I bought a nice big Ford Super crew F150 over a year ago. It came as a dual fuel vehicle. I can run regular gasoline and I can run propane. When I bought it, I though “that’s cool, but I’ll never use it”. I would have to say that things have changed a little bit. 

Gas at the lowest right now (5/15/2007) is about $3.25 a gallon. Propane when I fill up at the local U-Haul store is $2.23 a gallon ($1.91 in Las Vegas). You might thing “man, that’s way less” but there is a difference in performance and gas millage. 

When I run Gas, I get about 14 – 15 MPG. That calculates out to about .22 cents a mile. When I run on Propane, I only get about 11 MPG. Propane per mile cost me about .20 cents per mile. (less when I filled up in Las Vegas). There is no difference on the highway or in the city (actually, it’s like that with gas also with this truck).

Propane has a considerable drop in performance also. I feel like I have a squishy gas pedal because there really isn’t a good throttle response.   But, I do like to run it for several reasons. Besides the fact that it costs less to run (not by much), I also like to know that it’s a clean burning fuel AND it is runs my vehicle at an unbelievable cool temperatures. The water temp hardly even reaches the cold line on my gauge when I am on Propane. When I switch back to gas, it’s up to the middle of the gauge.   Propane does have some strange smell you can pick up some times.

With Gas prices rising, I am sure propane will make a considerable positive dent in my pocket book. As long as they don’t raise the price of propane any time soon, I will be happy.

This month I am going to try and run totally on propane. I have heard that because it’s not a carbon based fuel that your engine oil does not darken with time and miles. I just got the oil changed and I would like to see me put 1 – 3 thousand miles on it and then test it out. I will report back on that soon.

Anyhow, if you have a car that support propane call around and see what the cost per gallon is. I have found good luck with U-Haul centers. Just ask them for their costs on Highway propane.

I proposed to my Girlfriend (Now fiancé) April 23^rd 2007, a week before we went on our Trip to Maui. I was going to propose on the airplane to Maui, but once I got this beautiful ring in my hands, I could not wait any longer, and decided to propose that very night. I took her to a Hawaiian restaurant and told her we were going to do a Pre-maui dinner. She didn’t expect it.

We ate dinner like normal. When I was planning on asking her (right before desert), she detected something was up, and said “Travis… What are you doing?” and I was like… “umm.. nothing.. why”. She then challenged me and said “Put your hands on the table”. That is a problem because I was holding the ring. I put the ring between my legs and brought up my hands like I did not know what she was talking about.

We continued.. and I kept telling her how much I love her and how special she is to me. She started to talk to me, and I could feel myself coming up the moment. I kept saying to myself.. “now is the time.. ask ask ask” but I kept feeling like I was a dear a headlight. I finally started to ask, but I nearly whispered it to her. She asked me to repeat myself and I did.

Of course she said yes. I wouldn’t have asked if I doubted it. 

Here is what the ring looks like:

This is the first time I have been engaged in my life, and I feel very positive about it.

I am excited to be part of her family also. They are so warm to me when I am around and I feel so accepted by them. She has a very large family, so its easy to be intimated, but I feel like I fit right in.