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West Virginia Nightmare

June 27, 2008 about Jaguar X-TYPE

I was driving alone from Cincinnati to Beckley, WV. My friend had given me directions using state routes instead of interstate because it was much shorter; most of the route was 2 lane highway. After it got dark, I noticed I had a headlight out. It started raining, and raining, and raining. This was evidently a very popular route for truckers, because there was an endless stream of them coming toward me, almost running me off the road at times. I was nervous because I couldn't see anything, and as I got into the mountains, there were no towns and it was pitch black. Since I was concentrating so hard on the road, my gas tank got down to 25 miles left before I noticed I was low. I started looking for gas signs, and my tank hit 0! I am a 50-ish female, and the "Dueling Banjoes" song from "Deliverance" filled my head at the prospect of running out of gas on a dark lonely road in the mountains of West Virginia! Five miles after I hit 0, I finally saw a gas sign! I got off at the exit, but the sign didn't say which way. Naturally I picked the wrong way, and there was nowhere to turn around. I prayed very hard at that point that this road would lead to a town, and after 2 or 3 more miles, it did. The gas station was very poorly lit, so at first I thought it was closed, but it was OPEN! By the time I got out of the car, my hands were shaking so badly I could barely get the gas cap off.

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Story replies

July 17, 2008 by Beth

"Deliverance" was set in the mountains of Georgia not West Virginia. The weird looking people were actually residents of Georgia. Stereotyping groups of people is not very nice. Signed a former West Virginian currently living in Georgia

September 8, 2008 by Billy Joe

Do you still squeal like a pig Beth?