The Kampmobile

Presently I drive a 1997 Toyota Corolla. I inherited it when I moved back to Phoenix and my wife and I tried to share it once I got a couple of jobs. One job was in Paradise Valley (some 30 miles from our home), and it became clear that we weren't going to be able to share the car. Leah bought a 2006 Honda CR-V, which she loves and I appreciate.

The Corolla has seen better days. When Leah was driving down the US 60 freeway one afternoon, an asshole in an SUV (he was probably wearing an Ed Hardy t-shirt) drove over a section of tire track and threw it into the hood of the car, making a large dent on the passenger side. When Leah was teaching at a Christian summer school in Scottsdale, another asshole in an SUV sideswiped her car in the church parking lot, so the rear driver's side wheel well is a little dented. I tried to change the battery one weekend and I did something to the positive battery connection. Now every few times I need to get the ol' girl running I have to pop the hood and twist the cable tightly in to place. The driver's side safety belt has a jam, so it takes a few minutes to unspool.

Still, the car gets me where I need to go. I am not a recreational driver. I prefer to be able to stretch my legs, and I don't like wasting gas. I try and combine my trips and take care of as much as I can when I leave the house. When I do go out, though, I drive carefully, coasting into red lights and stop signs, trying to idle as little as possible, keeping the engine below 60 miles per hour.

My favorite thing to do in the car is measure my gas mileage and see how far I can go on a single tank. Since it just started getting hot (99 degrees right now at 3:00 p.m., but it feels like 104), I have been able to go through most of the spring without using the air conditioner, driving instead with the windows cracked and the vents open. It's mostly comfortable.

In the last two and a half weeks or so, I've been able to get 369.55 miles on a tank of gas. When I refilled today, I put in 11.682 gallons. That works out to 31.63 miles per gallon! That exceeds the government-stated gas mileage of the car for the same year, which is listed at 23 city, 31 highway. I am super-excited about this new record. I usually am able to get 340 miles or so on a tank of gas.

My mileage was better than a 2009 Honda Civic and only 9 mpg higher than a 2009 Civic Hybrid. I love my little car.