Take that, BP!

Something strange happened this week.

My usually fuel-efficient car went the extra mile, literally, and my odometer looked like this when I pulled up to the gas station for a refill.



Ignore the bottom number. Yes, I drive my cars to death. Plus, in the last year I have poured enough money into this car to keep it from death that minimally it owes me a graduation into 6-digits...and then some.

Focus on the top number: 369.2.

Mmm. It is delicious to write that. I can say unequivocally that number represents the furthest I have been able to drive on a single tank of gas. 

Yes, I am one of those weird obsessives that zeroes out the trip counter upon every refill. Are you surprised?

My car holds about 13 gallons and I can usually go 300+ miles on a tank. Not the greatest gas mileage (mid-20s) but respectable.

By the way, if mid-20s seems like a strange hippie dream to you and you sincerely don't know why I think mid-20s is only respectable, here are two things to think about: 1) You probably need to consider driving something that gets more than 12 miles/gallon and 2) my first car was a Honda. Enough said.

I'm not sure why this tank seems so magical. Maybe my last fill-up included the fuel additive version of an Energizer Bunny? Truthfully, I only got 30-40 miles extra out of the last refill and I saved maybe $4 or so on gas. Not monumental but I feel like I pulled one over on the oil companies.

And with everything going on in the Gulf, I'm glad they didn't get even that little amount.