Month of May 2022 (Nat’l Avg $4.187)

Big-tired 2013 auto Elantra took me to the river to see what birds are showing. Very barren. Think most of the birds are dispersed & nesting. Less than a week ago, I saw a pair of small-race Canada Geese herding 3 chicks around in a lake.
Heard a white-crowned sparrow with its slightly forlorn song. Finally, tracked it down & saw its striped white & black head.
A guy’s pick-up needed a battery charge. Had to drive the Elantra down a raggedy angled river bank slope to be able to charge him with our battery cables. Everything worked well. I WAS glad to have the tall tires to get back up the bumpedy bump bump slope. The tall tires give an extra 3/4ths of an inch ground clearance.
Twice within the past 4 months, I was glad to have the tall tires, once while they were on the 2016 manual Elantra to wade through some river water & once today. Recommended taller tires than OE tires previously for vehicles (small cars in particular). Still, recommend such.

 

Nice bird , Gord ! We have a number of species of herons and cranes around here. When I was a kid , you would see maybe one in a whole summer.
Now , they are accustomed to people and make a home here. I saw a pair of sand cranes walking along a pedestrian path in Fermilab.
Later that same day , I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's. Needless to say , his hair was perfect.

Today , 67 deg F in Naperville , 68 in Elk Grove , Wind S10.
33.3 miles , fcd = 68.7 x .943 = 64.8 MPG.

 

Several times, while driving east of Anacortes, Washington state, while the tides were out, my powerful binoculars have showed a hundred(more?) Blue Herons, 1 to 2 miles out, on the mudflats. All other people enjoying the day by Padilla Bay, never saw the birds or the many other enchantments beyond the immediate area around the Parking Area. A mile away, there is the small but excellent Padilla Bay Aquarium & research center (also with Bay access & trails away from the Bay). There are scheduled hands-on activities & classes for the general public. Really cater to children. It is superb……& Very Very FREE! Just a marvelous region to repeatedly return, & absorb & learn about nature. Never will you get bored with it. Look it up!

 

I highly recommend a small but powerful, li-ion battery to jump start ICE cars, or just recharge a whole bunch of gadgets on USB. No risk to your precious transport by going to dodgy off-road places and wasting fuel or adding to the pollution.

 

The Prius has 12 mm ground clearance. I stay on paved roads.

Today , 59 deg F in Naperville , 55 in Elk Grove. Wet roads all the way
from last night's rain. 33.3 miles, fcd = 64.2 x .943 = 60.5 MPG.

Last night going home I stopped in Hanover Park to give my friend Russell a stool he needed.
Got into some bad traffic on Rte 20. What would normally take 20 min ( to get to 20 and 59 ) ended
up taking an extra 20 min. The last five of those were engine on as the battery was drained.
I hate when that happens. After I got on Rte 59 , it was smooth sailing. I ended up with 72 fcd for the 37 mile trip.
But I hated crawling along at 2 MPH with the engine on catching fcd go from 68 to 60.

 

Eeuuuwww…..a half inch ground clearance ain’t much. Might you like to revise & extend your remarks?
Our Elantras have 5.3 inches of ground clearance with OE tires. With my taller used tires, the 2013 auto Elantra gets 13+% more or 6.0 inches of ground clearance. Doesn’t sound like much, but you can visually detect that the Elantra has more lift. As I’ve stated earlier, the extra ground clearance is very handy.
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PS……Ummm, even the less tall new tires we bought to go on the 2016 manual Elantra give 7.55% more ground clearance than the OE tires, or 5.7 inches. Was following the 2016 manual Elantra with our Hyundai Accent. The new tires, with good wheel balancing & wheel alignment, make the Elantra track & look really fine!

 

Don't know if you're kidding... but Edwin is known for his "slight" exaggerations. You should see the sparks fly when he hits those Chicago bumps in the road, just like in Formula 1 racing.

 

Poetic license. Yes , I like to exaggerate.

 

You damn right

 

Prii have about as much ground clearance as a lot of other cars, and a lot more than my parents' ridiculous 1964 LeSabre. That thing was supposed to have about 4", and actually had less, especially with the family in the car. It couldn't go down our gravel road or driveway, even when they were in good shape, without rocks constantly banging off the exhaust crossover pipe---no exaggeration.

 

No exaggeration? Ah……you’re not Edwin!

 

Today , 73 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove Village.
Wind SSW10.
33.3 miles , fcd = 72.2 x .943 = 68.1 MPG.
Rode the Grom 27 miles between Saturday and Sunday.
Fcd went from 159.7 to 162.0. How accurate is it ? We'll find out at the first fill.

 

Today , 67 deg F in Naperville , 69 in Elk Grove.
Wind NW3.
33.3 miles , fcd = 66.7 x .943 = 62.9 MPH.

 

Wife & I are going to an art festival, today. Mist, turning into a very light rain is coming down. For June, it is cold too, to extend our cold Springtime, & past winter weather. We get one pleasant day, preceded & succeeded by multiple cold, rainy days. I remember 1983, when our entire summer was cold & rainy. Hope we get a real summer break coming soon, from our continuing standard Washington state weather.

PS……After that 1983 cold summer, the fall was very nice with increased warmth for a fall season. It was very pleasant AFTER the previous cold winter, spring & summer, & BEFORE the coming cold winter weather.

 

May 20, 2022;

Well….another large branch broke off a tree in my presence, this time 3+ months after the first incident of this year! Only this time, it was much closer! Had driven the 2013 automatic Elantra to the river to observe with my binoculars, which I was preparing while in the car. Suddenly, the familiar crack of breaking wood snapped my head up. The branch was falling 80 yards away, & onto power lines. The lines were driven downward, but held the branch about 8 feet off the ground. The branch was at least 8 inches in diameter. Other smaller branches did reach the ground. The power lines tho, swayed & reverberated over my head & I was hoping no live lines came down on my car! All the lines held. I took the incident as a sign to head for home. Many years ago, after thinking I didn’t see any trees fall naturally in the outdoors, I’m rapidly making up for my lack of excitement.

 

8-23-22:

Went back today, & all the powelines were repaired & the big branch moved onto the riverbank. Had the 7x35mm B&L & Pentax 20x60mm binoculars, which make an excellent team together. I went out early, so the heat waves would not bother the 20 power Pentax’s. A number of mature & immature bald eagles passed left & right along the river. The big binoculars really show the detail & bring the eagles close in my eyes.

 

August 24, 2022:

Oh, I haven’t used this combination of binoculars in a while. Yes, I will do that soon.