After I was finished with classes today, Hillary and I had plans to go on an adventure. We had no idea what we were in for.

The main goal of our trip was to get a floor lamp for our dimly lit room. We took another girl along with us. Hillary had been having car troubles and we could quickly diagnose ill-inflated tires as one of the problems. Dad and his long-distance mechanic expertise put a finger on the source of a squeaky and worrying noise. (Thanks again, Papa.) On the way back from Target, we stopped by a gas station to fill up the tires. In an ironic turn of events, we ran out of gas about two hundred feet short of the next gas station. Hillary, who has some anxiety troubles, started into a minor panic attack, ran to the gas station, called her mom (not much help) and I followed, leaving the other girl with the car.

At the gas station, Hillary finished a mostly meaningless, high-tension call to her mom. We went into the store and asked whether they had a tank we could use. After one of the attendants looked around for a few minutes, we decided we'd buy one of the over-priced one-gallon-tanks that remained under the counter. The man in line in front of us turned around after paying and said "oh, I've got one of those in the back of my truck."

It turned out to be the same tank that we were about to pay $7.99 for. His truck was a trash truck and the brand new tank was about to be thrown away. He helped us fill it up, figured out how the impossible spill-proof nozzle worked, and went on his way. We thanked him gratuitously. At times like these, I feel so grateful that things work out the way they do.

With a gallon of gasoline, we walked along the five-lane road to the car, which was not only really close to traffic but has a driver's side gas tank. Since the spill-proof mechanism didn't latch onto the gas tank opening like it was poorly designed to, I held it back with cold fingers until it was mostly empty, standing right on the line separating the shoulder from the road.

It turns out that Hillary didn't take heating and flat tires into consideration when estimating her remaining mileage but we made it back to campus in one piece. I was really glad to be blessed with basic car knowledge and to have kept my cool throughout the ordeal. We got back to our room and set up the lamp, only to find that we forgot to buy light bulbs. Maybe it's time for another adventure...?