[spacemanspif]

As the title states, I will be doubling my work commute from 25 miles each way to 61. The reason for this is that I will be moving to an apartment with the future Mrs. Spif in August and the location is the best compromise between our 2 places of work.

I think I'm going to have to commit ecomodder.com treason and air down my tires and speed up my driving. My reasons for these heinous acts are that there are some TERRIBLE sections of road on my new, extended, route. Currently I only drive those sections when I head home to visit family so once or twice a month doesn't bother me but every day I'm worried about the cars suspension and my sanity. My tires are at sidewall max 51PSI, I'm thinking 40 should be a good compromise between softer ride and max MPG.

Driving faster I'm thinking will be for my sanity as well, especially in the mornings; afternoons I may try to keep it down at 60MPH since I won't be as pressed for time. Buuuuuuut, driving faster make people "feel" like they are getting places faster even if it's only a few minutes. I notice that when I drve 60 for long distances that I get bored and kinda tired from the slow going. I don't plan on doing crazy 85mph speeds but I will probably set the cruise to 70. There are a couple bottlenecks where I'll try to hypermile the traffic but otherwise it'll be cruise control on pretty flat ground and EOC on the downslope of a steep bridge at the very least.

I think I'm going to need to invest in aero-mods to try and negate some of the effects of lower tire pressure and higher speeds but I doubt I'll break even. I'm kind of on the ledge here; higher rent, utility bills, more tolls to pay and increased fuel costs have me more than a bit worried. I joined here to find ways to not flush money down the filler neck and it looks like that's exactly what I'll be doing until she and/or I find jobs closer to each other.