High mileage people

We drive a lot.

I keep a log book in both cars, entering gas fills and maintenance items such as oil and filter changes. I also keep track of mileage that I put on my motorcycle. Here are the numbers for all 3 vehicles from 2011:

Pam’s Honda: On 1-3-2011 it had 225,893 miles on it. By 1-2-2012 it had gone to 252,571. That’s 26,678 miles.

My Subaru: On 1-1-11 it had 49,903 miles on the odometer. By 12-30-2011 it registered 70,926 miles. Yep, 21,023 miles in 2011.

My motorcycle has a 2nd odometer which I set to zero at the start of the year. It showed I had ridden  7,247 miles in 2011.

Total miles for 2011: A whopping 54,948. That does not include short runs with the Scout II, which I used for going to the dump and pulling trailers on occasion. I don’t log the Scout as I do the other vehicles, but guess I ran it between 400 and 500 miles in 2011.

That takes a lot of gasoline. And tires. And oil. And filters. And …you get the idea. We replaced 3 windshields last year, all broken by rocks thrown up by energy industry trucks. Our deductible is $100.00 per windshield.

Believe me, we watch the price of gas going up with something approaching dismay. Most of the time Pam and I try to commute together, but this last week saw us with differing schedules so we ran a couple cars a few of the days. Fuel bill for the week: $108.65.

Our commute is about 114 miles a day. Including the running of local errands, the average goes to around 120 miles a day. We live in the boonies: A grocery run  is 58 miles, round trip. On outing to a shopping center is even longer. Long trips account for some of the mileage;  I was back to Wisconsin a couple times in 2011, dealing with the aftermath of my father’s passing. Then there are the “land hunt” trips we take one or two weekends per month. It all adds up to a lot of driving and a lot of miles.

We drive a lot.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!