Fuel for Thought

Catch-up Report

Empty nest. It only took a week and a half for the robins to go from eggs to empty nest.

Mileage update. First chance to measure fuel economy on a long round trip. St. Louis to Boston and back. On the way out and empty, 26.0 mpg average with a high average of 26.4 mpg through New York. The return trip averaged 25.0 mpg with about 700 lbs of gear. Little wind and no air conditioning for the entire Monday to Thursday trip.

New Crocs. This is major news. Two days with a new pair of shoes and my backache went away. A few weeks ago after a day of driving it felt like my back gave out. Something like the day after pulling on too heavy of a pallet after sitting too long. Usually that sort of pain is gone in a couple days at most. This time it didn't go away. Exercise didn't help. A couple weeks ago I pulled my calf. That pain persisted too. I thought it was lingering, because it was the leg I land on when I hop out of the van. My one year old Crocs have held up very well, with little wear on the soles and remarkable cush, so I kept discounting them as a problem. Something had to be done, because the calf thing just didn't make sense, so I ordered an identical pair of Crocs—Yukon slides, quite presentable for crocs and I've even played tennis in them, sort of. Within a couple hours out and about in the new shoes, I could feel something different in my lower back. It felt healthy and reinvigorating, like what some might describe as the results following a visit to a good chiropractor. Two days later and the nag is gone.

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