Tank 218 - Last one for 2009

The adventure began when the Woodbridge Exxon was out of gas!

The adventure continued when I learned that Sam's Club no longer sells
gas to non-members!

Finally arrived at a Texaco nearby that refueled me with 10.553 gallons.
After driving 379.3 miles, this made for a pathetic fuel economy of
35.94 miles per gallon.

I blame my 107 minute trip home last night. It took me 40 minutes to go
about three miles. Part of that three miles was a long gradual
downhill, so I had my engine turned off for close to 8 minutes as I
slowly coasted down the hill.

(Be aware that the power brakes stopped working so towards the end I was
using both feet to press hard on the brake pedal. Had I started the
motor up with both feet stomping the brake pedal, the power bakes would
have IMMEDIATELY kicked in and I'd have stopped real hard, real fast,
which may have caused the guy behind me to slam into my car, so I do not
condone this practice of slowly coasting down a long hill with the
engine off in traffic! Plus, it's probably illegal.)

According to my odometer, I drove 16,700.4 miles on these tanks of gas
this year. My total odometer reading is actually 83,961 miles, but the
total miles driven according to my trip meters is only 83,906.1 miles.
I don't understand why this discrepancy exists and I feel I may be the
only one who knows about it, as Google searches in the past revealed no
results similar to mine.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Three cheers for high gas mileage!

Tank 217 - 11 December 2009

406.2 miles, 11.199 gallons. 36.27 mpg.

There are about 8 more days I will drive the mighty Corolla to the
office, so most likely there will only be one more refueling opportunity
in 2009. In order to break my all time fuel economy record for a
calendar year, I'll need my next tank to be over 53 miles per gallon. I
don't think this will be happening.

Bummer.

Tank 216 - 3 December 2009

The Thanksgiving holiday weekend delayed my eventual refueling
experience until last Thursday, where once again I refilled at the
convenient Exxon of Woodbridge and put in 11.750 gallons of gas. I had
gone 437.69 miles on that tank, so my fuel economy was a poor 37.27 mpg.

Now it is quite cold outside and I suspect my mileage will suffer even
more.

But I also really need to get the timing belt replaced. It's been
81,000 miles on the original belt that came with the car, and I really
think I am just on borrowed time here.

Time is running out for me to catch up with my all time annual fuel
economy record. I better start driving like a grandma again...

Christmas Decoration!