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Originally uploaded by mrtoastey
The Jeffries Brothers are plumb outta gas on Utah HWY 6 --
Nowheresville. Turns out Jeffries the Younger is quite prone to this.
We realized our doom about an hour ago and had the grandest time
hypermiling -- judiciously starting and then coasting sans
ignition -- for over 10 miles at about 6mph.
This speed gave us a strange and rare opportunity to leisurely discuss engines and gas mileage and such— even as we were running out of it. Something very placid about driving 4mph. We started wondering about things like "what is the optimum speed to drive a car that's nearly out of gas?" and then during the hypermiling phase: "how much gas is wasted in the ignition when we start the engine?" and "what speed should we get 'er up to before turning of the ignition each time?" The only one we came up with a policy on was the last. (40 mph).
When the jig was finally up, a car stopped immediately and gave Christo a lift. AAA told me (as he was speeding off in the company of strangers) that the next gas was ... 4 miles away. If we had managed to hypermile our way there, I would have felt like the slo-mo champ. As it is, no complaints. Unless Chris' Samaritans turn out to be killers. Uh-oh...
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5 comments:
“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” - Paul Theroux
I am LOVING your updates.
there is something delightfully absurd and mind-expanding about coasting down a desert highway at, literally, 4-6mph. At least, I know that now.
Total time from coasting to the shoulder to getting back on the road: about 30-40 minutes. Which I think is less time than what we spent on our hypermiling coasting experiment.
I believe that if we'd realized our predicament just a bit earlier and acted accordingly, we could have made it the remaining 4 miles!
all part of the adventure, right?
now i know the term, hypermilling ~ not that i ever want to use it.. .
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