My Trip --Las Vegas - Washington DC - Michigan - Vegas = 5400 miles

[highflyer_i469]

hey all, well, me and my girl are planning on packing up the car (2003 Honda Civic Hybrid), and this includes bringing our two siberian huskeys with us, and driving to Washington DC at the end of august. we're planning on heading straight to DC first, working on selling her condo, and then hopefully having time to swing by my home/family in northern michigan.

our route there is approx. just over 2400 miles, ( http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTEx....232253&mag=14 ) taking us up through denver, accorss to St. Louis, accross to columbus, ohio, and finally to DC (i realize the rocky's are going to be a pain and kinda suck the FE down, but we have never been through them and are looking forward to the sights).

Once we are finished in DC we are hoping to make it to see my family in norther michigan by taking this route - DC - Brimley, MI - ( http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTEx....650122&mag=12 ), - approx 851 miles, sped a few days seeing my family

and finally back to vegas via this route - http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTEx....343825&mag=13 , approx. 2120 miles

Total milage for this trip should be about 5400 miles.

I've got nearly brand new Pirelli P3000's on the front and "still look new" Michellin X-Radial's on the back, plan on pumping them up to approx. 40psi, can't really save weight anywhere, since we will need to pack all our clothes, dogs, ect., i have thought about replacing the spark plugs, get some new, clean ones in there, but i'm not sure how much that will help, if at all, will also be replacing the air filter, washing the car and putting a couple coats of wax on it (cut down on drag as much as possiable), but if anyone has any other suggestions, i'm all ears, i'll be experimenting with different speeds, driving style, ect. as sthis will me our first really long trip in the car.

We have made a few trips from Las Vegas to L.A. and with the cruise set at 70 usually average approx 42mpg heading south to L.A. and have gotten a best of 49.9 on the way back home, but usually get about 46-47 mpg on the way north. my only guess on that is that we usually have a good head wind the whole way south and a good tail wind on the way home, btw, average milage from vegas to L.A. is approx 315 miles from us to where we stay

something i'm also wondering is if anyone has traveled these routes, or close to them before and knows of any "can't miss" places along the way, u know, any really great restraunts, sights, ect. we have a little time to spare on the drive out, but not a whole lot. anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, tips, comments, or just random thoughts, please feel free to post up.

thanks for reading, and i look forward to all your resposes, i'll keep you all posted as we make the trip...

[SpartyBrutus]

My thoughts

- If you can press up the tires even to 44psi it will help
- If you can target 60 or 65mph versus 70mph it will help FE a lot
- Late August = daytime heat = want to use AC. If possible, perhaps get really early AM start or drive into late PM - avoiding high temps.
- Dont have one, but the Magellan/Maestro 4000 series gps has AAA stuff on it which may help you find neat POIs.

Enjoy and look forward to the trip report!

[c0da]

My tires are at 40psi as well and I'd also recommend going up to 44psi as well(I'm going to do that soon because I've gotten use to 40psi).

Same recommendations as SpartyBrutus.

I noticed I get better mileage coming back to Vegas from L.A. also. Gotta love that cool ocean breeze. I got 43mpg on the way there 45mpg on the way back staying inbetween 65mph - 70mph.

[ILAveo]

A long trip with two dogs seems like it will require a lot of stops and make most of your sight seeing the outdoor/nature variety. On a trip that length there are a lot of options depending on what you are interested in.... If you are a utopian commune/traditional crafts sort of person you will be passing through Eastern Iowa which has more than its fair share of that sort of thing. You could investigate the Amana Colonies that are just off I-80 between Iowa City and Des Moines. If you like traditional farm style food The Ox Yoke Inn just off of I-80 a little west of Iowa City is fairly good without being too expensive.

You will also be passing kind of near a rural midwestern redneck lesbian bar southwest of Dubuque, Iowa; they have pretty good burgers at lunch but unless you are really into collecting that sort of oddity it probably wouldn't be worth the little side trip down gravel roads and what not.

[PaleMelanesian]

On long inclines, turn off the Cruise Control and use your foot. CC goes into a "panic mode" and stomps the gas, and then holds it there. You will be able to maintain the same speed in a lower gear than it does. Obviously, this is a looooooooong drive, so use CC on the flats for your own sanity.

Edit: Errr.... that would be higher gear, lower rpm.

[xcel]

Hi Highflyer i469:

___I must have missed your intro or it is later up the new posts page? Either way, welcome to CleanMPG.

___As Carl, C0da, ILAveo and Andrew have mentioned, press those guys up to minimum of 44, keep the speeds down and DWL for all its worth. The difference between 55 and 70 is huge wrt a lean-burn capable Civic. Unfortunately, those (2) brands of tires may have already killed off your Civic’s lean-burn capability and that in itself would be a travesty wrt what the HCH-I is worth out on the open roads. 55 mph and she will pull 60 + all day long if that helps.

___With the pups … Since you will be stopping at most every rest stop along the way, learn to FAS your HCH to those rest areas well before you launch on your journey. A mile long FAS every 50 miles or so will do wonders to keep her segment FE up and if you are going to stop anyway, a FAS from a mile or so out is the most fuel efficient method we know of to slow down to a stop. If unimpeded that is …

___Good Luck

___Wayne