Reactions to driving back here in the States after getting back from Germany.

[randomness]

I drive faster now that I've been driving in a place where 85 mph or so is about normal for the middle lane. This will last until I get my first speeding ticket here, I think. :)

Wow, I can fill the tank for less than $25! It was costing about €50 (about $60) to fill the same sized tank in Germany. It got to the point that when I drove through Luxembourg, which has the lowest fuel taxes of any of the countries in the neighborhood, €1.09 a liter felt cheap.

Lanes sure are wide in the States. Even in Boston, the lanes are pretty wide for Europe. Of course, in Europe, they tend to be a bit more consistent than in Boston, where they vary a lot, when they're painted on the roads at all. In Germany, they are very consistent, but narrower, and nearly always well-marked.

Someone needs to fix the street surfaces around here. I've been told that road repair crews in Germany have competitions to see who can build the smoothest surface. They do a great job of fixing potholes; the holes don't last long--the repairs do. At 200 km/h, you feel every ripple in the asphalt.

Comments

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

The British have some of the highest petrol prices on earth. I seem to remember paying more than 90p a litre in January.

How big is your fuel tank? I mean, I put in 11 gallons for $25. How much are they gouging you for fuel down in Southern California nowadays? $3.50 a gallon?

[frotz.livejournal.com]

It's not quite that bad (yet); I was seeing around $2.40 at the low end in the corridor from 29 Palms down to Salton City, with a place in Palm Springs posting $2.379. I haven't been in LA lately, but there are a couple of places in West Hollywood that are usually at about 29 Palms prices, and I'm sure there are others.

I don't get Southern California gas prices. I've seen two stations on the same side of a busy street, separated by a side street, with sixty cent per gallon price differences. Both were getting business. Even the same chain will vary 30 cents per gallon over a few blocks. WTF?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

WTF?

In the Bay Area, too!

It must be some weird California phenomenon.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

It is, and it sucks. Luckily, smart folks know where the cheaper stations are. Even so, I paid $2.59 a gallon for premium last week.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

Wow, lucky you. I just paid $2.70 for the medium stuff this evening, at the Sooper Sekrit Cheap Shell. (For 14 gallons... okay, so that's just under $38, not $40, but bad enough.

I am ashamed to admit what I am currently driving...

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I expect it will have gone up this week, that was last Thursday.