1st Road Trip in the Prius

Okie dokie, thought I'd share my experiences on the first road trip that I've taken with the Prius

Fri, May 20. We're supposed to set off at 5:30 but a friend forgot his swimming trunks so we went to his house to pick it up. Upon arrival, he realised he didn't have his keys and his mum just left the house so we had to 'break in' to the house. Anyway, we ended up leaving at 6. The border wait was relatively short and it drained the battery to 2 bars. We headed straight down I-5 to Red Lobster at Lynnwood, WA for dinner. On the way, we had a weather buffet. At one point, it was raining overhead, sun poking through the clouds to the right, some sun (though less than the scene to the right) ahead, and a dark, almost black cloud to the left with lightning.

We (finally) made it to Red Lobster at 8:30ish pm and had a great dinner. Shrimp was on my menu that night.

Left for Bellevue and got to the hotel at 10:45-11pm. Checked-in and watched Pimp My Ride at 11:30 on MTV. The trip from Red Lobster to the hotel wasn't uneventful. It rained heavily and speeds dropped from 70 to 50mph. I've now experienced what some of you have been complaining. The car is a bit susceptible to crosswinds and I've noticed that the Prius tends to wander more often on this trip on US highways than on trips in Canadian highways. It's probably due to the more open areas that allow wind to blow without anything to block its path. Also, the car was skittish in the heavy rains at 50mph. Apparently, my friend's car was experiencing the same so I won't knock the tyres yet.

Sat, May 21. Woke up at 9am. Some of my friends went swimming in the morning but I didn't join them. I preferred to snuggle in bed though I think swimming would've helped me keep awake. We head to Bellevue Square to shop and have brunch. The Cheesecake Factory's food was pretty good and of course, we had to buy cheesecake to bring home.

After that, it was time to head back north and check out the new Premium Outlets at Tulalip. We arrived at 2pm and took about 15 mins to park. It was full to the brim. We stayed there til 5:30. Most of the shops had a sale going on and things were pretty cheap.

The best part was loading up the Prius. The cargo area was already full from our baggage and coolers so I folded down the rear seats, shoved all that stuff towards the interior so that I could open the floor. Miraculously, EVERYTHING fitted underneath. It was mostly clothing so that could be compressed (sorta). There was a shoebox too. I even stuffed a bag into the small side compartment on the left (since that was the only shopping bag that can really be compressed, the others are well... not so compressable). That box may seem small but it can hold a lot :mrgreen: I'm impressed and so were my friends.

Anyway, after that we grabbed dinner and headed home. We refuelled at Blaine and well, sadly, I had 4 bars and refuelled 7.4 gals (which doesn't make sense) for a mileage of 39mpg. My friend topped up with 7.8 gals so I was a little surprised that we were almost using the same amount of fuel. Either my fillup before the trip wasn't a full one (I pumped 30 litres or ~8 gals on one bar) or this pump wasn't pumping gas.

The good news is, I'm back to 55mpg on this tank and at 123kms into it.

In short, the drive was good and the Prius is an awesome road trip car but the tendency to wander is a little disturbing.