Grrrrrr.... no more portable gas tanks in California? And other rants.

[Ab Diver]

Rant Mode - *ON*
 
Got back a couple days ago from an extended dry camping trip in the Sierra's. We were going to be pretty far from anywhere-- even the nearest cell phone sight was a 30 minute drive to a remote mountaintop were you might get a call through if you faced the right direction, the moon and stars were in alignment, and the wind was blowing just the right way.
 
Anyway, I thought I'd take a few extra gallons of gas with me, so we could do some running around on the trails up there. (Last time we camped there, I was running on fumes by the time we got to the nearest gas station on the trip back.) Hmmm... I'll just buy a portable gas can, and that will give me plenty of gas to do some off-roading while we are camping. So I went to my local auto-parts store and grabbed a 5-gallon plastic can. This outta work perfect. But what's this on the label...?
 
"Not For Use On On-Road Vehicles"
 
What the? Ok, so it's got one of those funky gas nozzle-tips that only let's you fill lawn mowers and stuff like that by pressing the tip down until it allows the gas to flow without spilling. Due to it's shape, it could never get close enough to my truck's gas cap to work. Fair enough, I'm all for safety. I'll just grab one that IS okay to use on "on-road vehicles" like, for instance-- my truck! So I look and look, but can't find one. Ask the guy at the front desk where he keeps his gas cans for use on Jeeps and other off-road vehicles. I mean, a guy's gotta take his gas with him on an off-road trip, right?
 
"We can't sell those anymore."
 
SAY WHAT? :yikes:
 
Yep, you can no longer buy the old style portable gas cans with the long spout that let's you just tilt the can and pour out the contents. (in other words : put some gas in your car if your tank runs dry). Or at least I couldn't find anybody who does in my town. Even Amazon.com has links for portable 6-gallon plastic gas cans, equipped with two handles, that would work just fine for putting gas in your car, but the fine print sez "Not For Sale Or Use In Calif."
 
Grrrrr..... what's up with this state? :confused: Do they think I'm going to spill enough gas from a portable tank to scramble a Haz-Mat team?
 
Well, it just so happens we are gunna take a trip to Az. for family matters. I think I'll pick up a couple portable gas cans over there and smuggle them across the border. Hope I don't make the California Highway Patrol's "Ten Most Wanted" List. I mean, with all the security concerns we have over people who *might* blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, disable BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), poison water reservoirs, and terrorize other items of similar insignificant worth, I can see why they'd wanna keep a guy like me from owning a gas can he can actually *use*.  Sheesh.... I wonder if I fit the profile for a "Gas Can Smuggler"? Somebody wanna stage a diversion and start a protest in Berkley or something so I can sneak back while the cops are busy with crowd control?
 
Wish me luck. And hopefully, I won't get arrested in the future for using a *non-conforming* gas can.
 
And, as usual... if I'm wrong about this and have been misinformed, somebody please correct me.
 
 
Okay, Rant Mode - *OFF*
 
 
So, do any of you folks in other states have peculiar laws that just don't make sense?

[Tim5055]

So, do any of you folks in other states have peculiar laws that just don't make sense?

Yes, no alcohol sales on Sunday in Georgia. :yikes:

[aw738]

This reminds me of what a tour guide at the Harley-Davidson Assembly plant told us last week. Some bikes have a different color on the build sheet. He told us that they go to the "Country of California". A few with a different color go to Japan and the rest of them are sent everywhere else. Glad I live in one of the everywhere else places.

[Gone-Camping]

I think I'll pick up a couple portable gas cans over there and smuggle them across the border.

Oddly enough, California is the only state that I've ever gone across where they have check point stations where you cross the state line at. I thought that was kind of odd. I only drove across that state line once, on my way out! And had to stop and surrender my half dozen oranges?!?! :eyecrazy:  Last time I saw anything like that was crossing into Canada. BTW, that was in 1976, and I haven't been back there since!

[SkipP]

Yes, no alcohol sales on Sunday in Georgia. :yikes:

Forgot about that Tim! Last time through on I-95, that was a BIG disapointment.
 
North Carolina recently made news with our law against co-habitation

[Steve-o-bud]

Rant Mode - *ON*
 
Got back a couple days ago from an extended dry camping trip in the Sierra's. We were going to be pretty far from anywhere-- even the nearest cell phone sight was a 30 minute drive to a remote mountaintop were you might get a call through if you faced the right direction, the moon and stars were in alignment, and the wind was blowing just the right way.
 
Anyway, I thought I'd take a few extra gallons of gas with me, so we could do some running around on the trails up there. (Last time we camped there, I was running on fumes by the time we got to the nearest gas station on the trip back.) Hmmm... I'll just buy a portable gas can, and that will give me plenty of gas to do some off-roading while we are camping. So I went to my local auto-parts store and grabbed a 5-gallon plastic can. This outta work perfect. But what's this on the label...?
 
"Not For Use On On-Road Vehicles"
 
What the? Ok, so it's got one of those funky gas nozzle-tips that only let's you fill lawn mowers and stuff like that by pressing the tip down until it allows the gas to flow without spilling. Due to it's shape, it could never get close enough to my truck's gas cap to work. Fair enough, I'm all for safety. I'll just grab one that IS okay to use on "on-road vehicles" like, for instance-- my truck! So I look and look, but can't find one. Ask the guy at the front desk where he keeps his gas cans for use on Jeeps and other off-road vehicles. I mean, a guy's gotta take his gas with him on an off-road trip, right?
 
