General ramblings: observations after long trip

Just some observations after a long road trip.

Viewings of other Prii were much more frequent, two or three every day, as compared to a trip last Feb in which the only sighting was one pre 2004 model.

The seats, which I had mis-givings about for a long trip, seemed to be much better than I expected. No more fatigue than in a Honda Accord or Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The performance was outstanding. On inter-states set the cruise at 72 and got about 48 MPG. This was with two people plus luggage. What was really great was the hill climbing. Handled W.Va's 7% to 9% grades with no problem. And the mysterious B positiion came in very handy on the long down hill sides of the mountain.

I have the GPS system and it came in very handy when going through strange cities and for finding hotels and restaurants. The soothing voice of the GPS companion deserved a name so after much thought I cristened he Penelope "Penny" for short. Has anyone else named their companion? Maybe there should be a contest of sorts for a Miss Prius.

The only negative was that the car was a little twitchy going through a thunder storm with gusting winds in the 40 to 50 MPH range. The head winds also cut the milage about 5 MPG.

Over all I love the car even more after the trip, in fact my wife is getting jealous of Penny.