Flight planning for trip next week

[coma24]

I'm undertaking a fairly hefty flight next week (N07-KFTW-KSAV-N07). I've done a flight similar to this before and have planned my fuel stops to include the cheapest fuel prices I can find, although I filled up at the big airports on both occasions due to time constraints.

This time I plan on avoiding filling at the expensive places, even if it means adding a extra stops to replace them.

I thought I'd throw it out to the group to see if anyone was able to find a better plan than what I have in mind at the moment.

The maximum leg length is 650nm. Assume we're leaving N07 with full fuel.

The goal is to minimize the total fuel cost. One other requirement is that I want to minimize the number of fuel stops between FTW and SAV due to time constraints on that particular day.

I'll post what I have now as a benchmark:
N07-I42 (fuel stop) $5.25/gal
I42-KSWI (fuel stop) $4.25/gal
KSWI-KFTW (destination. NOT PICKING UP FUEL)
KFTW-KEET (fuel stop) $5.15/gal
KEET-KSAV (destination, NOT PICKING UP FUEL)
KSAV-KBNL (fuel stop) $5.25/gal
KBNL-N07

My prior plan was: N07-KOWB-KFTW-KMNE-KSAV-N07 with fuel stops at each. The new method has 2 extra fuel stops because it avoids fueling at FTW and SAV.

Here's the link for the current plan:
http://skyvector.com/?ll=35.1360822...4.KFTW:A.K7.KEET:A.K7.KSAV:A.K7.KBNL:A.K6.N07

Distance: 2679.4nm (assuming direct on each leg, which won't quite be the case)
Total time at cruise speed: 13hr 36min (197ktas)
approx fuel burned: 140 gallons

saving $1-$2/gal on the fill ups will yield $140-$280 cost saving. My 'extra' fuel stops are occurring on days where my schedule is more flexible.

Any ideas for optimizing this?

 

[somorris]

I don't know of anywhere along your route with less expensive fuel.

Have a great trip!

 

[PBristolJr]

Looks like fun, I'm pretty sure I've seen some of your youtube video's before!
I42 is just north west of me, tighter strip for a Lancair at 2793ft. But I noticed you're used to 2942 at Lincoln Park.

 

[coma24]

KSWI's fuel is down to $4.25/gal now instead of $4.60. Sweet.

 

[coma24]

Completed the trip as planned. The only exception was that I ended up flying KSAV to N07 non-stop after topping off at SAV. The extra cost of the 'expensive' fuel was less than the ramp fee that was waived with the fuel purchase, so it was more economical to simply by the fuel at SAV and go straight home rather than make the additional fuel stop. It also saved quite a bit of time (those turns for fuel do take some time between the descent, the turn, and the climb out).

The plane performed beautifully, I'm grateful to have it.

Highlight of the trip was having music on board (it's been a while since I had it after losing my music player, but I swapped to using the phone on this trip), and also flying hands free on an IFR flight plan, using nothing but weight shifting to stay on course and on altitude for a 20nm stretch