First Anniversary!

I picked up "My Blue Destiny", which is a Seaside Pearl Package 5, a year ago today.

I live in Pennsylvania and work in New Jersey. I take a train to work much of the time. But I have made most of my gas purchases in New Jersey on days when I have driven to work. For those of you who are not familiar with New Jersey, self-service gas is illegal. So every time I fill up there, someone employed by the gas station puts it in for me. This is great when the weather is bad - too hot, too cold, too rainy.

Yet, despite the lack of self service at New Jersey gas stations, the price is still less near where I work than it is in Pennsylvania near home.

Last night, riding around near my home, I noticed that my gas indicator was down to one bar. Knowing that I wouldn't be driving to NJ until tomorrow at the earliest, I decided that I'd better fill up then.

Before last night, I had probably only filled up the car once or twice, in 365 days! (365 instead of 364 from date of purchase to day before anniversary because of an intervening Feb. 29.) In addition to filling up so much in New Jersey, on a few trips to Maryland through Delaware, my usual traveling companion, whose Prius delivery one-year anniversary is coming up on Wednesday, was usually the one who got out of the car and pumped it for me.

I knew there was some kind of rope that attaches the inner gas cap to the car. This is a great feature, by the way. I lost the inner gas cap of my old Acura at least twice - both at the same gas station in a somewhat downscale neighborhood in Philadelphia where I was no doubt trying to finish up and go rather quickly. Anyway, I had a heck of a time unscrewing the inner cap on a bitter cold windy winter night. I finally knocked on the car window to get my frequent companion to come out and help me, since he commutes within Pennsylvania and thus always has to put the gas into his Prius himself.

I have slightly more than 8,100 miles on the car. The MPG right now is in the mid-40s.

"My Blue Destiny" had an out-of-body experience on Thanksgiving Day. We went to my sister's house in Maryland for dinner. As we approached the house, I looked to see if my other sister's new (non-hybrid, made in Kentucky) Camry was in the driveway - I hadn't seen it yet. Instead, I saw a Seaside Pearl Prius. For a moment there, I thought that the car had escaped me and gone on ahead to the party. I looked to see if my car was still enclosing my traveling companion and me. It was. As I got closer, I could see that the car had a Virginia license plate. It turned out to be a 2009 that belonged to another dinner guest. And I learned that their household has two Priuses, too, just like us, and in the same colors. Both other cars are silver.

This was also the second weekend in a row in which I met people who had come from Virginia in a Seaside Pearl Prius and also had another Prius in their household. The earlier encounter happened in Pennsylvania.

I put multiple CDs in the 6-CD changer all the time. But I have not yet gotten my money's worth out of the GPS. It has helped me find some better alternatives from getting from parts of New Jersey into parts of Pennsylvania. In Ringoes, NJ, the road that I thought was called John Ringoes Road shows up as John Ringo Road on the screen. I think a Beatles fan must have programmed it! I keep looking for Paul George Road!