mpg

I just noticed a TV ad for the new Mazda 3 sedan, which included a blurb claiming 33 mpg on the highway. That led me to thinking, "how optimistic is this figure?". How optimistic are all the gas mileage claims?

I'm guessing not many people keep tabs on their vehicles', but I could be wrong. I keep a small calculator in my truck. My motorcycle has a small computer which does the math. In my youth I was anal enough to have kept a logbook recording every tidbit of information. But I digress.

That 33 mpg was most likely derived from testing in a controlled (and unrealistic) environment. No doubt they all do it. Get me behind the wheel and I can probably return less than 25 mpg (in just as unrealistic conditions, but maybe less so... I've seen how people drive). With the internet at our fingertips, it would be nice to see numbers that reflect real world driving through a collaborative effort much like a wiki database.

But that would seem anal, wouldn't it?

Pump It Up!

At the gasoline pumps is where I've enjoyed a pleasant recession; last weekend filling up my Rockster (that's my current main motorcycle) came to under a dozen bucks. We're talking around $2.90 per gallon of regular unleaded here, a far cry from a couple of fill-ups over the summer that exceeded $5.00 per gallon. Now if there were only a way I can store hundreds of gallons of the stuff safely and tap into this supply when prices start climbing again.

So, how low did gas go in your neck of the woods?

The State of CA?

The answer: in dire straits. Governor Schwarzenegger plans on signing an executive order which will reduce the state's employee salaries to the federal minimum wage, well below California's own minimum wage limit. Will this be carried out to fruition? I don't know. You conceivably are taking about 200,000 wage earners' spending dollars out of the economy, an economy that is already in turmoil. Add to that the high fuel prices, and you have people not driving anywhere to spend money they don't have anyway. Of those employees, add the number of their kids receiving allowances, or those having to cut back spending on the spouses' incomes. Merchants will see less business, who in turn as consumers must also curtail their spending. A domino effect, but not dominoes.

For Arnold the Chess Player, it is a chess game and the state workers are the pawns.

I Can't Drive...

...55!

I read a couple of our local newspaper's reader responses to the outrageous prices at the gas pump, who suggest that our government reinstate a 55mph speed limit on our highways to increase fuel efficiency. Do we really want more government control over our lives? I am all for these people choosing to drive 55mph; they have the freedom to do so and are not forced to drive any faster.

Or, they can sell their gas guzzlers and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles. Bicycle. Walk. Carpool. Take public transportation. Drive smarter and drive less. We are all in this together, feeling the pinch in the pocketbook, but given the choice of being a slave to gas prices or slave to The Man, I am thankful for my freedom to choose.

Holy Smokes!

I was riding west along Hwy120 toward Mono Lake in California's Eastern Sierra on Tuesday afternoon. The sky was noticeably hazy and no doubt was due to smoke from forest fires... but where, I wondered, was it burning?

I reached Hwy395 and headed up the road to the eastern entrance to the Yosemite valley, pulled into the Tioga Gas Mart (and Whoa Nellie Deli) to gas up and ask a few questions. Spoke to a guy who was riding a sportbike adorned with luggage similarly to my setup. He had been touring as far as the coast and informed me that there were big fires near Monterey. I later learned that there were 800 fires burning, many of them ignited by lightning strikes (there's a lotta dry tinder out there!).

I still haven't found news details on what's going on with all the smoke in the air (and hence, where it was burning), but the particulates certainly can't be good for anyone's health. A bit of advice for those travelling the Eastern range: be prepared to spend dearly for your fuel. It'll cost you over 5 bucks a gallon for the cheap 87 octane stuff (as it also did back in Tonopah, NV)!

Holy smokes!

Five Bucks?

California gasoline prices currently average over $4.00 per gallon, me having just filled up my motorcycle's tank yesterday at $4.45 per gallon. The forecast earlier this year is that the rising price of gas will put a damper on many people's vacation plans. Mine is coming up soon, and it doesn't look like the prices are about to fall. On the contrary, there has been some speculation that we may be paying $5.00 per gallon before year's end!

I still plan on riding to Flagstaff, AZ. I've had enough episodes this first half of 2008 that a vacation will be a welcome relief. Figure the cost of therapy these days (psycho- or otherwise) and my trip's expense will seem rather reasonable.

Damn the five bucks... something will eventually give.

Got Gas?

Well, the earlier news about gas prices possibly hitting $4.00 per gallon this summer was a bit premature. The latest word is that it will probably hit us by springtime, if it hasn't hit already. Note the prices at this gas station in San Mateo, CA this past weekend... it's not like any big surprise. The history books will tell you that the writing was on the wall back in the mid-70s, and not a whole lotta dinosaurs have died recently.