The air is so thick down here

The further I have gone west, the lower I have been getting… elevation-wise. With the fact that I have been getting closer to sea level is the fact that my MPG numbers have taken a hit. Even with higher octane fuel, and going generally downhill since Montana, my MPGs have been declining along with the elevation.

I was getting 14’s in Colorado and Wyoming. Mid to high 13’s in Montana, and even a 15 MPG in Montana when I did a long drive without the trailer in tow. My trip out of Montana and into Idaho resulted in a 14.2 and a 13.7 MPG. That was my final fill up outside of Washington.  Surely having to drive over the North North Cascades Ntnl Park didn’t help with that 11.8, but the latest (and worst) came from my time working through the Seattle metro area with all it’s traffic resulting in an 11.0 MPG!

The closer I get to the sea, the lower my MPGs. I wont argue that more people equals more traffic equals lower MPG, but elevation is playing a big roll as well. An increase in the oxygen density is telling my van’s EFI computer to increase the fuel going into the motor, resulting a some of my worst MPG since last December… when I was in California (sigh).

I miss my mountain time zone already, and so does Big Blue.