I LOVE High Gas Prices!
Thought that might grab some attention. No, I don't hold stock in an oil company, but my wife and I did make some smart investments that are paying off in lower expenditures on gas.
First, when it came time to buy a new car in 2005, we got a Toyota Prius (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2005/10/ahead-of-energy-bill-curve.html). At the time, skeptics doubted the savings in gas would be worth the price premium. I said it'll look more worthwhile when the price of gas doubles. Not quite there yet, but my vision of $5 gas in five years seems less silly to everyone now that we're hitting $4 after three years.
Second, I snagged a good job (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/03/job-status-after-year-one-awesome.html) near where my wife works, so we've been consistently carpooling for a little more than a year. That cut our gas usage by more than half because her Prius is much more efficient than my Corolla. When we do need to take separate cars, it's for very short trips because...
Three, we moved to Reston (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/07/moving-is-almost-over.html) almost a year ago, the area where we both work. Admittedly, this move totally trumps the other two. We could drive to work in separate Hummers and be using less gas than a year ago. However, we do drive to more places than work, usually together, such as Tanya's grandparents' house in Elkton. That's a 200 mile roundtrip, and it only uses half a tank in our Prius.
Made that trip on Memorial Day. Amid all the hubbub over high gas prices, I must say, it's nice to have driven out of town without stopping for gas. And we still have a quarter tank left, which is enough for the rest of the week. So, while we still feel the "pain at the pump", we don't feel it nearly as often as we did a year ago, and that feels pretty darn good.
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Labels: aimless musing
I LOVE High Gas Prices!
posted by Sumocat at 5/27/2008 07:20:00 PM
2 Comments:
Hmmm 200 miles without stopping for gas? Or do you mean 400? Because I recently drove 217 miles in my old Nissan Altima and had a half tank left on the gage reading. But having a Prius in 2005 was the coolest anyway. I kinda wish cars were like computers: Just download and install the software upgrade and you get better use of the car's innards (like better gas mileage or automatic repair). :)
Dream on? Yeah I guess.
By
archiwiz, at 5/29/2008 10:02:00 AM
200 miles without thinking about gas. We didn't even fill up before we left. Last fill up was the previous Monday, a week prior. Still looking at a quarter tank.
By
Sumocat, at 5/29/2008 11:23:00 AM
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