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Wildcat, Good story. And informative.On my last road trip (5800+ miles), I noticed large differences in my computed gas mileage. I started from home on a tank of 87 octane BP gas and only got 23-24 MPG. Two of my worst tankfuls were through Minnesota and South Dakota, in the 20-21 MPG range. One tankful made the engine so anemic that it was downshifting a lot more than usual, especially in the hilly areas of Montana. I started buying either premium fuel or, where available, ethanol-free fuel, and was getting highway mileage up where it should be--25-27 MPG. I also stuck to the better stations like Conoco, Sinclair (my favorite--gotta love dinosaurs ?), Chevron, etc., and that made a difference also. (No more Casey's General Store...a gas/convenience chain out west. I got one of my worst MPG calculations from their gas!)
One thing I dislike about this miserable state I live in is that we are force-fed ethanol-laced gasoline. From what little I've read, gas stations have to apply for a waiver to sell ethanol-free gasoline and label it as "recreational" gas. As such, many of our "pure gas" pumps are out on the docks at the marinas (who don't sell to automobiles). And others who do sell to cars are priced higher than the top premium grade gasolines at the pumps.
Out west, it is so much easier to find ethanol-free gas. A few stations even have separate nozzles (like one of the Maverick stations I stopped at).
I mentioned in another thread here that there is a site that catalogs the ethanol-free stations in the US. Here it is:
Pure-gas.org - ethanol-free gasoline in the U.S. and Canada
Pure-gas.org is the definitive web site listing stations that sell pure gasoline in the U.S. and Canada.www.pure-gas.org
No affiliation, but helpful for those who want to avoid ethanol as much as possible. The listings do have a few errors, but visitors can correct them.
On my last trip from Maryland, which sounds like your state with essentially no ethanol-free gas for cars, I noticed in Oklahoma City Ethanol-free gas is widely available and is usually 3 to 5 cents higher than regular 87 octane. But, mileage is enough better to far outweigh that small increased price.