Meeting nice neighbors

[PATR8]

I live in a small town, an old fashion town, not a "planned community, and this is why.

It was just before dusk tonight and I decided to run to the bank to do a deposit. I pulled the 8 out of the garage, made it about 1/2 a mile and my 8 studdered and shut off so I made a quick turn off the main road and on to a smaller side road. I coasted off to the side of the road and realized I was still in a poor position that any one making the turn would not see me until they kissed the bumper of my car. As I looked around, out steps a guys and his wife and said pull in here and get out of traffic, then they walked out and helped me push the 8 about 20 feet into their driveway. It only took a second to realize I was out of gas and my guage was reading 1/4 tank. I gave a quick call to my son and he said he would be there in 10 minutes with the gas can and funnel.


Matt and his wife had moved to our small town a year before, a disabled Marine (Iraq Injury) and they were have a few drinks on their front porch. Before I could say thanks they offered up an adult beverege, we exchanged a couple of war stories (We were only located about 25 miles apart in Iraq during he same few months), I shared a few contacts to make help him with his VA benefits, talked about GI bebefits to help his wife go back to school. My son dropped off the fuel, dumped a few gallons in the tank. We then sat on the porch with them and chatted for another 30 minutes before I headed home.

I do love my home town.

Now I have to figure out why my tank is stuck at reading 1/4 tank.

 

[philman]

Good Story! Thanks.

 

[mallard]

The fuel tank problem is no big deal, It's great to make new friends not just neighbors. Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[tr8todd]

I miss living in Pa. I miss the people. I miss the sense of community. I hate it here in Mass, even thou I sought ought a small farming town. I guess cranberry growers and corn farmers just aren't the same. As far as the gauge goes, Sometimes the float will travel down to the bottom of the tank, but it won't slide all the way down the potentiometer. Bending the wire that it hangs on will help. You need to take it in and out a couple of times to check the travel.(best done during a new install) If it isn't positioned perfectly verticle in the tank, you can get the same readings. Sometimes it's just corrosion on the terminals at the sender. If all else fails, you can actually move the needle on the gauge manually until it reads correctly. I discovered that one by accident cleaning a gauge cluster a couple of years ago. Of course that was after I got a face full of gas messing with the sender in the tank. Doh!

 

[jdubois]

Great story, glad to hear there are good folk still out there! I used to live near a busy intersection and would always try to help folks who broke down. It's just the right thing to do, and I met some really fine people that way.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Janet and I plan to retire in a VERY small town on the edge of the Smokies. Can't wait to get over there, for much the same reason.

 

[martx-5]

...

Now I have to figure out why my tank is stuck at reading 1/4 tank.

That's obvious...so you could meet nice neighbors. :thumbsup:

 

[DrEntropy]

We left one of those small western PA towns thirty years back. STILL miss it.

 

[tdskip]

Good story... and reaffirming to hear.

 

[Don Elliott]

I was eating with a TR couple at their home in PA during VTR in Valley Forge in 2007. I found them very neighbourly. Since I'm Canadian, I told a few funny George W Bush jokes that I had heard up in Canada and which I thought were really funny. They were the types of jokes that David L or Jay Leno might have told on TV. My TR friends laughed heartily too. But they added that they had to be careful when with their neighbours and they could not tell or listen to any jokes about George W. amongst their neighbours because you could never know their political allegiance or their reaction beforehand. If they liked Goerge W., it would be like you were insulting your President as well as them - your neighbours. Also, my TR friends explained to me that many consider that if you criticise the President, you will be considered un-patriotic. And no-one wants to be branded un-patriotic.

And that was in PA. where I had always met the nicest folks. I quickly learned a lesson not to unknowing tell anymore George W. jokes in public. But I thought that "freedom of speech" is so cherished by all Americans.

 

[TR3driver]

But I thought that "freedom of speech" is so cherished by all Americans.

You misunderstand, Don. We do cherish the right to criticize our government; but that does not keep us from being offended by such criticism.

Or to put it another way, "freedom of speech" does not mean that some subjects are not frowned on in polite company.

 

[terp83]

DScott:

When you say that your gas gauge is stuck at reading 1/4 tank, do you mean that it goes down no lower than 1/4 tank, but it will read higher when you fill up? If so, your symptoms remind me of a problem that I encountered back in the 1970's when I was in the infancy of my Big Healey ownership. The original fuel tank had some rust issues, and my mechanic at the time advised me that I needed a replacement. After a brief search for one proved unsuccessful, he said that he could build me one, which he did. He did not not make it quite as tall as the stock one nor did he build the well into the bottom of the tank. My gas gauge readings were really unreliable unless I kept the tank topped up, and I actually ran out of gas a couple of times as the gauge would never read "Empty."

A few years later, I obtained a stock gas tank in good condition and replaced the fabricated one, using the same sending unit (the same sending unit was used in all three tanks) and the gas gauge readings appear to be accurate ever since.

I think what was happening was that the float would hit the bottom of the fabricated tank, and would read as though it was floating on the top of the gasoline in the deeper, standard tank, which would read close to 1/4 full.

In your quest to fix this condition (not really a problem if you keep meeting nice people), you may want to check to see if the original gas tank has been replaced by a less than identical one.

Although I am an Ohioan, both of my parents (now deceased) were born and raised in Pennsylvania, and I still have extended family there. We hope to take a road trip this summer to Butler to visit. The people are very nice there, plus you can listen to Pittsburgh's WDVE-FM on the car radio.

Thank you for your years of service to our country.

Jerry

 

[jdubois]

my TR friends explained to me that many consider that if you criticise the President, you will be considered un-patriotic.

Hmm, seems many of those same folk have flip-flopped on the issue now that we have a different president in office...

But I thought that "freedom of speech" is so cherished by all Americans.

The freedom of speech laid out in our constitution applies to the government. It means we cannot be prosecuted by the government for speaking our mind. It doesn't mean we can't be criticized or ridiculed by other citizens for what we say.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

C'mon, guys - let's keep this on track, please.

 

[Brosky]

That's one reason that I miss Johnstown. Small town values are still the best. Neighbor helping neighbor.

 

[Basil]

That's one reason that I miss Johnstown. Small town values are still the best. Neighbor helping neighbor.

Ditto for my home town of Bridgeport, West (By Golly) Virginia!

 

[DNK]

My gals just got back from a college visit in Savannah.
Everybody was so freidly my wife said.
Just like Seattle when we moved here.