The Games I Play

I have two games I play in my car every time I drive somewhere.  These aren't fun or exciting games for anyone but me.  In fact, I usually don't include anyone in my games at all.

The first game I play is trying to avoid losing my satellite signal while driving under an overpass.  We live right next to the freeway so anytime I go east, I have to drive under I-15.  Every time I do, unless I can go about 45 MPH without slowing at all, I will lose the signal for a second or two.  This used to freak Kamryn and Rory out a lot - they always accused me of changing the channel right in the middle of their favorite song.  That may have been what actually triggered my game playing. 

There is a series of events that have to happen in order for me to reach the right speed and maintain it.  1) It starts with the turning lane.  If I have more than 2 cars in front of me when I make the turn to go east, all bets are off.  2) Assuming I am either first in the turning lane or 2nd, the next obstacle is a stoplight that is about 100 yards before the start of the overpass.  If it's red, I really have to gun it when it turns green.  If it's already green, I'm starting to get pretty excited, because the stars are aligning.  3)  The final hurdle is another stoplight about another 100 yards after the overpass.  If it's red, I can't really maintain my speed.  If it's green and I'm over halfway through the "dark zone", I'm usually home free. 

My second game is trying to come home with more gas in my tank than when I left without going to a gas station.  Obviously, this is impossible unless I'm siphoning gas, which I am not.  I have the speedometer display set to show me how many miles I can go before I run out of gas.  I have certain places I go when I know I'm going to win as long as traffic isn't too bad and that always makes me happy.  Kamryn had soccer tonight and that is usually one of my winner routes as long as traffic isn't too bad on the way home.  Tonight we left for soccer with an estimated range of 80 miles left in the tank.  It's about 13 miles round trip to the soccer fields and back so you would think I should have 67 miles left in the tank.  Oh no...not today!  Here was my display right before I turned off the car.

That might be a personal best for that route.  I'll have to check the satellite/mileage game log that I keep.  I'm kidding...I'm obviously hurting for entertainment in my car, but I'm not that big of a dork.