Month of March 2023 (Nat’l Avg $3.359)

Yesterday, the weather was predicted to reach a high of 60degF. By 1PM, PDT, temperature was 63degF. Right now at 5PM, PDT, the temperature is 65degF.
PS…….Today, this morning, it was not predicted to get warmer, altho right now (2PM,PDT), it is 66degF. Might get a little warmer, but maybe not another degree. We’ll see.
Anyhow, I drove the big Snow-tired Accent to the river, with a different Tasco 7x35mm, Model 318Z & Barska(?) 20x70mm binoculars. Haven’t used the Model 318Z much…..yeah, because they are Tasco & they are called a wide-angle, but they are a modest wide-angle. But, surprised again by Tasco…..dial the focus carefully, & the sharpness is very good…..& the modest wide-angle…..well, it’s pretty good, too. All in all, I like the Model 318Z.
I brought along the 20x70mm’s because they are good for only 1 thing….. maybe 2 things. They have an extraordinary wide angle, at 20 power, excellent for distant flying flocks of birds, with background blue skies. The binocular markings give an Apparent Field of View of 87.8arc-deg, which is a bunch! Not sure if it is that great, but it seems to be at least 80+ arc-degrees in AFOV, far more than the Pentax 20 power binoculars, with only a 44arc-degree FOV. The problem is the binocular was designed to subtract orange & yellow from the image spectrum, maybe helping its sharpness(?). The optic strongly reflects those colors as seen from the front of the lenses. It is a very beautiful color. However, the image itself has the complement of the yellow-orange, which gives an ugly blue cast, especially ugly when looking at green foliage or anything that is alive. All the foliage looks very sickly blue-green.
Anyhow, I was observing Mergansers & Goldeneye….sharp with the Model 318’s. The birds were 1/3rd of a mile distance, so I did use the 20x70mm’s, despite the ugly image. Yes, the birds are nearly 3 times larger in image size with the 20x70’s. & grudgingly, the birds are easily seen strung out across the wide, wide FOV. & grudgingly again, the birds are sharp.
So, along my walk further, I heard a loud airplane & almost sure it was a jump plane for parachutists. With the 20power optic, the plane gave lots of details & I saw 5 chutists bail out. Coming down, despite them being 3+miles away, I could see the stabilizing chutes & cords against the background sky. After popping their main chutes, the wide angle let me see 4 chutists simultaneously! The Pentax narrow angle binocular never would have shown such. One thing noted as before, the plane looked ugly in the 20 power optic. However, the background blue sky reinforced by the blue binocular cast, looked very pretty. So, not only will I watch flocks of birds in the sky, I’ll also look at airplanes with the 20 power binoculars, & admire the blue skies.

Oh, the temperature reached 68degF!

 

The trip to Bloomfield Hills MI in the 2019 Fit LX CVT went smoothly.
No, it's not as comfortable or quiet as the Prius at highway speed ( 60 )
but it's not horrible. For the 650 mile round trip the fcd said 49.3 MPG.
I have not figured out the fcd error yet.
52.0 on the way there , 46.6 on the way back. Temps were mostly
below freezing.

 

Once I met a Honda Fit driver & showed them my over-sized tires on our Hyundai Accent. I looked at the Fit, & saw there was plenty of room for over-sized tires on the Fit, Edwin. I much more prefer our Accent on the highway with over-sized tires. The tire & engine rpms are less & the Accent is a better highway car with reduced impacts from bumps & potholes. On the old Dodge Caliber with CVT, I put over-sized tires on it, & the Caliber really did become a good highway car. I loved it.
As you know Edwin, I got used over-sized tires, so my costs were small to experiment with. In case the over-sized tires didn’t work out, very little money would be expended. Of course, I had my long time mechanic, who helped me decide which over-sized tires I wanted & he installed them. I have had used over-sized tires now for 125,000 miles & I will NEVER go back to small OE tires & will NEVER have new tires on the 2 Hyundais. You know, I brag about my over-sized tires & my long, life-time mechanic a lot.
Over-sized tires are the way to go, if 1) you are a careful, slow driver & 2) you never fill your car to full weight capacity.

 

The Fit needs 2000 RPM to go 60 MPH (on level ground).
I am a careful, slow driver.

 

Yes, my Dodge Caliber CVT w/2L, 158HP engine was set to be 2000RPMs at 60MPH too, with the original equipment(OE) Dunlop smaller tires that came on the new Caliber. But, the over-sized Firestone Affinity tires did cause the engine RPMs to drop at 60MPH & the Caliber was sweet.

PS…..The OE tires on the Caliber were 205x70x15 inch tires & steel wheels. I think the over-sized tires were 215x60x17 inches & came mounted on nice alloy wheels ($100, both tires & wheels) & those tires would have been 0.9 inches taller than OE.
Now I’m remembering. Two tires were worn out, & I had Firestone Affinity 225x60x17 inch tires(1.3 inches taller than OE) mounted & put on the front drive & the still good tire tread tires & alloys put on the rear.

 

That's a great price for four 17" alloy wheels.

 

Oh…..they were used. I liked them very much. I’ve had similar (maybe better) used tire & alloy wheel purchases. After I got the Firestone Affinity tires on the front drive, the highway ride was very sweet. As I’ve said before, the ride was extremely smooth at 60MPH, so I took it up to 90+MPH & it was very nice, too. I then returned to my normal easy driving & always enjoyed the Caliber more, than my seven years previous to replacing the smaller tires with larger tires. & I was pleased with the Caliber ride, even with the small tires.

 

I gathered as much, but I doubt I can find a similar deal...

 

Of course, I had the very common 5bolt x 114.3mm(4.5) inch wheels. Yes, Craigslist has many people with good 5bolt x 114.3 mm in their garages. But, Craigslist has tens of thousands of wheels & tires listed over the years, specially if you’re willing to travel to access & deal over good equipment. Sometimes, people will already have good prices, because they just want to get more room in their garages. Those people are the good ones, who have good products & aren’t looking to make money. I met lots of such people. I looked over Craigslist a lot…..& found good deals. The best tho, was finding the best people.