What is the point? When there are other cars up there, whatever sensors
that need to be triggered are already triggered, and your quickness to
get there won't speed things up at all. You just use more gas to get
there and waste gas as you idle until the light turns green.
Well, I went 425.7 miles and filled up with 10.704 gallons, making for a
tank fuel economy of 39.77. Pretty good, a hair better than my overall
2007 average fuel economy, and more than three miles per gallon better
than my fuel economy since day 1.
It was my tenth tank in a row in which I went farther than 400 miles,
and the thirteenth out of the last fourteen tanks (there was one tank in
there where I just went 399.9 miles and felt it would be cheating to
take laps around the parking lot just to hit 400 miles).
Traffic has been generally smooth, and weather has been generally
agreeable to the point where I didn't need too much air conditioning.
These I believe are the primary drivers behind this good mileage.
If my next tank is filled up at the Fredericksburg Costco and my mileage
is dramatically less, my conclusion will be that the Woodbridge gas
pumps shut off earlier than the Fredericksburg pumps.
Well, in the fast lane, ahead maybe 8 carlengths was another car going
about my speed. I don't remember it passing me, so it might have been
going 66-68 mph.
A Honda Accord coupe with UVA license plates absolutely zooms past me in
the fast lane. Totally speeding like Meat Loaf on the cover of his
album, you know? And the guy doesn't move over into the middle lane to
keep on speeding to pass the guy in the fast lane. He quickly closes
the gap between him and the car ahead of him in the fast lane.
I take my foot off the gas and start coasting with my foot hovering over
the brake pedal, watching Mr. Accord approach the rear end of this guy
in front of him. No brake lights or other movement in the Accord.
Then, with about three feet to spare, the nose of the Accord drops maybe
8 inches ad the guy slams on his brakes, and the Accord plows into my
lane ahead of me. The car may have gone onto three wheels given the
force of the hard right turn combined with the stomping on the braking.
The Accord I thought had hit or clipped the rear bumper of the other
car, but did not touch it. Tires squeal and the Accord tries to
straighten out. The car rolls back to a horizontal orientation but its
momentum makes it lean to the right and the momentum from the hard
swerve begins to drag the car into the slow lane.
More tire squealing as the Accord makes its way into the slow lane.
At this point, there is a couple hundred yards of space between this
Accord and anything else, as the rest of us slowed down to see what was
going to happen next.
Mr. Accord regains speed and in a few minutes begins his suicide race
again and weaves ahead to continue on his way.
If my bladder and/or bowels had been full, I would have needed to change
my pants. I was thinking this Accord was pretty close to just starting
one of those "barrel rolls" right down the middle of the highway like
you see in movies. He was going so fast and swerved so violently, I am
surprised there wasn't any damage to his car, or flat tires, or lost
hubcaps...
But I am thankful no one got hurt. Maybe this guy learned a lesson.
But probably not.
Is it really that important for you to get to your destination so fast,
when an accident like what almost happened could totally ruin your
plans, as well ans those plans of others around you?
Three of these guys whipped into the slow lane and were crawling up my
rear bumper like nobody's business. I was mildly fearful they'd run on
into me, but knew if that did happen, first it'd be that guy's fault,
and second that guy's not get to work or wherever he was going fast like
he had hoped.
My conclusion is these guys cursed me as they waited for an opening in
one of the faster lanes to get around me.
I shouldn't get ticked off at these people, but I sort of do.
Not only do they waste gas by mashing on the gas, mashing on the brakes,
and weaving all over the place, they also (I imagine) add extra stress
to all the cars they fly around. At 6:30 a.m., probably nobody wants
this sort of action.
We are all on the road and want to get to our destinations safely and in
a reasonable amount of time. It just takes one of these selfish idiots
to have a brief moment of inattentiveness to cause an accident, and then
the rest of us get stuck in the backup to pay for his selfish behavior.
Perhaps when I get older, I'll "accidentally" get into a little fender
bender with one of these guys so I can tell him to his face what a turd
he is while driving. But that would just waste my time. I'll be
content to wait for these turds to ruin their own lives with some other
innocent guy who doesn't deserve it.
People, please drive smart. Look out for everyone else. Don't be
selfish. We'll all get there together if we respect each other and just
behave decently towards each other.
Believe it or not, commuting isn't a race, folks.
Today being Thursday, it is most likely that this tank will take me
through tomorrow and probably even through Monday, leaving me to either
fill up Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
If I was able to refuel at both the Fredericksburg and Woodbridge
Costcos at the same time, that would settle this question I have about
fuel pump automatic shutoff sensitivity once and for all. But since I
can't do that, I must dwell on the question as to which is more
important, taking one full tank from start to finish from the Woodbridge
Costco, or squeezing out as much gas as possible from a tank and
refueling at wherever I happen to be at the time.
Also of importance is my Fantasy Football team. Another guy in the
league is making more moves than me, and I must not let that happen. Of
course, last year I made the most moves and came in last in the league.
So maybe making moves and all isn't that smart of an idea...
My FF team, the Scary Green Helmets, is 1-1 this season so far. I hope
to finish over .500, but at this rate, my patience is not good enough
just to wait. I sure hope I don't torpedo my team's chances...
I am happy when I go about 150 miles on the first 1/4 tank, according to
the fuel gauge. Last time after I filled up at the Woodbridge Costco, I
went much less than 150 miles, and this time is the same, I had gone
only about 130 as the needle passed down over the 3/4 mark.
The tank between, filled at Fredericksburg, indicated well over 150
miles as the needle dropped down the same mark.
The pattern forming indicates my fuel economy should be maybe 37 if I am
lucky when I fill up again at Fredericksburg. I will do my best to see
if I can refuel at the Woodbridge Costco to see if fuel economy matches
or is similar to fuel economy when I refilled consistently at the
Fredericksburg Costco.
Overall, however, I think average fuel economy numbers should not be
affected by this apparent problem, as it should smooth itself out over
time.
