Look at the bright side, if it was a recent VW diesel you'd be standing by the side of the road with an empty tank 50km from home and the engine management system would be lying to you telling you that no, no, you are in fact home already and you just have to walk down the driveway a bit to see it.
Try living in Western or Northern Canada, you are lucky if it is 300 km between major cities. Most of the time the only economical way to get around is to fly. Nonetheless, I feel for your plight. Nice photo. V