After Pearl Harbor, one of the problems the Navy decided had contributed to
the disaster (!?) was that was that most of the ships were docked with
little or no fuel- the point being that even had they known several hours
(9-12, iirc) in advance of the attack, they would still not have been able
to avoid it by getting underway because it would've taken several hours to
fuel up in addition to bringing the old boiler systems up to speed (even
with emergency startup procedures). This led to a policy (that was still in
effect when I was in 15 years ago) that no ship would be allowed to go below
half fuel capacity without specific approval, under certain conditions, etc.
It was kind of a PITA because you had to refuel so often, BOTOH you never
got caught with your pants down.
After I came back to civilian life I sort of adopted the same idea to my
vehicles, and it has served me well- even 'tho it's a particular pain in a
Vanagon, which makes me lust after the ridiculously expensive larger gas
tank. No high voltage wire to remind you, just make sure you pull over and
top off when the needle hits the middle. More often than not, when I've let
it slide I've regretted it later- say at about the point where I'm running
on fumes and hunting for a gas station in unfamiliar territory.

Cya,
Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "No Name Available" <Trvlr2001@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 12:27 PM
Subject: What I'd like to see in a Vanagon...

> Well folks,
> I just spent the last hour walking to a gas station.
> Not much fun,
> Especially when I had a substantial amount of cash in my pockets !
> Is there any way we can hook up a couple
> of high voltage wire to the drivers seat,
> that would shock the s*** out of me,
> so I would pull over & get some gas???? :o)
> seriously, how about a light first, then a buzzer???
> How could we fix this up?
> thanks all,
> John C.
> SLC, UT..
> 85 Westy
> 90 bad bus !@!1$%$^@$#%^&