As you probably didn't notice, I was gone for the first week of May. I was on vacation, first time in about a decade. I talked to the AAA agent, since I had no where to go, but wanted to get away from MI, and had a whole week to myself. So, we discussed options, and I went with Myrtle Beach, SC. Got a sweet package deal for an oceanfront room for a week, and the reservations were made.
One of my conditionals was that where ever I go had to be drivable, preferably in one day. According to AAA, it was about 15 hours, a bit of a drive. Well, with the hotel reservation form, I put the address into the Nav system the night before.
Well, I left later than I intended to, and was somewhat distressed when the Nav system displayed 16:34, sixteen hours and 34 minutes to get there, 963 miles away. Already late too, meant I wouldn't get there until 11:30 PM. Not good.
I had also picked up a Trip Tic and some tour books from AAA, though since it was just me, I found trying to use the Trip tic to be rather difficult, fortunately, for the most part, the Nav system and the Trip tic were in agreement. (1 slight deviation in MI, 1 slight deviation in Ohio, the first one I used the Trip tic route (Which I knew to be better), the second Nav system.)
I ended up stopping about every 5 hours, to change the CDs in the changer, stretch my legs, etc. I also tried to play the fuel game a bit, and fill up in states where it was cheaper, but that's a pretty hard task when you have no idea if the next state is going to be cheaper. I also used both the Nav and the Trip tic, Nav for directions, Trip tic for a larger picture, so I could plan stops for meals and whatnot. For the most part I used Cruise Control, and even take off my shoes for the trip. Unfortunately, I seemed to be holding true to travel time, so I sped up (
) to get there earlier, from 65 to 70 miles per hour.
Somewhere in Virginia, one of my biggest complaints about the FEH became a big problem, that darn drivers side arm rest began to really rub me the wrong way, so much so that my elbow was sore (and looked a little bruised) so that I was resting my arm in my lap. I got out of the Mountains (beautful scenic trip BTW) and into North Carolina.
As night wore on, and NC seemed to last forever, I sped up again, to 75-80 miles per hour. Traffic was light, and darkness had settled, which meant I was pretty much in pitch black. Nav system had updated now I'll get there at 10 PM.
Now, I don't think of Myrtle Beach as an Orlando 'big' destination, but I do think of it as a pretty major destination. Why in the world doesn't it have a highway connecting it to the rest of the world? Why doesn't it have a single sign letting you know how to get to it? You can imagine my surprise when in the pitch black, the Nav system tells me to get off at the next exit. A mostly unmarked and uninteresting exit. Hey, it's been right so far. So I get off, and drive along this little two lane road that's under construction, through the residential neighborhoods. In the pitch black night. At this point, the Trip tic isn't of much use.
Then, the Nav system, through the winding residential road, loses my position, and asks me to hit enter to replot. I do, it does, we continue. The little road becomes a much larger freeway.
I continue on in the dark. I start to pass other cars, all with their maplights on. Ah, must be going the right way. I come to the official Myrtle Beach Welcome Center, with gas stations, hotels, pools, tourist stores, etc. And I keep driving, as the Nav system still says I'm 90 miles from my destination.
Back on the black Expressway.
Until finally, a sign, Myrtle Beach one way, North Myrtle Beach the other. Nav system stays true, and I go to North Myrtle Beach. I get to the "city", and am washed in lights and traffic. The Nav system leads me right to the parking lot of my hotel, and I EV the vast majority of my time from entering into US-117 to the hotel lot. I check in, and get to my room. 10:05 PM.
The vacation is great. I fill up in town, use the Nav system to find a massage parlor (No funny stuff, just a a nice relaxing massage), a major attraction, (Broadway on the Beach), and a great resturant. Temperatures seems to be in my favor, 74-86 all week, low around 65. Fantastic MPG weather. I notice almost right away that it's "harder" to get the ICE on, I'm able to pull away in EV mode at higher speeds and for longer periods of time down there. Unfortunately, the light timing sequences for the traffic patterns blows. While I eventually learn the sequence, you hit the majority of the lights red, regardless of speed.
