HI All: Instead of heading towards Nashville directly, Marian and I headed up to the Grand Canyon National Park. This of course through all of my planned fuel stops out of whack but like any National Park visit, it is always worth it. First stop, a Love's in Williams AZ before the trek up to the Grand Canyon. 03-22-2025 - Williams, AZ - Love's - $2.899 w/ the $0.10 off/gal discount deal. Just as Majestic every time I visit. Nothing to see here. Just some elk grazing along the park entrance roadway. Wayne
Hi All: Using the partial fill strategy to arrive at the next lower price fuel stop with a few gallons left in the tank worked like a charm... 03-23-2025 - Albuquerque, NM - Costco - $2.599 03-23-2025 - Amarillo, TX - Love's - $2.489 And just enough fuel to make it to Oklahoma City, OK where the lowest priced fuel in the country is. Tomorrow's fill anyway. Wayne
Hi All: 03-24-2025 - Oklahoma City, OK - Sam's Club - $2.319 From here, top off and get ready for higher prices as I head east. 03-24-2025 - Memphis, TN - Sam's Club - $2.439 I am in Nashville with about 3/4 of a tank and will refuel somewhere in the area later today. The RAV4 HEV was dead so I am picking up a 12V Charger later today and will drive the tank out to get fresh fuel in it as well. Wayne
Hi Bill: It is Marian's. If I had the time, I would have looked for a 12V Power Box but a 10A charger/maintainer will work just as well for a little less. Instead, this is attached to the RAV4 HEVs 12V and bringing it back from the dead. It showed a bad battery when I first connected it as expected given it probably was down to < 2V or so... Schumacher SC1282 10-Amp 12V Fully Automatic Battery Charger and Maintainer $49.92 incl. tax and picked up from a local Wal-Mart this morning. Wayne
Hi All: Before picking up the 12V/10A Charger, I refueled at a local Sam's Club. 03-25-2025 - Nashville, TN - Sam's Club - $2.499. Wayne
I have the impression of 12V battery issues in many newer cars, either through infrequent driving, or using the ignition accessory mode rather than READY, the latter more so in EVs. Newer alternator charging strategies for better MPG seem to allow the 12V batteries to stay at lower voltage longer. Not good for lead acid battery health. How old is the RAV4/battery?
I remember reading about a bug in the Bz4x EV body control module that would cause the 12v to die if you left the key fob in the car. Sensing the fob had the system in a sort of ready-to-go state that would deplete the battery, apparently. Some cars also run into trouble if you leave a device plugged into one of the USB or OBD ports because they would remain live with the ignition off. They should bring back the old GM "coma" mode from the mid 90s, where the car would go to deep sleep except for the remote keyless module when battery voltage went too far below 12. As long as you didn't wire things direct to the battery, the BCM would try to keep the battery alive.
Hi Bill and Chris: The RAV4 HEV sat for almost 4-months in my Nashville garage without being booted up so it was no surprise that it was dead when I got back. I usually have my son come over and start it every few weeks but not this time around. Wayne
Hi All: I had to run out to Chattanooga, TN, Bowling Green, KY, and finally Memphis, TN before I had to refuel yesterday. I used not only the $0.20/gal T-Mobile/Fuel Rewards discount but the last of my free Shell fuel cards for work I had completed for them last year. I still have one card left... I include each refueling cost incl. Shell in my Prius Prime TCO thread but free is better than anything but a refund if you know what I mean. 03-28-2025 - Memphis, TN - Shell - $2.499. I mentioned this a few posts ago and while maybe half of the rebate is for the 4% - now 5% back, to cover fuel, even after the $80 Costco membership, I still earned a little over $40 back on said fuel or maybe 1.5 to 2.5% discount. It is not much but anything is better than nothing and Costco's are usually a little less expensive than most fuel stations in a gen locale. Wayne
Hi All: I had to run out to Little Rock, AR yesterday so I figured a quick refuel in Memphis on the way out and a top off in Memphis on the way back. Memphis has some of the lowest fuel prices in all of TN and since I am passing though, why not? 04-01-2025 - Memphis, TN - Costco - $2.579 On the way back, I used a weekly $0.20/gal T-Mobile/Fuel Rewards discount offer to get back below $2.50 per. 04-01-2025 - Memphis, TN - Shell - $2.499 WayneHi All: I had to run out too Little Rock, AR yesterday so I figured a quick refuel in Memphis on the way out and a top off in Memphis on the way back. Memphis has some of the lowest fuel prices in all of TN and since I am passing though, why not? 04-01-2025 - Memphis, TN - Costco - $2.579 On the way back, I used a weekly $0.20/gal T-Mobile/Fuel Rewards discount offer to get back below $2.50 per. 04-01-2025 - Memphis, TN - Shell - $2.499 Wayne
Hi All: I had to drive to southern IN the other night and on the way back, I stopped at a Buc-ee's in Smiths Grove. There were a few less expensive stations either much further off the 65 or were closed as I was heading to and back. The restrooms as always were immaculate. 04-03-2025 - Smiths Grove, KY - Buc-ee's - $2.619 Wayne
Hi All: On Saturday morning, I had to head out towards Knoxville, TN and this Costco was one of the best in the state while on my way back. 04-05-2025 - Farragut, TN - Costco - $2.569 Wayne
Hi All: A quick drive down to Montgomery, AL this afternoon with a $0.25/gal, T-Mobile/Fuel Rewards/Shell discount in hand means a refuel at a Shell. Of course. 04-18-2025 - Acton, AL - Shell - $2.409 I am more than a little familiar with fuel costs nationwide but two days ago, President Trump stated something I had no idea of. Namely, that gasoline was down to $1.98 a gallon in a ‘couple of states.’ Having just covered 400-miles across some of the lowest fuel price regions in the lower 48 earlier today, that is a large swath of TN and AL between Nashville and Birmingham, if I knew where $1.98/gal fuel was, do you think I would have refueled at that location instead of this Shell for $2.409 per? Wayne
Hi All: I had to go to HD to purchase a few items to finish up work on molding to finish up the new flooring we had put in this week. Afterwards, off to Sam's Club for some groceries. The Prius Prime has about 3/4 of a tank so I did not need fuel but if it was still in the low $2.50 range, I would have topped her off. Given what I saw there, "No fuel for you!" 04-23-2025 - Nashville, TN - Sam's Club - $2.849. I screenshotted WTI sitting at $62.22, near the low of the year, while the price of fuel at this Sam's Club is near the highest I have seen in over a year. Just 28-days ago, I paid $2.499 per gallon at this same station (see above) vs $2.849 I saw just an hour or so ago. 04-23-2025 - Nashville, TN - Sam's Club - $2.849. 11-30-2024 - Nashville, TN - Sam's Club - $2.349 09-13-2024 - Nashville, TN - Sam's Club - $2.519. 04-01-2024 - Nashville, TN - Sam's Club - $2.989 I had to go back just over a year when oil was running at $85/bbl to find this stations prices higher than they were today. Wayne
Hi All: I had to run out to the Memphis area, actually just south of the city in MS early yesterday morning. Much better prices were available as soon as I crossed the TN/MS border. There were even cheaper fuel stations 15 more miles south in the $2.30s range. 04-25-2025 - Byhalia, MS - Shell - $2.499 Wayne
