Dale McFeatters, whose column appears regularly on my political news web site, Capitol Hill Blue, waxed whimsical today with a lament to how high gas prices threaten the long-honored tradition of cruising:
High gas prices are threatening an almost sacred American tradition — driving around aimlessly, cruising, if you will.
Driving around aimlessly is such a part of our culture that it has its own signature film, "American Graffiti," in which a group of teen-agers spend the night driving aimlessly around Modesto, California.
There is even a female version of driving around aimlessly, ‘"Thelma & Louise," in which two women drive distractedly and aimlessly toward Mexico. The trip ends badly, but as any small-town kid who spends summer evenings driving up and down Main Street could tell you, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.
America’s roadside culture grew out of driving around aimlessly. Drive-in malt shops and drive-in movies sprang up to give some sense of purpose to just driving around. There is a whole genre of music, largely but not totally from the 1950s, to drive aimlessly by. The music is sold in boxed sets by public television and on late-night infomercials.
I cruised a lot in the 60s in my ’57 Ford and the Blue Ridge Parkway offered a lot of opportunities for driving around with, as Chuck Berry sang, "no particular place to go."
Ridin’ along in my automobile
My baby beside me at the wheel
I stole a kiss at the turn of a mile
My curiosity runnin’ wildCruisin’ and playin’ the radio
With no particular place to go.Ridin’ along in my automobile
I’m anxious to tell her the way I feel,
So I told her softly and sincere,
And she leaned and whispered in my ear
Cuddlin’ more and drivin’ slow,
With no particular place to go.
With gas prices more than a buck higher than a year ago, it doesn’t make much sense to cruise in a Jeep Wrangler that gets about 15 miles per gallon but my Harley cruises along at 50 mpg on the open road so it has become the cruiser of choice on the Parkway — not just for me but apparently for many others. On an 83 mile cruise down the Parkway towards North Carolina and back the other day, I saw dozens of bikes but only a handful of cars. RVs? Not a one in sight.
When the going gets tough, the tough adapt.
We bought our Prius back in 2005 for $26K. I’m not a tree hugger, but I’m not tree unfriendly. Our decision to buy it came down to pragmatism. It was time to buy a new car and since the Prius had the same interior dimensions as the Camry (although it looks much smaller on the outside), it would fit our family and also save on gas. We’re about to hit 70,000 miles with our Prius and it’s been averaging 48+ mpg in mixed driving. We spent about $3K more on the Prius 3 years ago than we would on the Camry but we’ve already saved about $4K in fuel expenses.
The funny thing is, many people have gone off the deep end and are paying excessive prices for any used Prius they can get their hands on. I did a search for a used Prius on the Toyota USA site and the most expensive USED Prius is in California and its asking price is $55K!!! Can you believe it? The average asking price for an ’05 Prius with 70K miles is $32,000! That’s $6,000 more than I paid for mine when it had 16 miles on the odometer.
I have a “recycled” 1994 Ford Escort. I took a good car with a bad engine, a bad car with a good engine, and came out with a good, cheap car. It cost me about $400, and most of that was for the tools to do the work. I’ve been driving it about three years.
I live in Atlanta and my job is 42 miles away. Driving normally (which in Atlanta means insanely – normal traffic on I-285 is about 20 mph faster than the speed limit), I averaged 30 to 35 mpg. I thought that was pretty good.
When fuel prices took off, I decided to try a few things to use less fuel. After much experimentation, I found that it’s really simple – just slow down. I don’t exceed 55 mph on the highway (unless it’s downhill and I’m coasting with the clutch in), and I accelerate as little as possible.
Results? 44 mpg, consistently.
And I have heard every imaginable response – “There’s no way I could drive that slow”, “It would take me forever to get anywhere”, “You’ll get killed driving that slow.”
Well, it’s all BS. I don’t get any more threats against my life than you get anyway driving in metro Atlanta. It takes me maybe 5 or at most 10 minutes longer to get to work. And I’m a lot calmer when I get there, and a lot calmer when I get home.
My wife has the best deal. She drives a GMC Yukon, 12 to 16 mpg. When she drives. She usually walks to work – it’s a 1/2 mile from home to her office. (sigh)