"Do you/we have enough gas?"

[J N Winkler]

Why would one need to worry about condensation in the gas tank?

I've seen ghastly photos of fuel pumps badly corroded as a result of water in the tank.  I gather this is more of a problem in places like Louisiana that have consistently high humidity, but I still try to keep the tank full if the car is not going to be driven for several months.

[kalvado]

Why would one need to worry about condensation in the gas tank?

I've seen ghastly photos of fuel pumps badly corroded as a result of water in the tank.  I gather this is more of a problem in places like Louisiana that have consistently high humidity, but I still try to keep the tank full if the car is not going to be driven for several months.

If I remember correctly, gas tanks are kept fire-safe by using a gas with high enough vapor pressure so that there is not enough air in the tank for combustion. That also means water vapor pressure would be proportionally lower than outside of the tank, and dew point will be below dew point on the other side of the cap.
While it is certainly possible to break anything, I suspect it takes some effort to actually achieve condensation. Using ethanol-free gas would help to break things, though

[Bruce]

I also knew that if something went wrong and I couldn't make it to Yakima, I'd never be more than 5-10 miles away from a station so it wouldn't be a problem.

Not the case for parts of Washington. On I-90 between Moses Lake and Ritzville, there's a 40-mile stretch with no gas stations (with a warning sign) too).

[ZLoth]

Thwse are all cool stories... But can you check if we have enough gas?

[Scott5114]

I also knew that if something went wrong and I couldn't make it to Yakima, I'd never be more than 5-10 miles away from a station so it wouldn't be a problem.

Not the case for parts of Washington. On I-90 between Moses Lake and Ritzville, there's a 40-mile stretch with no gas stations (with a warning sign) too).

40 miles? That's cute. There are cars that can do that on one gallon...

[1995hoo]

One thing that sometimes causes me to wait to put gas in the tank is if we have grocery store points that will get us a discount. To maximize the discount, I let the tank get as low as reasonably possible before filling up unless some of the points will expire first. (There have been times where we've taken two cars to the gas station and filled them both from the same pump on the same transaction to stretch the discount even further, usually when we've had a big discount like $1 a gallon. But that's very rare and it's also a bit of a hassle in terms of positioning the cars.)

[kalvado]

One thing that sometimes causes me to wait to put gas in the tank is if we have grocery store points that will get us a discount. To maximize the discount, I let the tank get as low as reasonably possible before filling up unless some of the points will expire first. (There have been times where we've taken two cars to the gas station and filled them both from the same pump on the same transaction to stretch the discount even further, usually when we've had a big discount like $1 a gallon. But that's very rare and it's also a bit of a hassle in terms of positioning the cars.)

Local gas stations had posters saying such double fueling 8s illegal for fire safety reasons. Not sure I take that at face value though.

[SSOWorld]

Driving the Alaska highway end-to-end was the test for me.  I had the "half-tank" rule in mind, but one point, I left Fort Nelson without filling up but luckily realized it by the time I reached BC-77 (Liard Highway to NWT), 180'd and went back to Fort Nelson and filled it up (I had half a tank prior). It takes almost an entire tank to get from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake and there is neigh a gas station in between - especially in winter.

Every major stop on the highway had a sign after you pass through with "Check Your Fuel" on the road.  This is especially true for the Cassiar Highway which you only had one spot (Dease Lake) on the road between Watson Lake and Stewart and the Dalton Highway and the Tok Cut-off in Alaska. (Pretty much every road up there.)

[oscar]

Driving the Alaska highway end-to-end was the test for me.  I had the "half-tank" rule in mind, but one point, I left Fort Nelson without filling up but luckily realized it by the time I reached BC-77 (Liard Highway to NWT), 180'd and went back to Fort Nelson and filled it up (I had half a tank prior). It takes almost an entire tank to get from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake and there is neigh a gas station in between - especially in winter.

Every major stop on the highway had a sign after you pass through with "Check Your Fuel" on the road.  This is especially true for the Cassiar Highway which you only had one spot (Dease Lake) on the road between Watson Lake and Stewart and the Dalton Highway and the Tok Cut-off in Alaska. (Pretty much every road up there.)

That far north, I followed the "three-quarter tank" rule, and sometimes would top off a mostly-full fuel tank rather than drive by an open gas station. Then there are roads, like Yukon's unpaved mountain road Canol Road (YT 6) north of Ross River, where I carried extra fuel in my pickup bed, and would've run out of gas without the extra fuel.

[kkt]

Drive to Yellowknife, north of Peace River fill up at every gas station.  They do not post signs saying how far the next station is.  Our host at Yellowknife did provide us with a list.  Also of Tim Horton's locations.