Dear Diary: Day 7 as a hypermiler

[TimboliahPantsOnFiyah]

Dear Diary,
Is it normal for me as a new hypermiler to be sitting in a long line of cars, at a red light, (with ICE off of course), and to look all around at the big, gass guzzlers shaking and shimmying while they idle at the light... and to feel a sense of smug intellectual superiority over them?
To delight in doing mental calculations in my head of how much money they are likely spending monthly on gas and how much better I am doing?
I find myself turning almost any conversation towards the virtues of fuel economy... only to be rebuffed by those who hate the gas prices but "love driving fast in their big SUV."
If I was single, and doing the bar scene, I'd surely be that creep who saunters up to the lovely ladies and starts in with the lines:
"Hey good lookin', what's your MPG?"...
"I hope you don't think it to forward of me to suggest that we FAS on our first date?"...
Sorry. That's enough. You get the idea.
Have others gone down this same road?
I feel guilty when my mother is talking to me about her upcoming hip replacement surgery and my first thoughts are: Gee if that is heriditary, I hope when I get to that point, I'll still be able to work the clutch on my manual transmission 2038 Toyota three cylinder sub-compact for restarting on the fly after NICE-off FASing!
What have I become?...

[BailOut]

LOL! You are not alone!

Seriously though, between hypermiling and my ever-increasing conservation and environmental focus I am no longer viable in the bar scene, but I'm not sad about that at all. If I am ever in the singles scene again the only place I'll be able to find someone with the values I hold dear and that can put up with me will be within the environmental circles. I'll be volunteering at events to pick up chicks as much as for more altruistic purposes.

I can see it now, me in my 60s, my wiry frame on the edge of a sunburn, organic cotton declaration t-shirt on, my little BEV out in the parking lot with a mountain bike jutting off the back, sneaking away from my "hyperwatting" booth to cozy up to the ladies running a composting toilet demonstration. Sexay!

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Originally Posted by BailOut

I can see it now, me in my 60s, my wiry frame on the edge of a sunburn, organic cotton declaration t-shirt on, my little BEV out in the parking lot with a mountain bike jutting off the back, sneaking away from my "hyperwatting" booth to cozy up to the ladies running a composting toilet demonstration. Sexay!

LOL!!!

[xcel]

Hi Tim:

___When you are ready for “Ride of the week”, this is going to be included as your testimony!

___I bet most here sitting at a light Ice-Off for the first time look around and have the same idea run through their heads as you described above. It happened to me the first time I shut down a Nissan P/U truck at a light almost 8 years ago and I have never looked at the vehicles surrounding us the same since …

___Your write-up was damn good if I do say so myself!

___Brian, you are going to be a “Swingin Guy” when you get older, aren’t you

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[laurieaw]

ok, boys....i gotcha on this one. i AM in my early 60s, spent the last few weeks retringing electric rope in a pasture, building new gates inside the barn, hauling wood and supplies in my HCH, learned to work a wood stove to heat my new living quarters......

i HAD a knee replacement two years ago, and within a few weeks of the surgery i was driving my car again with the 5 speed. (until then i drove DH's truck with the automatic, starting a few days later).

go for it, i say!!!

[Lgsnpr]

I am going through the exact same metamorphosis...I am on my first tank of gas as a hypermiler...Up until last week I got 350-360 miles out of a tank of gas...I am currently at 350 miles and still have about 1/3 of a tank left...

I don't drive a hybrid; I drive a $500 beater (96 Escort) and I couldn't be more excited at the "common sense" of it all...My only regret is that I didn't discover this "secret society" years ago...

Kudos to all of you that seek the pot at the end of the fuel economy rainbow...

[run500mph]

Wayne,

you must be proud of this.

[xcel]

Hi Run500mph:

___I am

___Good Luck

___Wayne

[Doofus McFancyPants]

after 4 months - i am still "suprised" at every light i am sitting at with engine off - and all the cars around me are sitting there idleing. expecially the long lights - you know the ones where it is a good minute or 2 it is red. so if you count the cost time to the light - i am probably 3 minutes with engine off.

I have tried to NOT have every converstaion turn to MPG ( at least not with people i am just meeting. althought it is fun to watch there expressions .

"I am getting about 30 MPG ( slight pause as one eyelid arches) in my Altima ( slight pause as the other eyelid arches) in the City (slight pause as the Jaw starts to drop) - but i think i can do better."

(granted it is not as good as the Hybrids and sub 1 L engines - but over 20% is nothing to sneeze at)

I have to admit - I have yet to hear a car restart its engine at a stop light though.. some days it feals like it is just me here in Atlanta....

Steve