HEY, HOW DO YOU GET AROUND?
Round round get aroundI get around
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
I get around
Get around round round I get around
From town to town
Get around round round I get around
Im a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I'm makin' real good bread
I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip
I gotta finda new place where the kids are hip
(Music & Lyrics by: Brian Wilson)
_____
We are such a spoiled nation. With fuel and vehicular fatalities so high along with insurance rates, recall that in 1974 speed limits were reduced to 55 miles per hour. We saved billions in gasoline dollars and more importantly, we saved lives. So, someone please explain to me why the hell we post 65 MPH signs on freeways when people drive along as if every U.S. highway was The Autobahn? Why not enforce 55 MPH on highways? Consider: We would be sending a message to the fat cats at the gas companies, we'd save billions on fuel and bring down the annual vehicular fatality statistics and insurance rates! Plus States would make money from the traffic tickets they issue to speeders for so many worthy things. Like what, you ask? How about creating new jobs, with our need to replace approximately 21,000 U.S. bridges in the United States that are in dangerous condition. Or rebuilding Levy's and Dams? Or repaving roads? We have so many people out of work thanks to outsourcing (stripping our country of all manufacturing). Consider the possibilities when the next car passes you on a 65 MPH highway doing 80 MPH! And no, I make no apologies for being on a so-called "Soap Box". How dumb can we get? Moving on...
Hey, when I was traveling all over Florida a couple of years back, I noticed that from roughly West Palm Beach South towards Ft. Lauderdale Beach, people used a lot of fun-looking Vespa motor scooters along Highway A1. They save a lot of fuel. I asked three guys who owned them about price, construction, performance, versatility and all of that. True, when it rains you need a car. On that score, I pride myself that my older Honda CRV saves fuel. It has about 120,000 miles on it (but to all preppies: It's paid for). Yes, I'm no fan of car payments. And NOW there's a cool way to assert your personality and be good to the environment! (See photo below). :-) 
Now this car I love! Where I live in Arizona, Mini Coopers are everywhere. I queried Panthergirl over at The Dog's Breakfast about her Mini, and she advised me not to test-drive one unless I was serious. Some weeks ago, I took one for a test drive. Get this: 37 miles per gallon in the city; 46 on the highway! It was very well built and with mucho safety items. (Plus a Fender Twin Reverb and a couple of guitars fit in easily with the fold down seats. That's how my mind operates. Ah, someday...
Another pet peeve I have are pick up trucks modified to being the height of a yardstick off the ground with tires so large, they alone would kill you. This photo is a stock pickup you'd buy from a dealership. When I park next to one, and carefully pull out of a parking spot (I always park to drive forward because I freak out that a small child with parents who don't pay enough attention to them (morons considering how easily abductions happen in broad daylight in this crazy world) could easily walk behind a vehicle backing up and be struck. For this reason, I back up into my apartment space. But when a neighbor's boyfriend parks his pickup there, pulling out "blind" is dangerous. What is our obsession with huge monster trucks and SUV's? 
Personally, I have never cared for SUV's. (Show me the "Sport" in "Sport Utility Vehicle" and I'll buy you a hand-rolled Cuban cigar to go smoke somewhere else). A good friend of mine was killed in a collision (he was said to be at fault; we'll never know what really happened) in his Corvette. I was traveling in Atlanta when the news hit me and I remember sitting on the edge of my hotel bed crying. We think it's possible he may have had a small stroke, even though he was a young guy. He left behind 3 kids and a wife who is an author friend of mine. I also dislike driving behind SUV's in city traffic because you can't see the traffic light's above you. Granted, I have friends who make sensible use of their SUV's for business. For example, I have girlfriends who run businesses such as a catering company, another who does concert staging and yet another who handles graphic art designs and huge sign displays. But I ask you, "How big is too big?"_____
So, how you get around? Taxi? Bus? Subway? Fellow blogger Martini of "DMC & Me" has a cool DeLorean! Do tell!
_____
AND MAKE IT A GOOD MONDAY!
AND MAKE IT A GOOD MONDAY!
posted by Michael Manning @ 12:00 AM
13 comments
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13 Comments:
Love my Mini Cooper S. Anyone buying one, spend the extra money on the S, worth it for the fun, drives sooooo much better. Of course now I live in South Carolina I had to buy the convertible, and enjoy driving with the roof down most days. I didn't buy my Mini to save on gas though, I bought it because why would I need a HUGE car??? And also because it is soooo cool. Being from England though, I do have to say I enjoy your "cheap" petrol, and you yet have to hear me complain about the price of a gallon, or see me driving all over town to save 5 cents a gallon. What I would like more is not to do all this driving and see public transport be HUGELY improved.
Still read you every day Michael, just never comment. Miss Cincinnati and working at The Pub, but would never trade my life in Charleston of beautiful weather and beautiful beaches.
Well, to quote Sammy: I can't drive 55!
I have a Hyundai Elantra that gets 33-36 mpg and I mainly just commute to and from a commuter lot for work (12 miles each way). The rest is by bus.
