Well, I'm back now.
I had really limited internet access on the trip, and never really knew for sure where I was going.
I DID get to visit the
Lehman's store on the way home, and managed to drive through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin to get home late last night. Yep, we did all that in one day, including Lehman's, and got all the way home WITH the 2-year-old! (She FINALLY NAPPED!)
I enjoyed the irony of plugging in a car at the "non-electric store", while watching Amish driving by in horse-and-buggies. (Those Amish are AGRESSIVE drivers! I think they are just keeping up their momentum once they are too speed. I bet they are great hypermilers - more miles per oats.)
I also charged up at a Holiday Inn one night, all the nights we stayed at a relative's house, and at the last night of the Mother Earth Fair.
I also found out that the "B" mode works great in the Prius to charge the battery while going down big hills on Pennsylvania back roads. At one point, I actually COMPLETELY filled the battery. The ScanGuage showed that I no longer had negative battery amps (charging amps) and right after that, the engine starting spinning up into around 3500 rpm to do ACTUAL engine breaking. At that point, I shifted back to Drive, to just gain momentum for the next big hill. At least it was a clear and sunny day, a straight shot, and no other traffic. A prius going down-hill with 51 psi tires goes from 45mph to 72 mph REAL fast!
Overall fuel economy for the trip was about what I expected - 50 MPG. We put on over 2000 total miles. A 30-mile range Hymotion pack doesn't give much of a fuel economy improvement on this type of travel. When we were stopped in New York state for a few days to visit relatives, I got close to 100MPG every day.
Today
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