Day 1 - Houston to Corpus Christi

Let the games begin! Dan Bryant and I took off from Sugar Land, about 25 miles southwest of Houston. This was a convenient location as Highway 59 runs through the city so we just hopped on the road towards Corpus (plus I live nearby!).

We gassed up our Toyota Prius cars and hit the road about 2:30pm. Each tank holds about 10 gallons of gas. Dan is riding alone with not much weight in the car so he thinks he can do all 5 cities on ONE TANK of fuel. Seeing his results at the end of this day I don't doubt his prediction.

I love driving across Texas as you see so many unique things and places. Though this isn't bluebonnet seaon I did notice wild flowers and weeds popping up in places. But I always get a kick out of the truck stops and mom-and-pop barbeque joints in the smallest of towns.

I had a hankering for some real smoked jerky and my favorite place to stop on this stretch of highway is just south of El Campo at a place called Prasek's Hillje Smokehouse. My odometer read 60 miles from our starting place and since I am driving my Prius as "normal" as can be I arrived ahead of my hypermiling buddy, Dan.

A few strips of peppered beef jerky and some buffalo cheese and jalepeno jerky later, Dan rolled up about 30 minutes behind me. Not wanting to kill much more time he shoved down a smoked sausage sandwich before we headed back to the cars to check out the stats.

Dan's average MPG: 66

My average MPG: 39.3

Why the big difference? Dan is going all out to maximize his mileage. He is driving relatively slow but at a safe highway speed, he is using his hypermiling tips like coasting when necessary and, if you can bear this, not using the air conditioner! Now I'm all about saving fuel and money but comfort is a whole other issue especially when driving during Texas summers.

Before we hop back in the cars for the rest of the trip to Corpus, Dan goes through a series of checks that would make NASA proud. He starts the engine several times trying to avoid the mandatory warmup in the Prius software and he checks his tires as often as I change radio stations. For the record, his right front tire was 5 pounds low.

We continued down Highway 77 passing through Refugio, birthplace of Nolan Ryan. No time for souvenirs or a Blizzard stop as we wanted to hit Corpus while the sun was still shining over the Bay.

199.8 miles from our start we rolled to a stop at the Corpus Christi Marina. It's a gorgeous site with boats docked in the water and sprawling green grass and biking trails lining Shoreline Boulevard. Noting the dashboard stats, I had driven the distance with an average of 40.3 MPG.

Realizing Dan was probably about 45 minutes behind me (and probably sweating profusely due to the "natural" air conditioning he was using), I had time to stroll around the marina and take a quick nap in the Bay breeze.

Sure enough Mr. Hypermiler quietly snuck his Prius up to mine (note: the engines are notoriously quiet) at the meeting point. Not wanting to get too close to him due to the potential of getting a sweat-soaked high-five, Dan blurted out his daily MPG: 61.8. Not bad at all.

While I would be ecstatic to average 40.3 MPG any day in a non-hybrid vehicle (much less 20.3 MPG!), I was interested to learn how he burned about 35% less gas than me. His hypermiling driving style accounted for the majority of savings but my constant use of the air conditioner drained some of the Prius' battery power along with the accessories I plugged in. Note to self...don't charge my iPhone and video camera while driving.

My car also carried more weight as I had our luggage, ice chest and Toyota parephernalia. I knew I should have simply packed a Speedo.

We depart to San Antonio on Monday which looks to be a bit shorter leg on our 5-day jaunt around the state. I look forward to listening to the 80's station on XM, the mexican restaurants on the Riverwalk and oh yeah, that cool air-conditioning while driving north on Interstate 37.


Hybrid Tour of Texas - Corpus Christi from Michael Garfield on Vimeo.