I sat down yesterday to add up the fuel bill for our drive to Edmonton and back. The total return cost was $271. Now what was of interest to me was that the fuel bill going was $269. What’s so interesting about that, after all it is just the reverse of the trip out, right? Not so quick there!

We took the norther route on return – and because of a three truck crash on hwy 17 we had to back track and then take another small road for 130 km to get around the accident – a delay of about 3.5 hours. (We sat for almost an hour before we were able to discover that the delay would be 7 hours).

Going west we went along Lake Superior which is hwy 17. But our return was along hwy 11 which takes you north and through places like Geraldton, Hearst, Kapuskasing, etc.

This route, while less scenic say some, was clear, relatively flat, and had lots of fuel and food stops. At Cochrane, the highway turns south and drops you out at North Bay which has become quite a bustling hub from the last time I was there!

My last comment goes to Toyota for making such a great highway vehicle. The Sienna cruised along under 2000 rpm most of the way and proved to have more than amble passing power. This is a great vehicle and the 280 hp with the nine speed electronic transmission gave us incredible fuel savings. The inside gauge read between 7.6 and 8.4 litres per 100 km. At 8 litres per 100 km you can convert that to 35 mpg for those of us from another generation!