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Welcome back to the grind and the start of a new month this week!

3 inches of snow on the ground and everyone on the roads is busy trying to prove they've never seen the stuff before. :rolleyes: I mean come on, I run all season, LLR tires at high pressures and see no need for the 24mph speed I had to suffer through on the highway this morning! I'd have taken advantage of the speed for better mileage (actually, I did when you consider I spent enough regen to top up the battery completely) but the crowd couldn't even hold a steady speed and slowed down on every slippery upslope! :eek:

:p

Whatever. A day in the life of MN.

15F (4F windchill), 8mph crosswind from the NE, snowing:


69.5mpg for 12.7mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 72.3mpg over 656.5mi with 4 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

^We're supposed to get that snow tomorrow and Wednesday. Not looking forward to it very much.

12F and sunny with winds from the NE @ 5mph

- 43.6mpg for 23.3 miles from home to school

The tank is at 44.4mpg over 194.4 miles with 8.8 gallons remaining.

Cold engines are never fun. I think tomorrow I may try taking the back roads home instead of the highway to see if I can get better f/e.

27F and sunny with no winds

- 42.5mpg for 23.1 miles from school to home

Day total: 43.0mpg over 46.4 miles

The tank is down to 44.1mpg over 217.1 miles with 8.1 gallons.

That was a really crummy commute home. I wish people would just stay home if that's the best they can do in this stuff. :mad:

I chewed up about 1.5mpg getting up the driveway. Took me a couple of tries to get in, then I had to shovel around it to get the rest of the way up. I ended up getting up the rest of the way basically with one wheel because of course my shoveled path wasn't quite wide enough and the driver's side went back into the snow. :rolleyes:

Oh well. I'm home, no damage to the car, and I'm relieved to be away from those other crazy drivers. I only passed one wreck on the way but of course everyone had to slow down to 10mph to see it as they went by... only to floor it right after (apparently to see if they could create as interesting a sight themselves). :p

19F (7F windchill), 11mph cross/headwind from the ENE, snowing:


62.5mpg for 13.2mi (Work to home... and yes the extra tenths were all spent on the driveway :o)

The tank is now down to 72.1mpg over 669.8mi with 4 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 65.8mpg over 26.0mi

Better road conditions and traffic this morning.

4F (-11F windchill), 10mph tailwind from the N, clear:


70.7mpg for 12.7mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 72.1mpg over 682.6mi with 3 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

That was a very misrable drive home, and the trip to school wasn't great either. Once again my college decided to be the only one open while everyone else closed. :rolleyes: I don't know what they were thinking. I'm very blessed that I was able to make it to my house. Speeds coming home on the MassPike (PSL 65mph) were between 30-40mph. There wasn't too much snow on the roads going to school, but coming back was a different story. The roads were absolutely a complete mess with people slipping all over the place and my road wasn't even plowed at all. :mad:

- 37.7mpg for 22.4 miles from home to school (17F and light snow with winds from the N @ 7mph)

- 30.3mpg for 23.4 miles from school to home :ccry: (18F and heavy snow with winds from the N @ 8mph; 27mph aver, 43mph max for the trip, and that was with taking the interstate)

Day total: 33.5mpg over 45.8 miles

The tank is way down to 41.8mpg over 263.2 miles with 6.7 gallons remaining. Since I started hypermiling, this is definitely the worst f/e I've ever seen coming home. Actually I don't think I've ever seen it that low before, period. It's going to be extremely difficult to get the numbers back up to where they were before today.

It happens to all of us, Dan. :(

I had one heck of a headwind to fight on the way home. I really wish I hadn't had to stop so many times -- it is hard to climb uphill and into a wind!! (Cold air is a lot denser so the wind speed feels a lot higher than it is.)

12F (-4F windchill), 15-19mph headwind from the N, overcast:


64.1mpg for 13.1mi (Work to home)

The tank is now down to 71.9mpg over 695.7mi with 3 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 67.2mpg over 25.9mi

Blah. :(

Back to super aggressive traffic. :rolleyes:

-1F (-17F windchill), 10mph cross/tailwind from the NW, clear:


67.9mpg for 12.7mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 71.9mpg over 708.5mi with 2 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

More shenanigans on the way home. :p I get on the highway and someone managed to slide their way off into the median while heading north (the way I'm going)... off completely dry pavement. The SUV (yup, one of those drivers :rolleyes:) was all the way off the road surface but still there was a cop stopped in the middle of the left lane. And of course everyone had to crawl on by at 5mph. Uphill. For 3/4 of a mile.

:angry:

Oh well. I'm home. Still used very little fuel compared to everyone else and I don't think I could have used less on the other route in these temps.

7F (-6F windchill), 9mph crosswind from the W, sunny:


66.7mpg for 13.1mi (Work to home)

The tank is now down to 71.6mpg over 721.6mi with 2 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 67.2mpg over 25.9mi

I'll make it through tomorrow and Friday but I'll have to fill up over the weekend. Not bad for a tank I started on November 22nd... but man is this average low!! :o

No work for the last 2 days. We got 16" of snow with in 24 hours tying for second the largest snow fall in History for Joplin MO. At one point in the storm on Tuesday AM we were getting 5 inches of snow an hour. It has been about 7 years from when we lived in Wisconsin that I have had to shovel this much snow.

Today I shoveled what blew around after I shoveled yesterday and then went to our neighbors that are elderly and dug out one of their cars and the driveway so if they needed to get out they could.

