Had a fun trip!!
Being a New Mexico Lobos fan, I drove from Pasco, WA to Provo, UT last friday to see them play football against the BYU Cougars. I am pleased that the Lobos won, 21 to 14.
It was 664 miles each way. I used interstate 84, with basically 3 mountain passes to conquer each direction, including Cabbage Hill near Pendleton, OR, Ladd Canyon near LaGrande OR, and Sweetzer Summit near Burley, ID.
I left on Friday after work and literally drove all night. It was between 28 and 38 degrees F the whole way. My only Mods were 51 lbs of air in the tires, no right side mirror, and a 14 x 9 carpet sample to block part of the radiator. I drove between 52 and 70 mph; mostly about 59. I was able to average 83.4 on the way down, and 87.2 coming home. I feel this was pretty good, given the cold ambient temps and the terrain.
My main strategy was to drive as fast as possible with the instantaneous mpg graph at 125 mpg. Also, I tried to minimize the use of electric assist. On hill climbs I allow the car to slow as it will, and gently use assist only as needed to stay above 50 mph near the crest of the hill. I have found that the car suffers a large loss of MPG when recovering from a very low SOC. (recharging). Therefore, I believe it is more efficient to NOT "floor it" and drain the batteries.
The trip was very enjoyable. I relaxed, listened to late night talk radio and occasionally my CD's. There was seldom any traffic at all; I had the road to myself. The sights were beautiful on the daylight trip back, passing SLC, Ogden, the Morton-Thiokol Rocket engine facility, Twin Falls, Mountain Home, Boise, Ontario, Baker, and finally back home. What a delight to do this in 1 short weekend, and only costing a few dollars in fuel!! Billy......
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2005 Red 5 spd, color video cam w/5' monitor instead of outside mirrors, no rear wiper, tint, clear-coated & highly polished, car shows on weekends, LMPG 89.5
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