I’m still driving 60, and it’s still working out great!

I filled up tonight on my way home after taking the girls out to the park, after rolling the trip odometer over 400 miles again.  This time filled up to the tune of a (relatively) sweet 25.07 mpg.

The bigger thing I noticed though, was my last fillup was on the 21st, and today is the 29th.  That’s 8 days of driving on the same tank of gas.  Whereas before, I would fill up every 5 or 6 days.  So now I’m completing a full week and then some on the same fillup.

This time around though, no one flipped me off (or so I didn’t notice), but I did find myself in a few “WTF?” moments where the highway I drive on merges down from 3 lanes to 2.  It gets kinda hairy when you got a big rig on your backside, fast moving traffic to your left, and an undesirable exit right in front of you.

Otherwise, I’m learning to take it a step further this time around by not applying my brakes when not absolutely necessary.  Since most of my driving is highway, there’s not alot to try and predict; traffic ahead stays moving usually.  However, I know where my exits are, and I know how the exits are situated, and how the traffic generally is at the times of the day that I get there, so there’s no reason I couldn’t use good ol’ gravity to slow me down prior to getting there.  I’ve caught myself several times over the past week turning off cruise control, hitting the exit, naturally slowing down, then pressing the gas to speed up to the light to hit my brakes and stop.  Everything after turning off the cruise control was wasted energy.

So it’s still working for me, so I’ll keep on it.  I’d be interested to see what kind of gains others are getting in more efficient cars, so if you’re trying your own 60mph challenge, please drop me a note and let me know.

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