Squoze in 11.024 gallons after zipping 434.3 miles, making for a fuel
economy number of 39.40 miles per gallon. This is notable, because
normally, the fuel economy when I refuel at Fredericksburg the tank
after I refueled at Woodbridge, my mileage suffers. This time, it
remained above 39 miles per gallon.
The spreadsheet I use to track these things is unavailable to me at this
time. It's on a "private drive" in a different location at work, and
that connection has been lost for the last couple of weeks. So I
continue to track the data on paper and hope that the connection is
restored soon so I can go back to checking out historical data and
trends.
I have started carpooling with a coworker who lives nearby in
Fredericksburg. On the days she drives, I will get picked up at the
K-Mart parking lot that is about 1.5 miles from my house. On warm clear
days, I believe I should be able to ride my bike there to prevent any
need of even starting up the car (It's not actually my bike, I'm just
holding on to it for a friend who has storage problems).
Quick rough estimates lead me to believe that saving one trip a week of
me driving saves about $7.50 to $8.00 worth of gas for me, and probably
closer to $11.00 or more for my coworker. Doing this once a week for an
entire year will keep me from spending over $350.00 in gas, assuming gas
prices stay at this level. If we share driving 4 days a week, that'd
save my car two trips a week and double that spending reduction.
I hesitate to say I'll be "saving money" by carpooling because most
likely that cash will be frittered away elsewhere. The only way I'd
actually save that money is if I consciously take $8.00 a week and put
it in a piggy bank or hidden location. Most likely I will spend that
unspent money at woot.com for something, or somewhere else.
The unknown variable is how my coworker and I will handle the time where
we're stuck in the car together. Today is day 2, and we're still in the
"isn't this fun?" stage. Time will tell, but I think we'll both agree
that the prevention of spending hundreds of dollars over the course of a
year will be worth it.
Oh, yeah, the lessened environmental impact and "being green" and blah
blah as well.
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