I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but somehow I managed to amass 3 tanks of gas for my grill. In Phoenix I was never the type to keep that “spare” tank available, despite how logical it is. I guess my frugal nature just didn’t see the extra $20 investment as being worth it. At any rate, I coasted through winter knowing that I had sufficient backups for that day when the steaks had just touched the grill and my primary tank runs out. That day came about a month ago, but my sense of calm disappeared when I hooked up my first back up only to find it, too, was out of gas. No problem, that’s why I have a 3rd tank, right? WRONG! Of course it was empty as well!! Steaks were broiled in the oven that night, and I made plans to refill.
I realized that two of my tanks were blue, while one was red. Of course, that means that I need to go to two different gas providers to have them refilled. The blue ones are from a local garden center, while the red one can be exchanged at a gas station nearby. I loaded all three in the back of my car (an Audi A6 “wagon”), with plans to return the blue ones, and replace the one red one with two filled red ones.
The garden center was closed, of course (I mean really, why would a garden center want to be open on a Sunday anyway?), so I went to the gas station. I returned the one red, and replaced it with two red ones. No problems at all, until I slammed the trunk of my car shut and realized that the maximum number of gas tanks my trunk can fit is apparently 3.5. I watched in true Matrix slow motion horror as the extra .5 of a tank perfectly connected with my slanted hatchback window, blowing it out in spectacular fashion!!!
A couple of hours cleaning up the mess and a €1,000 ($1,350) bill to my insurance company later, and we were back in action! I am pretty sure when we return to the US I will return to my original strategy of just one tank, having proved that the extra one can be rather expensive after all.