I debated setting home as the hotel parking lot, but decide not to, instead creating a seperate entry in the Nav system for it.
Now, I hadn't reset my trip odometer since I left home, and at that point crossed the thousand mile marker. Much to my dismay, the electronic trip odometer resets after 999.99 miles, no 1K trip odometer. WHY?
When the time to leave comes, I hit home and away I go. On an entirely new route. Okay. Through the back roads of SC and NC, crossing into North Carolina on some tiny little road. Whatever. I'm taking it easy anyway, I'm leaving in the afternoon, and I'm planning on stopping for the night and get home the next day anyway. When it comes time to get onto the expressway, the Nav turns red/orange. The Nav system states, "The route you have chosen contains incomplete data, safe driving is the responsibility of the driver." Oookay. I continue on the Expressway, and it tells me to make a U-turn. States the safe driving message, then tells me to get off. Then replots, and tells me to continue on the current road. Good. This time, I stick at the lower speeds, pretty much 65 with the Cruise Control, in the right lane, and get passed by everybody.
Rest of the day, no problems. That night, I switch discs, knowing that I'm going to be stopping in the next few hours for the night, I'm going to want street level mapping, as I'm going to be stopping at a hotel. After I switch discs, it has me quite a distance off the expressway. Makes a bit of sense, as I'm driving through the mountains in Virigina, it probably lost where I was and there's no clear satilite signal. And tries to get me to get onto the expressway I'm on. I try to get it to figure out that it's wrong, to no avail. I even eject and put the disc back in. No good. I'm getting farther and farther "off course" according to it. I get the safe driving message and the map turns red. Well, I turn off the system, and if that doesn't work, I'll get off at an exit and reboot. Well, the system off display gets funky, almost matrix codelike. I turn the system back on, everything's normal, I'm on the expressway according to it. No problem.
I stop that night at a hotel, next day I finish the trip home. Funny thing, once I got back to MI, and the roads I knew, my FE shot up rather dramatically.
I congratulate you on making it through all that, now for my actual thoughts:
One disadvantage to having a hybrid, you don't stop for gas a lot. Which means you don't clean your windshield a lot. Lots of bugs can accumulate as you drive.
Macomb Township MI to Myrtle Beach SC, 963 miles, or just over 2 tanks of gas! (And the return trip is the same tankwise.) Even at expressway speeds! Trip down FE about 29, trip back about 33 MPGS! 2005 miles, about $110 in gas. Not too bad.
I'd like to know from a Ford Engineer why the drivers left elbow rest is hard plastic. It's painful on a long trip. In fact, I'm thinking about getting one of those Dr. Scholls foot/heel pads and putting it on the door to act as an elbow rest.
I'd also like to know why the
digital trip Odometer resets at 1K.
The Nav system was a godsend. There's no way I could've made this trip without it. At any point in the Nav or Map modes, you can hit enter and the voice will repeat your "instructions". While it's great to have, there seems to be a pretty clear need for a "refind position" button.
People seem to be far better educated about hybrids. Even though I was on vacation and trying not to talk about it. I did, to the people at Hard Rock Cafe, at the hotel (You check in your vehicle), at the massage parlor, and the big one, at the Virigina Toll booth. Why was it big? Because she was rather informed, she read my FAQ!
In the gorgeous weather, my FEH seemed to hate the ICE. For the most part about towning, the ICE only came on when the battery was drained. I managed to get up to 38 miles per hour in EV mode from a dead stop.
I saw a number of hybrids, from a nice white FEH in Myrtle Beach, to a dark shadow gray in Ohio. All FEHs or Prius. All passed me, they don't seem to be hypermilers.
It's been pretty much cold and rainy all week here in MI. It's kind of interesting to see how quickly the ICE jumps on, compared to in Myrtle Beach, where several times I was shocked to find the ICE was still off after starting up after the light changed.
Looks like next week I'll get my oil changed and some other stuff done, check up, etc.