We’re home from another great weekend trip to Sunriver. We do this trip every year with the MNF group, and it’s almost always fun. We’ve finally found a house that seems to facilitate group interaction, which is awesome. This was our fourth year in the same spot, and since Kris and I are planning the trip next year, you can count on a fifth year, too.

One of the best parts of this year’s excursion was driving my new (used) Mini Cooper, which we’ve dubbed Bumblebee (or simply Bumble). Kris was very patient with me as I toyed with acceleration in spots. Fun.

As a stats geek, I love the onboard computer. I suppose most cars come with these nowadays, but they’re new to me. Bumble can display his real-time fuel consumption and calculate his average usage. He can do the same for speeds. (And, best of all, Bumble can tell me how far he can go before he needs more gas!)

I’ve always been curious which path to Sunriver is quicker, over Mt. Hood or over the Santiam Pass. This year I tracked our numbers:

• Our trip to Sunriver took us from Oak Grove to Sandy to Madras to Redmond to Bend. We covered 169.2 miles in three hours and thirty minutes, for an average speed of 52.9 miles per hour. Bumble traveled 34.0 miles per gallon.
• On our trip home from Sunriver, we went from Bend to Sisters to Stayton to Silverton to Oregon City to Oak Grove. We covered 180.0 miles in three hours and 45 minutes, for an average speed of 51.8 miles per hour. Bumble traveled 39.8 miles per gallon.

For the entire trip (which included some time puttering around Sunriver and Bend), Bumble traveled 430.6 miles and used 12.225 gallons of gas. That’s total fuel efficiency of 35.2 miles per gallon.

One drawback is that Bumble does require Premium fuel. Ouch. That stuff’s expensive. However, I ran the numbers for the final 30 days I owned the Focus and compared them to my first two weeks with the Mini, and it seems the Focus was actually just a hair more expensive to run. (Well, comparing fuel costs only, that is.)

Now, however, it’s time for bed, even though it’s only 7:20. I’ve returned from Sunriver sick as a dog. Ugh. Why me? Why now?

p.s. This is odd. I just re-read my old posts about Sunriver. I came home sick from the 2006 trip, and again in 2009. Kris returned home sick in 2007 and 2008. “Why do you think that is?” I asked Kris. “It’s because those people are germ factories!” she said. I thought that was pretty funny.