Road Trip for a Funeral

Most likely we will be taking the Mighty Corolla this afternoon to a
funeral for our friend Andi. Andi died last week after a year and a
half of fighting cancer. Please keep her husband Peter and their two
children in your thoughts and prayers as they make it through this
difficult change.

Tank 146 - 19 February 2008

Filled up this morning at Woodbridge Costco pump #1 with 10.596 gallons
after going 406.4 miles, making for average fuel economy of 38.35 mpg
for this tank. The only real notable thing about this tank is that I
refueled at the Woodbridge Costco rather than the Fredericksburg Costco,
which sort of helps me to advance my "conspiracy theory" that the
Woodbridge pumps shut off earlier than the Fredericksburg pumps.

However, if this theory is true, that would mean that my fuel economy
was actually worse than advertised for this tank, as I would have gotten
relatively more gasoline had I used the Fredericksburg pumps. Alas, I
shall never know for sure. If I refuel again in Fredericksburg and my
mileage is revealed to be 35 or 36, this helps confirm my suspicions.
Or it confirms that I just drove like a maniac because I knew my mileage
would be low anyway.

But overall the averages should work out in the long run.

The sticker on my car said highway economy would be 35 mpg (I think), so
I consistently beat that.

Tank 145 - 8 February 2008

This morning I filled up at the Fredericksburg Costco, again, with
10.489 gallons at $2.819 per gallon. I went 422.4 miles on this tank,
making for an average fuel economy of 40.27 mpg, which is pretty good
for February.

As I drove past the Woodbridge Costco, I saw gasoline there was $2.759
per gallon. But there was a tanker truck that appeared to be refilling
the underground tanks at the time, and I heard you shouldn't refuel when
the underground tanks are being refilled, as more sediments and such
could make it into your tank. But over the course of 10 gallons, the
cost difference would have been about seventy cents, which adds up over
time, but for today I must not worry about it.

This last tank helped my fuel economy for 2008 to avarage over 38 miles
per gallon, about 0.4 mpg better than 2007's overall fuel economy. But
it's still early.

Check Those Tires

I changed the oil in the Mighty Corolla over the weekend, and also
checked the tire pressure as I was waiting for the oil to drain. Good
thing I did, because all four tires needed a little more air.

Although it was probably related to the cold temperatures outside, wach
tire registered below 30 PSI, so I pumped them up to closer to 40.

It was near the beginning of a new tank, so Iwas interested to see how
this would affect fuel economy for this tank. I've had pretty good
mileage recently, so I was clearly surprised that my tires were a bit
underinflated.

I am pushing 375 miles on this tank so far, and the needle is still
comfortable above the area where the low fuel light turns on. Indeed, I
noticed that I was at 260 miles as the needle passed the halfway mark of
the tank.

This was a great reminder that fuel economy really is affected by low
tire pressure. Particularly in the winter cold, as the air compacts a
bit, be sure to check that tire pressure and make adjustments as
necessary, and you'll see benefits in your fuel economy.

I did this with our minivan a short while ago, and my wife reported
better mileage on her trip computer, as well as better handling and
acceleration.

It only takes a few minutes, and many gas stations still offer free air
(Exxon and Wawa come to mind).

Now, if Costco offered free air, that'd really help me out!

Tank 144 - 30 January

Refueled this morning at the Fredericksburg Costco, with 10.437 gallons
after going 396.6 miles. This resulted in an average fuel economy of
38.16 mpg for the tank.

I am pleased with this number because twice on trips home on this tank,
I really flew, relatively speaking, at speeds approaching 75 miles per
hour. Of course, these speeds were as I safely trailed behind tractor
trailers to utilize their drafts to improve my fuel economy.

Gas cost $2.829 per gallon, which is apparently below the national
average. Fredericksburg, for some reason, has cheaper gas than average.
This makes me feel sorry for those areas that pay more than the national
average, but I'm honestly not going to go out of my way to pay more than
I need to just to make myself feel better about my area's cheap gas.

I still haven't gotten a distance home number, which would allow me to
estimate my average speed on these trips home I also track with some
degree of retentiveness. If/when I do that, I'll be able to expand my
coverage to include "trip home times," which is information that has
really come in handy and has reduced some of my stress levels associated
with driving home.

I'm In the SLOW Lane, Going the Speed Limit or Otherwise Keeping Up With Traffic. WHERE SHOULD I GO?

This morning was odd. Not so much because there was unusually heavy
traffic, but because of how some people chose to handle it.

I drove in today as I normally do, hanging out in the slow lane,
watching ahead to see how fast those cars are going, and staying a
reasonable distance behind them so I wouldn't have any unnecessary
reason to slam on the brakes.

I-95 is three lanes wide for my entire commute. When I camp out in the
slow lane, that leaves two other lanes for traffic that wants to go
faster than me.

As it turned out, I pretty much was keeping pace with the middle lane,
as there were many other cars going my way this morning. However, there
were three drivers who obviously thought that my role as being in the
slow lane with 100 feet of open space between me and the car ahead of me
(not an unreasonable distance considering we were all going 60-65 mph)
meant I ought to have been accelerating to close the gap ahead of me.

Three times a car (I am not exaggerating) swooped in behind me, crawled
up right close to my rear bumper, flashed its headlights, and then
swooped away into the middle or fast lane again, just to get stuck again
in traffic that was pretty much going the same speed that I was.

I'm sorry, but I don't underatand how people can expect the SLOW LANE to
move any faster than the other two lanes in traffic.

People, please just pick a lane and stick with it. We'll all be safer
and you will find you will get there in a reasonable time with much less
stress.

Please try to keep your sanity as you're out there driving, folks!