IS IT REALLY CHEAPER?
Gas Pump @ Perryville, AR (05JUL2022)It is amazing to see what conversations come up when you spend what everyone in the room knows are the last hours of someone’s life. Earlier this year, my father and I had that sacred time with his baby brother, my Uncle Richard. Richard was a larger-than-life personality that captivated me from the time of my earliest memories, and I treasured our time together. I will never forget the last full day dad and I had with him there in the hospital, for our discussion went to one of Richard’s passions - engines.
He was very curious about the specs of my Buick Envision’s 4-cylinder engine, especially as I told him I’d gotten 35.8 MPG from DeRidder to Houston after getting a tank of ethanol-free gas at a truck stop on the DeRidder bypass. I had known for years that ethanol-free fuel is always better for any engine, especially for small-engine equipment and boats. (One of the great things about serving in Madisonville for four years was the gas station carried nothing but ethanol-free gas due to the river.) In fact, I learned my lesson about ethanol-free gas for small engines the hard way when I had to rebuild the carburetor in a generator in the middle of a hurricane because it had gotten gummed up by ethanol-added fuel.
Where the fun came in was in how Richard, especially given his deteriorating condition, came alive to talk about compression ratios, air-to-fuel mixes, and the combustion properties of various types of fuel. When I observed that I had gotten noticeably better mileage on the exact same route when I used the ethanol-free fuel, he got a huge grin on his face. He then talked me through his findings about how he had figured out that ethanol-free not only made the engine run cleaner, but improved fuel efficiency at least 30% when used regularly.
What does this have to do with filling up in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas, on your way back home from vacation? Simple. Yes, I did pay a higher price for the ethanol-free fuel than if I had used the pump next to it (sorry, I had the idea to take the pic while filling up so I don’t have the price of the ethanol-added gas in comparison) but when calculating the cost in improved fuel mileage and leaving my engine in better condition by using cleaner gas, I figure the trade-off is worth it.
And it brings a smile to my face to remember the joy my dad and I had with my uncle during his last hours. For that, along with everything else I mentioned above, I can safely say that, for me, the ethanol-free fuel is definitely cheaper and a better use of the money, for the price of gas is not simply about the price on the sign.
Grace and Peace, Lamar
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