but I let her know that Jared was coming and thanked her muchly for offering.

Jared picked me up a few minutes later and took me back to my car and made sure I got back on the highway before going back to work himself. I stopped and fueled up immediately, being unwilling to take a chance that my little gas can would have enough gas in it to even get to work.

So it was an interesting adventure. All provided by my piece of Saab.