Last Saturday, May 17, we held the third meeting of hypermilers/hybrid drivers in St. Cloud, MN, located almost dead center in the middle of the state. I should preface this article with the note that our first two meetings had about 8-10 attendees, mostly people from the website.
I wasn't sure what to expect this time, however, as Sean posted, we were helped out by St. Cloud Toyota, who mailed out flyers to many of their Prius purchasers.....
With the meeting set for 10, i got there early in hopes of taking a drive around the course i had set for clinics in sean's car, which didn't happen because of he and wayne getting a late start coming up from minneapolis.
The meeting was held at Michael's, a wonderful, old world German restaurant. The owner, Michael, came out to say hello, and asked if i had a hybrid. the honda hybrids just aren't as visible as the prius, so it was a valid question. he was very enthusiastic about it, saying he wanted all the hybrids right up front in the parking lot.
So, after a quick spin around the course (results i will show further down), and a warm greeting from Sean and Wayne, an amazing thing happened. Priuses. LOTS of Priuses!! And they just kept coming......Michael got his wish, since after everyone arrived, his lot was FULL.
Total count we had 19 Priuses, a Camry Hybrid, a Lexus Hybrid, two Tauruses, two drivers who had Highlander Hybrids at home, and, last but not least, two hondas, my civic and sean's insight. people were meeting and chatting in the lot, and we found we had a very enthusiastic group.
We moved inside to a nicely setup banquet room, where everyone gave a brief introduction about themselves and their cars. we ran the gamut of age and experience, from students and a young married couple, to a gentleman who bought his prius so he could visit his grandchildren in alabama. he had a lovely red one, and told me his wife insisted she pick the color. when asked about their current FE, the general numbers seemed to be in the mid 40s.
Wayne gave a presentation about the whys and how to hypermile, which was quite well received, with lots of questions and comments following. the group seemed quite knowledgeable about the vehicles and expressed concern for not only the oil problem, but the environment.
Michael provided a marvelous all-you-can-eat lunch for 7.95, and i estimate more than half of the people stayed, sharing not only the meal, but a lot of animated discussions.
After the meal, we headed outside for some clinics and tire pressure checking, with several people being surprised at how low the tires were. Wayne, Sean and Mike Floerchinger took several groups at a time out on the course for an intro to hypermiling. I had scouted out a 5 mile loops with very little traffic, wide roads with good shoulders, and just enough of a hill to show how to handle them. It was sunny and pleasant, however, a strong tail wind eventually started up.
I saw many participants who came back quite amazed at what they learned about how efficient they car can be. i heard one couple saying "72MPG" after they returned, and i think the Lexus driver ended up somewhere in the 40s.
One special highlight of the entire day was having Tim Post, a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio there recording the event. He was there during the presentation, and went on a couple of clinic drives, including a trip out with Sean in the Insight, which ended up showing 112.3 for 6.9 miles with a cold start.
His information is to be broadcast Friday the 23 between 4:30-6pm on All Things Considered, though my company owner said he heard it this morning.
We all left tired and wind blown, but very happy at the turnout. it says people are out there who do care about what we are doing. And by the way, the total count of attendees was 45!!!
Many thanks to St. Cloud Toyota for not only getting the word out, but covering the cost of the room and coffee. And thanks to Wayne for making yet another trip to Minnesota. We had NO idea that two days later he would be on the road to NYC!
Michael has my recent article posted inside the front door of the restaurant.
our hondas were lost in a sea of Priuses
Small brag about my early run on the course. wayne has been telling me i should be able to get a 100MPG segment on my car. He had plans to show me how, but since he and Sean were late getting out of the cities, i went out just to see how well i could do on the road....
I thought it was very nice.
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