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In the spirit of one-upmanship the following true story:
About 15 years ago when I was 12 years old my family was moving to Florida from Chicago we packed up the cat and a rented minivan that we packed full of stuff we did not trust the movers with...None of us wanted to go, but that is where life was taking us. We made it to the northern part of Florida with only one incident...Whoever was driving (IIRC Dad) was following the car ahead a bit close the car ahead ran over a VERY large remnant of a blown out semi truck tire and we only saw it when there was insufficient reaction time to avoid it. Sometime after that, we were low on gas and stopped at a place along the highway in north Fl. Mom and I got out to use the restroom and grab some snacks while dad filled the tank. Now, Dad often is not the most observant member of the family but he was in prime form that day...
I was the first to return to the van while Dad was still 'filling' it up I noticed this large puddle rolling downhill behind the van and was suspicious...I walked up to my door next to the fill spout where LOUD splashing was happening, looked under the car to see that the fill tube had been knocked completely off the tank under the van (by the tire remnant we ran over) and every drop of gas that had been pumped and was being pumped as I watched in awe was dumping straight onto the ground...Dad was right there the whole time 'filling it' and HAD NEVER NOTICED! I shouted "Stop pumping it's all spilling onto the ground" and showed him as he could not initially grasp what was happening. We 'rescued' the cat from the car and waited in the gas station ~1-3 hours for the rental place to bring another minivan. Mom was livid over the whole thing, and it felt more like a day of waiting....Then finally they arrived and we had to shift a full to the brim load from one van to another (that was 'fun')...Probably the "worst trip I've ever been on" "I wanna go home. Please let me go home"--Beach Boy's sloop John B.
We eventually did return home to the midwest after a few years...Thank god. Somehow our van load of treasure managed not to burn...A lot of gas spilled that day, and Mom insisted (to the contrary/dismay of the idjit station attendant) we not move it from the pump until the replacement car arrived.
Interesting side note I first became aware of GM's and most other auto maker's habit of offering the exact same vehicle under more than one brand with only the badge and grilles different between vehicles...One van was Chevy and the other Pontiac, and I could hardly find any differences...Till then I had never been in/near two cars of close enough age and type of different brands to notice this practice...I've grown ever more attuned since.
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