Just about everything was close for the last 2 days and many will still be closed tomorrow but we are going back to work.:eyebrow:

This is not the area of the country that is used to this type of weather. Tonight is suppose to get to the negative teens. Very rare for around here as well.

More wind and traffic.

3F (-15F windchill), 13mph headwind from the SSW, clear:


65.5mpg for 12.7mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 71.6mpg over 734.4mi with 2 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Hi! I'm back!

61.5 / 12.9 this morning, 20F. That's tied for my best at this temperature.

The tank is down* to 63.2 / 569 miles, below 1/2 on the gauge.

*Crazy driving to and from the hospital with a very sick 2-year-old boy. :( Three nights there and I'm a little tired. He's home now, improving but not cured yet. He has RSV - respiratory virus with nasty coughing and fever.

Hi, Andrew! I'm glad he's home now; it's no fun when little ones are sick like that! What a helpless feeling. :(

sorry to hear that Andrew. May he be healed quickly and fully.

Horrible for FE today.

Started out with -10 F on the way work with Snow and Ice covered roads all the way in, including the highway section. was getting only about 10 MPG in town.

Finally got to work and the SG was showing 15.9.:eek: That is not going to help me getting this tank above 21.

I hope that the drive home will be better (Had to reschedule with the Tax preparer untill next week because of the snow/ice packed roads.)

Ouch, Jason!! I also hope your drive home is better!

We aren't scheduled to get any more snow until tomorrow. The cloud cover will also mean that it is going to be warmer.

I finally matched my tank average on the trip home today! It has been a while since that happened. :(

19F (6F windchill), 20mph cross/tailwind from the SW, sunny:


71.6mpg for 13.1mi (Work to home)

The tank is steady at 71.6mpg over 747.5mi with 1 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 68.6mpg over 25.8mi

I had a somewhat better showing this morning than I have in quite a while.

12F (0F windchill), 9mph headwind from the SSW, clear:


72.1mpg for 12.7mi (Home to work)

The tank is still steady at 71.6mpg over 760.3mi with 1 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

I won't be touching 800mi this time around. :p

No driving Wednesday or yesterday due to the campus being closed because of the snow.

I just can't win :( I left early today so I wouldn't hit the traffic coming off the main highway. Unfortunately I hit horrible traffic coming on the St Jame Ave exit off the secondary highway. Tried a modified P&G this morning, and I think it helped. Getting on the main highway, I was at 34mpg. I was able to get it over 42mpg in 11.4 miles, then I hit the ramp traffic.

-1F and sunny with no winds

- 40.1mpg for 23.3 miles from home to school

The tank is down to 41.7mpg over 286.1 miles with 6.1 gallons remaining.

26F, snowing and about 2 inches on the ground. !$@# texas drivers - cars crawling at 10 mph while Bubba in his lifted truck acts like everything's normal. :mad: Average speed was perfect, though - I drove like I always do and they matched my speed. :D

57.3 / 10.4 - home last night (headwind)
68.7 / 8.7 - out to music practice (tailwind)
59.1 / 8.7 - back home (headwind)
55.9 / 9.6 - this morning, snowing. I took the main roads this time.

The tank is down a tick to 63.0 / 608 miles, 3/8 on the gauge.

yesterday going home was better, but not by much

The highway crew did a very good job of getting down to the pavement so the highway portion was in good contition.
From there to home, was a hairy ride (because of the others on the road), as the city roads still were covered with snow, greasy snow and mounds of ice on the roads. Tried my best and got

18.3 MPG:(

This morning, roads in town were still horrible and more people on the roads:eek:. Managed to get about 17 out coming to work. Temps were 19F with calm winds.

Had to run some errands today, head out to the fire department, city hall, and the bank. Had kid with me since babysitter is still sick. But, today was a good day, calm wind, 48, fog/mist, perfect day to slow down and didn't have tailgaters since they figured it was safer to go slow, too! :) Had my new best segment! 48.0 MPG over 14.5 miles.

Today 24.6 miles, netting 45.2 MPG
Tank 209.0 (odo) miles at 41.8 MPG
6-7/8 (13/16 I guess?) remaining on fuel gauge!

At this rate, I may only post 2 or 3 tanks for the FE Challenge. Which is good, because my going average was 2 tanks a month. Then again, I was doing more driving and less hypermiling.

:woot:

34F and sunny with winds from the SSW @ 12mph

- 41.8mpg for 23.1 miles

Day total: 40.9mpg over 46.5 miles

The tank is steady at 41.7mpg over 309.8 miles with 5.6 gallons remaining.

There's a heat wave going on here in MN!! In spite of traffic I easily hit a high of 84mpg on the way home, then lost a bit going through town to get to the gas station. It was nice to be able to cruise at 100+mpg on the highway for long stretches once more. :D

This fill is nothing to brag about but I'm happy that I used as little fuel as I did over the 75 days the tank lasted me. Also nice -- I finally managed to stuff the tank (with an additional 3.025g) so it will be a while before I have to fill again. :)

33F (25F windchill), 9mph cross/tailwind from the SW. sunny:


82.4mpg for 13.7mi (Work to Costco for gas)
96.8mpg for 2.5mi (Costco to home :D)

The tank rang up at 71.6mpg on the FCD but ended up a bit lower after the fill. It took 10.926g to cover 774.0mi for an average of 70.84mpg. Blah. Hopefully it warms up soon.

I'm off to a rotten start in the FE challenge but at least my lifetime average is still just above 92mpg. :o