Category: Miscellaneous babble

These days, my 2000 Camry averages around 10.2 l/100 km (= 4.35 gal/100 mi = 23 mpg) doing normal city driving.

A couple of days ago, I was road tripping up to Florence (464 km/266 miles round trip), where the official speed limit is 70 mph (for most of the way), but most people drive 80-85 mph. I usually set the cruise control at 75 mph. Fuel economy on that trip came out to 9.45 l/100 km (= 4.02 gal/100 mi ~25 mpg), just slightly better (~7.6%) than what I get tooling around the city.

Contrast that to a road trip out to Walterboro (157 km/98 miles round trip) earlier in the week, where the official speed limit is a more sedate 60 mph with most of the traffic going around 65-70 mph (I had the cruise set to 65 mph for most of the trip). On that trip, the Camry managed to get 7.7 l/100 km (= 3.28 gal/100 mi = 30.5 mpg) or nearly 25% better than my normal city driving.

On top of that, to go 65 mph, the engine has to run at around 2300 rpm. To go 75 mph, the engine has to run at about 2700 rpm (17% faster) which means that much more wear and tear on the engine.

At 65 mph, a 100 mile trip should take 1 hour 32 minutes. At 75 mph, you finish the trip 12 minutes faster but use up 25% more gas to do it (if you’re in my car).

Just a few things to think about.

TS Edouard was announced last night and is spinning out in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Looks like more rain for Texas when it reaches the coast sometime tomorrow.

The Terrace Theater (which just happens to be up the road from me) is showing Casablanca through Thursday. They’re also showing the new X-Files movie too! Never one to pass up seeing Casablanca on the big screen, tomorrow I’m making a point of indulging in a double feature. At 1 PM, I’m planning on going to see Casablanca, which should finish up just in time for me to catch the 2:50PM showing of X-Files.

I’m so giddy I’m about to explode 🙂

Feel free to join me there.

The dogs and I cruised downtown to check out the hubbub surrounding the opening of the Apple store on King St.

We got there to discover a pretty long lineup stretching from the store, around the corner and down the block. It was a pretty long line


Not only were there lots of people waiting to get into the store, there were also plenty of people watching the people waiting to get into the store.

And finally, a little after 10AM, the store opened to much applause (mostly from the employees)


I didn’t bother to go into the store because, quite frankly, there are many more things that are way more fun than trying to navigate a crowded store with 3 dogs. And besides, it’ll still be there tomorrow, probably without the lines.
You can see the rest of my pictures here. I’m sure Jared will have more pictures and video from inside the store.

NHC has made TD3 into TS Cristobal with the 2PM update.
Judging from the radar loop, it looks like the most we’ll be getting is some breeziness and maybe little rain from the outer bands.
From the 2PM NHC advisory:

CRISTOBAL IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST NEAR 7 MPH AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. ON THIS TRACK…THE CENTER OF THE TROPICAL STORM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ALONG THE COASTS OF SOUTH AND NORTH CAROLINA TODAY AND TOMORROW.