Joe Nichols Caught Siphoning Gas

While Texas area oil refineries recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ike, gas supplies to Nashville all but dried up last Friday. Caught in the crunch, Joe Nichols was forced to do something a bit unpleasant -- syphon gas.

  

As Nichols tells it, he was scheduled in the studio to record some new material for his next album, but the gas tank on his "good car" was on empty. Throughout Nashville, the story was the same -- no gas to be had. So what's a resourceful guy to do but syphon some out of his beloved farm truck, a 1975 orange Chevy Silverado named "Rusty," with no windows, large rust holes in the sides and no air conditioning. 

"Usually I wouldn't mind driving my old truck into town," Nichols explained. "But with the gas shortage in Nashville and all the AAA people tied up rescuing stranded motorists with no gas, I couldn't risk running out of gas AND the sides of the truck falling off on the interstate. She's called 'Rusty' for a reason - the rust is about all that's holding her together!"