Tid-Bits: The Beach

Our long weekend at the beach was very enjoyable. The weather cooperated nicely.

It was crowded and I’m doubting that the price of gas has had a large effect on people vacationing at Myrtle Beach, SC, at least this past weekend. Perhaps for many their vacation was planned and deposits made in advance so canceling because of the price of fuel was not an option. Then there would be some that switched from farther destinations to the beach for a few days as a cost savings alternate.

I was pleasantly surprised that to and from the beach our 2006 Toyota RAV4 (2WD, 2.4L, 4cyl, Auto) averaged a little over 33 mpg. Not bad for a small SUV considering it was loaded down and running the air conditioner.

I was using a ScanGaugeII that reads data directly from the RAV4s ECU so I feel that milage figure is accurate. The vehicle ECU measures the speed and milage travelled as well at exactly how much fuel has been metered by the fuel injection system.

The only things I’ve done to the RAV4 from stock was having Toyota Service re-program the ECU according to a technical service bulletin to eliminate a severe hesitation and personally installing a K&N high flow air filter. I always run K&N filters for a little added power and fuel milage.

I hope my next vehicle will be either an all electric or fuel cell vehicle, or perhaps even some newer technology. Meanwhile the RAV4 gets good enough milage to hang on till then.

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post this trip was also a business conference for my wife. The after conference dinner speaker on Saturday night was “Coach Ken Carter” of the same “Coach Carter” 2005 movie staring Samuel L. Jackson.

In 1999, Ken Carter, a successful sporting goods store owner, accepts the job of basketball coach for his old high school in a poor area of Richmond, CA, where he was a champion athlete. As much dismayed by the poor attitudes of his players as well as their dismal play performance, Carter sets about to change both. He immediately imposes a strict regime typified in written contracts that include stipulations for respectful behavior, a dress code and good grades as requisites to being allowed to participate…

While Coach Carter was high energy and somewhat entertaining, I wasn’t inspired by his speech. There was nothing new presented that I haven’t heard a hundred times before and the stories told seemed almost too perfect, even to the point of sounding revised. The appearance also seemed to be highly self promotional.

Revised later on 7/28/08 to add the “Coach Carter” paragraphs.