When Aaron and I went to Banff last month I wanted to go there and back on a single tank of diesel. Sadly it was not in the cards and had to put some extra fuel in close to home. Last night, however, was an unexpected stress test for the fuel consumption of the Jetta.

My readings for mileage left in the tank showed that I had nothing to worry about. My round trip to work was 130km, and it showed 150km remaining. But as I merged onto the Whitemud heading to work the readings dropped dramatically. I played it safe. No major accelerations, did the speed limit and let off the gas where I could.

I got to work no problem, but I was 20km away from my regular gas station and the mileage left in the tank said I had 50km to go before the car became a huge obstacle on the road. I start driving away from work in the evening, on way to begin my expedition and the mileage remaining drops to 40. I hold my breath and continue to do the speed limit on Whitemud. 30. Oh dear, I’m about 8km away, I am sure I can make it.

I roll into Petro-Canada on the south side of Edmonton with over 900km on my trip meter and mileage remaining showing at 20. Just in time!

When I awoke I checked the score and it was 3-1 Edmonton. I am not sure what to make of this curse I have with Vancouver, or if Edmonton just has their number but I hope it ends soon because I can’t miss a playoff game.

I was under the impression that diesel prices were always cheaper than gas. All of you in your fancy gas vehicles may not be concerned but I did some research and came up with a few interesting reasons for this. A majority of the articles were from American sources but I imagine the same reasons still affect Canada.

? Historically, diesel prices rise in the fall/winter as refiners shift to making more heating oil and less diesel. This continues even as gasoline prices come down.
? Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused a number of oil refineries to close, which caused the price of regular gasoline to skyrocket. Those refineries are coming back on line and are concentrating on gasoline production, which is dropping the price of gas but raising the price of diesel.
? Diesel vehicles are much more popular in Europe and Asia than in the U.S., which means there’s greater competition for diesel fuel.
? The demand for diesel is traditionally higher at this time of the year as trains and trucks bring more of the fall harvest to market.
? Separately, the weekly price for diesel fuel fell 9.6 cents to $2.60 a gallon, the lowest level in 11 weeks but still up 47 cents from a year ago, the agency said.
one, two, three

So I have a favor to ask. If you are ever going on HWY2, give me a call and maybe I can arrange for you to tow my Jetta behind your vehicle because I won’t be able to afford the cost.

Although if you are going further south (say’to America) maybe I can come along because of this:

The price advantage gets even better in 2006, when diesel buyers will qualify for a tax deduction of as much as $3,400. cnn

Don’t worry, while I’m in America I will be productive. I will write George a letter and ask him to make friends (invade) with a country that has a large diesel supply so prices will drop and maybe do some gambling. Why not, right? I have $3,400 to spend so might as well buy a smart part of Detroit or Philly or something.

In other news, get over to Threadless.com and order some new shirts for your wardrobe because they are having a $10 sale right now and that is a steal of a deal.