day 1. late. western ny. 81°F
stopped to fill up at the giant travel center of america auto & truck stop. since we needed diesel we’re over on the big rig side. dad is using the giant window washer to clean the windshield. can’t have your rig lookin’ dirty. i’m trying to work the pump. i swipe my card and then it asks for my truck id. what? so i head into the unnaturally bright station to see what i need to do. they guy at the counter explains that i’m at the auto part of the station – i need to head back to the trucker fuel desk around the corner. i head on back and the place is straight out of movie. sad lonely looking guy slowly pushing a mop back and forth. trucker women playing arcade games. two guys watching a moving on a screen that has been set up in the chapel. a hallway to the showers. big sale on gigantic tires. and a gal with pink hair working the fuel desk. she takes my card and back i head to the pumps. it seems like it should be easy since they have pumps on both sides. our tank on the passenger side. i put the hose in the tank. turn the hose on. nothing. try again. still nothing. back to fuel desk to look stupid. this was my favourite. she explains that you have to start with the pump on the left. you take out the hose and *lay it on the ground*, turn on the pump, then go over to the auxiliary pump, put the hose in your tank, turn on the pump and you’ll in business. worked just as she said. now ignoring the environment impact of the bit of gas from the first pump spilling onto the ground i’m still asking is this really the best they could do here? business opportunity for the asking here – fuelmaster 3000.
good news was their pumps could move the fuel. less than a minute and we had added almost 35 gallons and were ready to hit the road.
