Guest Post From my Brother "Mom"

This post was stolen from the Trail Rider Magazine Web site ...I am sure they don't mind and I am sure you dont care. JW Gas Stop Advice

What to do when you need gas but don't have a can...

If you have ever been to one of those long events where the club hauls the gas cans, then I'm sure you've enjoyed the same scene I have. You have ridden for hours, you have become enjoyably delirious and you ride up to a field just covered with red gas cans. A tomato pickers dream. You are left with the task of finding your own very special can. Other riders scramble around looking like some mad Easter egg hunt.

So from my experience here are some ideas:

1. Do not write your name on the bottom of your can.

2. The blue kerosene cans work well for easy identification, until the gasoline container police nab you.

3. Flags from an Invisible Fence enclosure work well and will deter any dog from relaxing near it.

4. Furnace (duct) tape wrapped no matter how cryptically just does not work. Every body does it, when gas gets splashed on it, tape gets all slimy and sticky and, every body does it.

5. When you just can't find your can for what ever reason ( you didn't bring one?) what I do is I borrow, not steal but borrow, a little out of several different cans. There are reasons why you want to use several cans. The most important is so nobody misses any gas and come looking for you because you have a reputation for borrowing gas. Second, the more cans used the less likely you are to get straight four-stroke gas and seize your bike. They say you are not to mix two kinds of oil but they don't say anything about mixing five or six kinds now, do they? You might even recognize other riders' names on cans, this will clue you in on it's contents. You can write things on your own can to discourage riders mooching your gas. "Water" works well. "Experimental alternative fuel test, contains raw sewage" works pretty well too.

6. I have designed my own can. It has so much stuff fastened to it the club usually leaves it in the truck or dumped out at the tail gate. It has many of my own innovations. It has wheels on it so you can move it around. It has a long filler hose with a battery powered pump with a automatic shut off valve for unattended fill ups. It has lots of compartments for necessities like candy bars and tools. It has a built in toilet seat with privacy curtain and a magazine holder. It even has a short wave radio with a power amplifier. This really distracts other riders. I turn it up really loud and tune in Malaysian talk shows, complete with all the static squeaks and squalls. With a little bit of ingenuity you could probably do something similar.