Month of January 2023 (Nat’l Avg $3.208)

My arthritis has been bugging me the last few days. Try to reduce my meds, but had to take some this morning & tried to get some sleep in the daytime. Did wake up to both 1) pain AND 2) unusual blue skies & the distant wonderful Cascade Mountains. Had to take some aspirin, but I also had to take a drive with the manual Elantra in the excellent weather. The outbound drive was so nice, that I belatedly realized that the pain was reduced….& the drive became even better. After traveling around the valley & returning home, I looked at the Cascade Mountains that had a perfect display of snows & shadows, with the 7-15powerx35mm zoom Tasco binoculars. I noted something I had never realized on Merchant Peak. To the left of the top peak, were 3 (possibly 4, 5 & 6?) pointy crags that looked like giant ascending steps to the top……except that each ascending step was preceded & followed by vertical drops of scores or hundreds(?) of feet!
Yes, look up Merchant Peak on Wikipedia & see what my binoculars showed. Really…..very spectacular.
//////
PS…..Oh, here is Merchant Peak:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Merchant_Peak.jpg

 

Back to work today.
32 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove Village.

Wind N 3

33.3 miles, fcd = 56.9 x .943 = 53.6 MPG

 

In New York state, the gas tax holiday ended 12/31/22, so prices suddenly increased about 20 cents a gallon. Actual state tax is about a quarter a gallon, so it's logical to conclude that the price of the actual gasoline went down a little bit. I paid 2.99 at the last fillup and it's now 3.19 at the same station. As of yesterday, I switched from the winter car with snow tires back to the hybrid, which is holding onto trip averages in the 60s even with the Anti Sludge Scream (acronym available at extra cost) that the engine does during each cold start. During the coldest temperatures, covering the first half mile shows a trip average around 10mpg, with the car rolling down the road in EV while the engine runs at high idle to heat the oil and the battery. It's fun to watch the numbers climb as the warmed car covers long distances with the engine off.

This week will be mostly warm but then the cold returns. For the coldest mornings, I zip the coat up all the way to my nose so I breathe into the coat. Do this and there's no moisture to condense on the windshield and force the use of the defroster. No way I'm going to run the d@mn engine just to blow warm air on glass.

 

I just don't breathe.

Today , 37 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove.

A bit of tailwind is always welcome.
SW 5

33.3 miles, fcd = 60.5 x .943 = 57.0 MPG.

 

Uh-huh. Where do you reckon the moisture from your breath goes after you've exhaled more than the volume of space between yourself and your coat?

 

It ends up absorbed by the coat and the shirt within. It does a good job of keeping the glass clear, and it moisturizes my torso which helps me to retain my youthful glow. I don't need to worry about crows feet on my clavicles.

 

My clavicles are a lot lower down. Wait.....clavicles ?
Never mind.

 

Today , 32 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove.

Wind SW 4

33.3 miles , fcd = 58.9 x .943 = 55.5 MPG

 

You must live right since it was available...

 

I read the following article and found it quite interesting about the availability of various charger types in Norway.

 

Today , 31 deg F in Naperville , 32 in Elk Grove.

Wind W8

33.3 miles, fcd = 57.9 x .943 = 54.6 MPG

 

AAAnnnnnnddd the year is off to a great beginning……