And another thing about my scooter

After having passed 10,000 miles on my scooter, I got to thinking about how much gas I've saved over that time. I get about 85 miles per gallon on the scooter while we only got about 17 miles per gallon in our van. That means, I've used about 117.6 gallons to go 10,000 miles on my scooter. To go that distance in our van, I would have used about 588.2 gallons. I've saved about 470.6 gallons by using the scooter. At an average price of about $3.75 per gallon over that time (gas has been higher than that and lower than that but I think that's a pretty fair average), I've saved about $1,764.75 by using the scooter. And that's just for gas. Repairs for the van are much more expensive. Considering that the scooter only cost about $2,500 to purchase, it's been quite a deal. And after riding another 4,167 miles (in another year, perhaps) at an average of $3.75 per gallon of gas, I should have paid for the scooter. But I don't think gas is going to average that much. I think it will be rising and I'll pay the scooter off sooner.

One other nice thing about riding my scooter is that I'm able to see more of the road when I'm riding it. There are no window posts in the way and I'm up higher than most car drivers are. I noticed this when I was stopped at a light beside a regular sedan. I was much high than the driver of that car. I'm about as high up as a driver of a small truck or a van. I like that. I can see trouble coming down the road farther away. Now, if I could just do that in the rest of my life.

[The picture of the old gas pump here is from Creative Commns: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Gas_Pump.jpg]