While hauling about 350 pounds of metal roof sheeting on my lightweight home made utility trailer (no deck at all, just enough structure to do the job, the exposed framing provides numerous tie down points and keeps the weight to a min) with my '13 PIP, in a light rain and doing a bit over 70 mph, I had a another car pull up along side me. It paced me for a bit, and my first thought was that it had a trailer similar to mine, empty though, looked like it was also built for min weight, and also home made. THEN...I noticed it was a Tesla, a still somewhat rare breed in rural Idaho. Then it accelerated away at what I would estimate to be 90mph +, after it finished showing off it dropped back to the normal 80 mph for this stretch of interstate. I took it as a friendly drive by, while it's driver was probably thinking "gas hog!" It definitely went out of it's way to scope out my high MPG trailer towing solution, as compared to it's own. I enjoyed the encounter, and didn't feel dissed at all, but maybe I should have?
Light rain, loaded up trailer, tooling along at 70 mph, potential pissing match with a similar Tesla?
Potential death match? One thing I learned from my 100k miles on a motorcycle, I feared light rain more than heavy rain. Just enough to bring oil to the top of the road surface, but not necessarily enough to wash it away................
I HATE driving that fast...but the limit on this more or less straight and level interstate is 80, with most going a bit over. If I had my druthers, I'd cruise at 65 or less, but I have settled on 75 indicated (which trues out at an actual 73) as my best compromise, to keep cars and truckers from running up my tailpipe. As a pilot, I am very aware of the aero drag and required power to go "just a little" faster, and in fact I routinely fly my small plane slower than about anyone else with a similar model, but I also burn a lot less fuel per hour. For anyone not knowing: as the speed doubles, the power required quadruples. Feel free to correct me if I have that wrong, I may have misstated it, but the point is, for a little bit faster, it takes a lot more power/fuel burn, it's NOT linear, but exponential (and I may have that wrong also.) Maybe this has been commented on here, but with the most recent spike in gas prices, I for one am feeling pretty good about the old Prius. I filled up today, and on either side of me were two wazoo tricked out quad cab pickups. NOT work trucks, they were not carrying a thing, and as I am a retired contractor I note the difference, and in fact have a 1 ton 4x4 flat bed at home, but I sure as heck don't use it for daily transportation. These pickups were there when I pulled in, and after getting my 7.7 gallons and pulling out, I noticed there were STILL there, pumping, no thanks.
