You have two cars. Car A and Car B. Car A does, say 80 mph, Car B does 65 mph. Both leave Salt Lake City at the very same time. Car B (65 mph) gets to Las Vegas quicker than car A. How's that possible? Just came back from a long trip. More of that later. I noticed something today which gave me goosebumps and made me appreciate my Prius that much more. So I'm taking it easy on the highway, either doing the 65 mph speed limit or doing 10 miles under the 75 mph limit where applicable. I see a bunch of vehicles which passed me. I remembered a few of them, since they attracted my attention either with unusually big rims, or in two other cases, one was towing a boat, the other a motorcycle, or I just see an interesting sports car. So what happens next. Every once in awhile on my non-stop trip, I see the very same cars which passed me earlier, PASS ME AGAIN! and AGAIN! and AGAIN! Unless they circumnavigated the Earth, the only other valid explanation I have is that all those poor people had to stop for gas, when I didn't! This reminds me of my cross country rally days. Since most cars were of the same rank, usually the one that got to the destination the quickest was the one which had to make the least number of stops for refueling. So how amazing and beautiful is that! I'm taking it easy, no speeding, no chance of getting pulled over and I get quicker to the destination than those who were speeding because they had to stop for gas more than once (some more than 3 times), when I didn't have to stop at all and did the entire trip with one gas tank (and still have over 100 miles to go on that gas tank). I likey! I likey very much!!
Isn't this exactly what happened recently in a car race a Toyota hybrid race car won? It had fewer pit stops and ended up something like 20 laps ahead.
Isn't that cool? Like the old tortoise and the hare thing. We could go even further if we had bigger bladders. :blink:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Aug 11 2007, 12:27 AM) [snapback]493889[/snapback]</div> Depends.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Aug 10 2007, 10:29 PM) [snapback]493890[/snapback]</div> OMG... okay, you get two points for that one.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Aug 11 2007, 12:29 AM) [snapback]493890[/snapback]</div> You have received a duly earned rimshot. Nice one!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusTouring07 @ Aug 10 2007, 11:29 PM) [snapback]493861[/snapback]</div> Now pay attention to what car you passed again and again, and then find out what they are using for propulsion. (Like that solar powered vehicle or a strange DeLorean).
Wow, another brilliant post from PT07, who assumes that the only reason people would stop on a 400+ mile trip is because they need to buy gas. Never mind all the vehicles that passed him, as he was going 10 mph under the speed limit, that he never saw again. He's just happy he beat the ones who stopped to have lunch.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Aug 11 2007, 01:29 AM) [snapback]493910[/snapback]</div> That's why you save your fast food soda cup. When we were traveling in Italy (when I was 12) we had my German cousin with us. We stopped to have watermelon and then went on our way. It was a toll road and my Dad didn't want to stop because you had to pay every time you got back on. Well, you cannot buy watermelon, you can only rent it. 30 min. later my cousin had to go. She told my Dad if she could she'd cut a hole in the floor and go there. He pointed to the sun roof and said he could crank it open and she could go there. We ended up getting off the freeway and stopping.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Aug 11 2007, 12:14 PM) [snapback]493992[/snapback]</div> To pee? Or to clean the seat?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JimboK @ Aug 11 2007, 12:39 PM) [snapback]494011[/snapback]</div> By the time the next turn off came we all needed to visit the facilities. It always helps when my Dad has to go as much as everyone else. He's much easier to convince that way.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Aug 11 2007, 01:47 PM) [snapback]494048[/snapback]</div> Good thing he eat the watermelon also.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DelerPrius @ Aug 11 2007, 08:47 AM) [snapback]493980[/snapback]</div> Exactly my thought. People stop for food and bathrooms, not just to buy gas.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Auricchio @ Aug 11 2007, 07:18 PM) [snapback]494113[/snapback]</div> Yeah, but that's also a drawback from having to stop for gas - it leads to even longer not really necessary breaks. If you don't have to stop for gas, you're less likely to stop just for food or bathrooms, etc. Most healthy people can survive without food or restroom breaks on a 6 hour trip. Plus there's always Sneakers "to satisfy your hunger," which you can eat while driving. I don't know about you, but when I'm on a long trip, I want to get there as soon as I can. My destination isn't a dirty, disgusting, middle of nowhere gas station, so if I can skip that part, I'm happy.
Yes, I agree. If you've got to make a fuel stop, often it becomes a longer stop than just the time needed to refuel. And I'm with you about not stopping. When I commuted from Cambria to San Jose (about three hours), I hated to get off the freeway for any reason. I only stopped a few times in 150 trips. (Shopping was another story: sometimes there were stores I didn't have locally.) As for making it six hours between breaks, unfortunately small kids will rarely last that long. And most people over 40 probably need a few minutes to stretch out from sitting a long time. As you age, your endurance (both bladder and muscle/bone comfort) tend to drop. The lack of legroom for me makes it tough to drive longer than about four hours; if I could get another two or three inches of driver legroom, life would be nicer.
I know on our 13 hour trips we used to take to Texas to visit the family, I would only stop to pee once, maybe twice. Sometimes it was twice because we'd go to sleep the night before, but wake up and switch to the car at 4AM so we could get going. So that's like going about 20 hours or so with 2 bathroom breaks. I don't think that's bad. Anyways, we'd stop a lot more than just to use the restroom. We'd eat, take frequent brakes, get gas, etc.. We probably spend a good 2-3, maybe more, hours not driving.