"We can't sell those anymore."
 
SAY WHAT? :yikes:
 
Yep, you can no longer buy the old style portable gas cans with the long spout that let's you just tilt the can and pour out the contents. (in other words : put some gas in your car if your tank runs dry). Or at least I couldn't find anybody who does in my town. Even Amazon.com has links for portable 6-gallon plastic gas cans, equipped with two handles, that would work just fine for putting gas in your car, but the fine print sez "Not For Sale Or Use In Calif."
 
Grrrrr..... what's up with this state? :confused: Do they think I'm going to spill enough gas from a portable tank to scramble a Haz-Mat team?
 
Well, it just so happens we are gunna take a trip to Az. for family matters. I think I'll pick up a couple portable gas cans over there and smuggle them across the border. Hope I don't make the California Highway Patrol's "Ten Most Wanted" List. I mean, with all the security concerns we have over people who *might* blow up the Golden Gate Bridge, disable BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), poison water reservoirs, and terrorize other items of similar insignificant worth, I can see why they'd wanna keep a guy like me from owning a gas can he can actually *use*.  Sheesh.... I wonder if I fit the profile for a "Gas Can Smuggler"? Somebody wanna stage a diversion and start a protest in Berkley or something so I can sneak back while the cops are busy with crowd control?
 
Wish me luck. And hopefully, I won't get arrested in the future for using a *non-conforming* gas can.
 
And, as usual... if I'm wrong about this and have been misinformed, somebody please correct me.
 
 
Okay, Rant Mode - *OFF*
 
 
So, do any of you folks in other states have peculiar laws that just don't make sense?

Rant Mode *ON*
Well, I think that the unavailability of gas cans in California is due to SMOG regulations. We have a big thing with not allowing gas vapors to escape into the atmosphere, these vapors contribute to SMOG. All of our gas pumps have vapor recovery. You can't even leave your gas cap on your car loose or missing, the check engine light will come on!

What doesn't make sense to me is, that fueling off road vehicels with portable cans produces the same amount of vapors as fueling on road vehicles!

Even our lawn mowers must now have emmision controls, and our charcol lighter fluid has to be low volatility formulated. Hamburger joints need to have polution monitoring for their smokestack emmissions (I'm not making this up).

Unfortunately, in this grand state, there is no sense of keeping things in perspective. We always read in the paper thing like: "wood burning fireplaces in the LA area cause XX million tons of polution each year". This is because we have millions of homes! To be crude, just the gas passed by the residents of So Cal would cause XX millions of tons pollution to be released to the atomsphere.

A final point. The infamous South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) has offices in Diamond Bar, CA. I pass by there often. It seems as if all employees of AQMD have company cars that they commute in, at our (taxpayers) expense. I have NEVER seen ANY one of them, EVER with more than the DRIVER in the car. No car pooling for them! And, I have even seen their vehicles belching, smoking, and poluting!

Rant Mode *OFF*.

There. Now I feel better. Thank you.

[oldmoose]

My old gas can died and I had to buy one of those "new" low emission cans. What a joke. I put the spout in the mower to fill it and it over filled it and spilled all over. Now I take the spout off and pour carefully and spill a couple of teaspoons of gas, not cups. Very frustrating.

Moose

[topcat7736]

Get some new or used 5-gal NATO fuel cans at the below link. They also have a nozzle that fits them. (Do a search for FUEL. Their site doesn't allow direct links).

Cheaper than dirt

[LCMS pastor]

All you need to go is go to a military base, go in the commissary and buy one.  IF you don't know anyone on the base, go to a nearby barber shop (espeically a marine base like 29 Palms) tell the sgt getting his hair cut that it is word a case of MGD, and he will get you one from the commisary.

As to the check point stations, they are on the border with other states and are looking for produce and plants.  No such check points are on the sourthern border.

HMMMM...

[Gone-Camping]

Well, they took away my half dozen oranges. Perhaps they thought I was gonna denonate them somewhere in Arizona!!! :eyecrazy:

[LCMS pastor]

Well, they took away my half dozen oranges. Perhaps they thought I was gonna denonate them somewhere in Arizona!!! :eyecrazy:

whats a trail cruiser?

[cruiserpop]

nope, got relatives on the left coast, visited a few times, wasn't impressed. fruits and nuts covers it. I'll take the  rightr coast any day.

[PopUpMomma]

Have you tried a motorcycle shop?  We have "racing" gas cans....(Jugs) that we purchased at the local motorcycle ATV shop.  They are 5 gall plastic bottles with handle, large screw top and spout with 1/2" tubing with a cap for the end of the tube.  We use this for jet skies, ATV's and dune buggies.  The tube is about 12" long.  Longer tubes can be purchased at the hardware store. :-()

R

[boncrab]

Let's not forget that the bulk of the nations produce comes from California.  Fruit that comes in often brings in pests that destroy the crops, costing millions of dollars in losses.

There is a logical reason for the california checkpoints.  And yes there is one at the southern border. It's the customs checkpoint from Mexico into California. And yes it is American and yes they asked about fruits, etc.

This is similiar to Michigans prohibition of firewood (in whatever form it takes) because of the, I think they are called, wood beetle which is damaging trees in epidemic proportions right now.

Find out and ask questions before ranting and raving...lol lol

[Gone-Camping]

LCMS Pastor...

This is a Trail Cruiser...