Learning to drive at 41....or uphill in 5th Gear

I have been renovating my house in Hot Springs NC for the past few years, and now the crunch is on to get it finished so I can move in permanently. So I have been making the 2 hour round trip commute 2-3 days a week for the past few months. And paying the price...literally. At 100 bucks a pop to fill up my beautiful 1994 Suburban, which I couldn't live without by the way, its hitting me hard. The money I should be spending at Home Depot is going into the gas tank every 2 days or so. OUCH!

The interesting thing is that the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina, that I love to drive, has taken a huge chunk outa my wallet. Or so I thought.

My parents came up to Asheville to help me with me relocation and renovation in Hot Springs this week and I am beyond greatful, but I'll get to that part in a minute. We loaded up the first day- the truck, the trailer, a Home Depot run and household stuff to take up to the new house, so I'm driving with a full load...needless to say. Now I've been averaging 8 miles to the gallon with my bruiser 454 chevy big block (love it), but like I said, killing the wallet. so with that full load up and back was usually a half a tank of gas, now at 100+ bucks a fillup you can do the math...
Anyway, after we get rolling out of Asheville and start heading north my Dad starts giving me pointers about driving loaded in the mountains.

Now, I'm 41 years young, been driving since I was 16 (legally) and been riding motorcycles since I was 8. Ive been around cars and motorcycles the majority of my adult life, I know my way around a shop, a tool box and an engine compartment, but for whatever reason the true understanding of an automatic transmission had escaped me. And I'm sure Im not the only one, so its not a dumb girl thing...so do be thinking that!

I've been hauling trailers, filled to the brim with vehicles, work stuff, house stuff...lots o'stuff, and usually had a standard transmission car, which is my preference, all over creation. But the 'burban is an automatic, with overdrive, drive and first and second gears. I know to shiftdown when going up hill but the inclination is to stomp on the gas when you slow down or start ascending a hill, and to pump your brakes decending the hill, not realizing the fuel consumption, and the damage you're doing to your brakes, disc or drums. well...Duh, use the gears as they were intended! my dad said one thing out of the many, that really stuck with me..."imagine there's an egg under your gas pedal, and you can't break it until you arrive". Hmmm...

Imaging coasting to your destination...think about it...use gas to get to speed then use your gears to maintain speed, and used your gears to decellerate, and brakes to come to a complete stop or in emergency. I have seen at least a 50% reduction in fuel consumption in as many days. So what used to take over a half a tank to and from, is now less that 1/4 tank to and from...with a trailer and the car full? How did I miss this?

My mind is somewhere else...from the Facebook updates, to the text messages, to selling my house, to moving, to where is the next paycheck coming from, to where did my dog loose her collar, to which credit card isn't maxed out, to how am I going to buy groceries, orchestrate people to help me move, clean up the new house, fumigate, clean, construct, increase business, not lose old business, ...God, I'm tired...where was I? Oh yeah, the mind is somewhere else, not concentrating on driving, thats for sure!

I've noticed that as much as I enjoyed the drive before I'm enjoying it more, actually driving the road. Noticing the curves and sways, the way the car handles at different speeds, noticing the frequncy of the tailights, and the burning smell from the brakes of the car in front of you. And being confident thats not your vehicle making that awful sqeak, and burning smell because you havent touched your brakes yet.