Reflections On A Quarter of a Tank Left

Some people look to get gas whenever they are below half a tank. That's not me.  I'm more of a fill-it-up once-it-hits-Empty, kind of guy.  You know why?  Because Empty, doesn't mean empty, it means you still have a gallon or two left.  If you fill it on empty, you only have to visit gas stations half as often.  

A quarter tank is a lot!  Every car I've owned could go about 100 miles on a quarter of a tank.  I would bet that most drivers have literally never been more than 100 miles from a gas station.  Let's say you need to drive from Spokane to Oak Harbor and you have 1/4 tank.  You could fill-up before you leave and arrive on Empty or you could fill it up 50-100 miles into the trip, have a nice break and arrive with a quarter tank.  The latter is obviously better.  Half tankers would fill before leaving, fill half-way there and show up with half a tank, just itching to fill it again!  That's the life of a neurotic.  A neurotic who's had to visit a gas station 3 times, to my 1 visit.

So, why am I suddenly thinking about my fueling heuristic?  I turned 63 today.  To my way of thinking, a normal life can be divided neatly into four, 21-year quarters.  In your first quarter, you go from useless and utterly dependent to more-or-less fully functional and useful to others.  In the second quarter, you finish your education, start your career, get married and have children.  In the third quarter, you transition out of raising children, build some wealth and send the grown kids out into the world.  Now you are in your fourth quarter, you still have 100 miles in the tank, but you have arrived:  You have enough to retire, the kids are self-sufficient, you will keep on working a few years, but when grandkids come, you can retire and free-up time to spend with them.

End thoughts:  Have you ever run out of gas?  I have, but not in the normal course of events.  I ran out twice with my first car, but it had an intermittent leak in the gas tank, so that doesn't really count.  The thing is, you might get a few extra miles in the last 1/4 than 100.  There's no refueling in life.  You get to run that thing dry and finally find-out just how far you can go.