Living Car Free - Car-light gas consumption

I keep track of my gas mileage on a spreadsheet and noticed that my gas consumption is going down quite a bit. In the past I typically filled up every week, pretty much because I had to. This summer, several things happened that have transitioned me into car light:

1. My son got his license so I'm not driving him around. Not too much of a net savings in terms of miles, but still, fewer miles on my car.

2. Extensive travel this summer. Starting in June, I've been away from home a lot, including two business trips totaling 5 weeks, a 2.5 week vacation, and traveling up north for my grandmother's funeral. Temporary occurrences, but still fewer car miles.

3. Earlier this year my job site changed, enabling me to think about bicycle commuting. I did so about 1/3 of the time from February to June, then all the travel started. Also just before the business trip I took in September, I got a new commuting bike (a Nishiki hybrid) to replace my old and abused Nishiki Olympic 12. While I was gone, I was really jonesin' to ride it, and since I've gotten back I've ratcheted up my bicycle use a LOT.

Anyway, like I said I used to fill up once a week, and put 1500 miles/month on my car. This year is a little different:

January: 4 fillups; 1140 miles- Normal consumption (with time off for the holidays)
February: 3 fillups; 810 miles- Started bicycle commuting part-time
March: 3 fillups; 790 miles- Part-time bicycle commuting
April: 3 fillups; 810 miles- Part-time bicycle commuting
May: 2 fillups; 540 miles- Part-time bicycle commuting
June: 2 fillups; 530 miles- Part-time bicycle commuting, business trip
July: 1 fillup; 280 miles- Business trip, vacation
Aug: 2 fillups; 520 miles- Part-time bicycle commuting
Sept: 2 fillups; 550 miles- Business trip
Oct: 1 fillup so far; 300 miles- Increased bicycle commuting

So I've cut my mileage and my gas consumption in half. My son doesn't come close to offsetting that; he typically gets a month out of a tank of gas because he's mostly just driving 4 miles to school and back.

Basically right now I guess I'm going through two tanks of gas per month. Eventually I'd like to halve that again and get down to one fillup per month. Riding my bicycle helps a couple ways- not only am I not driving the car for as many miles, but I'm also no longer driving the miles that give me the worst fuel consumption- quick trips to the store, short hops, etc. My drives tend to be the longer drives that include more freeway, so even when I am driving, my fuel economy is better than it was before.

I guess there's no point to all this... just some observations.

Let's see if I can keep the increased rate of bicycle commuting going.

My initial goal was not to drive my SUV for thirty days straight, it took some time and effort to attain that goal, and I have now surpassed that goal, and I haven't driven the SUV for months. I occasionally let other family members borrow it when they need to use a larger vehicle, which gives the SUV a needed drive, and the family members don't need to buy a larger vehicle. So far this year, I've filled the SUV twice, and the family members filled it once.

Since a lot of the "car free/car lite" lifestyle depends on where you live I can honestly
say that "Small town USA" is where it's at.

I live in a small mid western town and have filled our Suburban 3 times this year and my pickup
2 times. The rest of the time I cycle every where I go. Our vehicles are used only when we leave
our small town for medical or grandchildren visits.

I think I'm still driving on $4.00 gas before Ike, but I haven't traveled lately. I'm normally car-lite/free in the city to compensate my highway miles, but still drive less than everyone I know.

I haven't filled the beast up in over 3 weeks, wouldn't need to for at least 3 more weeks, but I have to start driving again later this week:(

Aaron:)