Memorial Day: Did You Drive?
I took my boys camping over Memorial Day. It was a campground close by, so there wasn’t supposed to be a lot of driving involved. However, Friday night was so completely off-the-charts hot that I gave up trying to sleep in the tent for the rest of the weekend. Instead we drove home each night. As I said, it wasn’t a long drive, but it was more driving than I had intended.
On Tuesday I read an article that suggested that residents of the US drove less this year than last year for Memorial Day… in fact it was the largest percentage drop from one year to the next since records were kept.
Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less — that’s 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it “the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history.” Records have been kept since 1942.
I know that I’m driving my Corvette more, as it gets much better gas mileage than my truck. And when I am travelling alone, there really isn’t a need to have the large truck anyway.
Diesel is out of sight and closing in on $5 a gallon. Premium (93 octane for the Corvette) isn’t far behind. I was in Berlin last week and it was interesting to note that diesel prices there are lower than gasoline prices, which is as it has been here for many years. In fact, until I decided to purchase a diesel truck. 
So, how about you? Are you driving more or less?