Tank 243 - 29 June 2K10 and Going Downhill

Refueled this morning at the Fredericksburg Wawa aith 12.451 gallons of
unleaded, officially the most gasoline I have ever squose into that car.
According to the owner's manual, I only had about 0.8 gallons left in
that tank.

Still, I went only 429.2 miles on the tank, so my fuel economy was a
trifling 34.47 mpg. Probably this is because my right foot has become
heavier and I have been driving faster when there is open space on the
highways.

Average fuel economy for the year to date is 37.07 mpg and falling
unless I shape up.

Perhaps I will blame my lack of preventive maintenance. The car just
turned 94,000 miles and I ought to look into cleaning the air filter and
maybe replacing the spark plugs.

Awesome picture!

Tank 241 - 14 June 2K10

This morning I refueled at the Wawa in Fredericksburg. After 419.9
miles, Wawa squoze in 11.403 gallons of gas, making for a fuel economy
of 36.82 miles per gallon for the tank.

I think the last two results in the 36.xx range are because my trips
home are taking forever. And also when I check the traffic reports
before I go home and see my main route is a red stripe, I take the long
way home that goes waaaay around the base and spits me out near my exit.
I am moving most of the time, but there are curvy roads and hills and
more accelerating and things to suck my mileage number lower.

Still, I have realized that I would rather be moving in the car instead
of crawling along the interstate surrounded by so many others, which is
a trapped, futile feeling.

So although it takes longer and it takes more gas, I much rather drive
the route where I am going along faster than 5 or 15 miles an hour.

Tank 240- 6 June 2K10

Sorry for the absence. I went to a class and was gone for four and a
half weeks. Got great mileage- averaged 38.5 MPG during the 3300 miles
I drove during that period!

Then I refueled on Sunday with 11.739 gallons after going 426.9 miles,
making for fuel economy of 36.37 MPG. A little bit of a downer.

Tank 230 - 19 April 2K10

37.70 miles per gallon, after driving 421.2 miles and refueling with
11.172 gallons of gas at the Woodbridge BJ's Wholesale Club!

Starting next week, I will be attending a class at a location that is
not my office. It is in Maryland and about 60 miles away. So I'll be
piling the miles on the mighty Corolla and refueling about every four
days between next Tuesday and 26 May.

Tanks 228 and 229 - 1 and 12 April 2K10

Deepest apologies for neglecting my effort to update last tank, in which
I went 418.6 miles on 11.242 gallons and achieved 37.24 miles per
gallon.

Yesterday I refueled at a new gas station, the Sunoco of Triangle! I
squoze in 11.729 gallons and had gone 450.6 miles on the tank. I ended
up getting 38.42 miles per gallon, but for some reason was thinking it
would be over 40 miles per gallon. I am getting old and math in my head
is becoming difficult.

Sunoco, as you may know, is the official fuel of NASCAR. As far as I
know, this is the first time I have put Sunoco gas in my car. I wonder
if this knowledge will entice me to drive like a race car driver.

I am becoming more convinced that all BMW drivers (not just 3-series,
all of them) are asses. They speed up, weave in and out of traffic,
which is fine, but they also make horrible predictions about traffic and
frequently get hung up in a slower lane and I sneak back up on them down
the road or at the next traffic light.

I don't understand how it can be that virtually every BMW driver has
such a dumb mindset and drives like such an ass.

Meanwhile, I refueled the minivan and the computer was off in its fuel
economy guess by almost one half of a mile per gallon-- computer said
18.3, actual was 17.824.

And it continues...