Weekend trip to San Francisco

As promised, here's a brief summary of how the Prius held up on the 1000 mile trip from Orange County to San Jose and back.......More like how the two kids, wife, and trunk load of "stuff" held up.

After the first feeding Saturday morning (6am), threw the kids, two golf bags, two suit cases, stroller, and countless little bags of baby stuff into the Prius and took off. After a quick stop at the local Starbucks, with all cup holders filled, we headed up the I-5.

Naturally, the kids entered into the autohybernation mode. That is until we hit the grape vine. Ever wondered if the battery ever dips below the two pink bars? See photos. Engine noise picks up, power drops, and the MPG goes completely to the #$$^@! Screaming kids, screaming engine, and cruising at 20MPG, the past hour and a half of silence was greatly missed. Surprisingly, there is no lack of power to crest over the top, regardless of the status of the charge. It was all down hill....at least for awhile.

Cranked up the lap top (DC/AC converter worked b very well), popped in the new Wiggles DVD, and silently cruised down the backside of the Grape Vine.

The trip up seemed uphill the entire way with the trip back downhill. maybe it's related to going TO and AWAY from the inlaws in San Jose. I'm sure that's also the way the California Aquaduct was designed. Away from the in-laws.

The GPS worked wonders in all the little trips around town to pick up this, drop off that, go here, go there, and of course to the golf course. Only one glitch on the way up in the position of the vehicle, which the computer corrected within 30 seconds.

I would have killed for lumbar support cause the 8 total hours on the road (5 driving, 3 taking breaks so the toddler can run around and scream outside the car.) did wonders for my back.

Thought I'd try to max out my MPG on the way up until I was passed by the 100th car ( I was doing 70MPH). In conjunction with the restless kids and Wiggles on repeat, the pedal hit the metal and the baby seaside was consistently in the 80 MPH range. Average MPG dropped to 43 by the time we entered the city boundaries. Two days with grandma, the kids were bouncing off the walls on the way back. Down hills, with the wind, and bouncing kids the "under powered Prius" was in the range of 85-95 MPH bouncing off wind walls of semis and SUVs. One stop and 6 hours later, we hit bumper to bumper traffic by Valencia. Crawling along in 97 degree weather in bumper to bumper pissed off traffic, I was simply glad the stretch was down hill.

The trip cost us $43 in gas (cheaper in the bay area than in LA) Think I'll opt for two and a half plane tickets next time.....pollution or no pollution.