Jane: How great to hear from you! Yes, the Cooper S is very nice! I didn't care much for The Clubman car, although I will opt for the stock Coupe. It's going to be either Rd with the White hood stripes of Yellow with the Black hood stripes--and with cloth interior! Thanks for writing and tuning in, Jane!!!!:D
Utenzi: Yeah, I see your point. To do so in this traffic would get you killed. It would have to be unilateral across the country as it once was. The worst I had was 88 miles round trip when I still had my Mustang GT--quite a gas guzzler.
I have a Chevy truck (but it ain't a yard high, but on occassion I wished it was). I can get about 20 mpg... and I cry at the pump. I often walk to the office (just less than a mile) but enjoy having the truck to camp in the back (I have a top over it) and to haul canoes, etc.
55? Fifty-Five?
Are you serious?
Nobody goes 55 unless you're older than that.
There are some places, northern Nevada for instance, where even 80 is too slow.
If you want to give out traffic
tickets, give them to the idiots
who don't know how to use a turn
signal. Or who drive 55 through
a school zone. Ticket those who
drive jacked trucks and SUVs
with black tinted windows, so they
block out all light, not
just traffic signals.
In short, ticket everyone but me.
I can never figure out why I'm
the only one on the road that
actually knows how to drive.
And stay out of my way.
My car is paid for also but i'm jonesing for a Dodge Charger!
I love the mini coopers though. Someone around town has a navy blue one with our state symbol (palmetto tree/crescent moon) painted on the hood. I LOVE IT!
It does send confusing messages. We travel at 70mph on the motorways in Britain.
A delicious soap box moment.
I wish the police would actually enforce the laws - we have a terrible speeding problem on our "back road" and then they're on the phone to boot. Our back roads aren't so back roadish anymore with all the new developments, not to mention the poor animals that are killed by morons who feel the need for speed.
Our governor - I'm in NJ - wants to raise tolls and create more taxes. Imagine the revenue from speeding tickets and cell phone usage and kids w/out seat belts!!
As for pick-ups and giant SUVs - I just don't get it. Everyone around me, including my sometimes dumb son, have giant cars with no one to carry in them.
There oughta be a law ... ;)
I had a moped that I used to get to the University as a student. No place to park a car there. Then I had a Honda Aero 125. It got me around all over town, and I even got an insulated coverall with helmet and gloves it saw me through rain, snow and just about anything else Mother Nature could throw at me. I've always wanted to go back to something like that, but you can't put a set of golf clubs on one.
When you have kids, grandkids and elderly parents minivans are a necessity, never have like SUV's though now about the only difference is a regular door or a sliding door. I did splurge by buying a Mustang for the wife, seems to be the reason why gas prices went up like crazy, the last time that happened in the 1980's I'd just bought a Camaro with a 350 V8 and gas shot up from 50 cents a gallon to a buck.
I stay home.
During my short career as a driver, I was pretty good about the speed limit, which on the winding roads here in the boondocks is often 40 or 50 and seldom obeyed. Nothing more fun than being tail-gated by a drunk on a narrow winding road with no shoulder... I'd love to see people slow down. I remember when I lived in NYC people would tear around the corner to a red light and risk killing any poor pedestrian who happened to want to cross the street so they could idle at the red light. But I rant. I love your idea.
I loved your post and I do not get the whole SUV, gigantor pickup trucks, Hummer thing.
Now, here's the funny thing-as a mom of two kids, you would think I drive a minivan or SUV. I don't-I have a Pontiac Vibe-as small as I could with some decent trunk space (I can totally load up at Costco with the room!) and my husband drives a Honda Odyssey minivan. I HATE driving that car too! He uses the space a lot for all his percussion gigs, so it actually is a good car, but everyone assumes it's mine.
GREAT POST, Michael! We DO have a lot of Mini-Coops here!
Sorry, my friend, for I'm a gas guzzler with my fast driving and somewhat SUV. I do ride the bus to work, though it's mainly b/c parking is expensive, not for the environment (sorry). If we had a better rapid transit system, I would take it, but we just have the buses which are dirty, hot and often not on schedule. The worst part is that the lines are really limited so I can basically go downtown, which is great for work, but no where near where I want to usually go in my personal time without having to transfer and taking an hour to get there (vs. about 10 - 15 min. drive). If I lived in a city with a great train system, I probably wouldn't even own a car.
Sage: Cool!
Seraphine: I basically agree with you. But having been a television helicopter traffic reporter, you can only imagine the carnage I have seen from vehicles and what is left of their victims driving 80 mph! In a slit second, lives are lost. 55 with a max of 60--and I think my focus was trying to get across that we save tons of fuel, lives and insurance costs. Bt I hear ya! :)
Patti: Take each out for a test drive and get back to me! FUN!!!
jean-luc picard: I can live with that, and your cars are far more fuel efficient that the ego-driven vehicles we have. That much I am certain of! The Mini is quite impressive!
dianne: You "get" me! We lead the entire nation here in intersection fatalities (in Phoenix). I'd rather arrive alive and be a few minutes late than pretend I'm the pilot of the Concorde and wind up dead. Te highways are far too dangerous and children get killed playing in their own neighborhoods. What have we become?
pm: Where I live, bicycles are popular, Harley's are everywhere (no helmet law which is ridiculous), and motor scooters are about. The Mustang GT V-8 has always been a BLAST to drive. But it eats fuel. I'm maintaining my vehicle well and plan for the time being on driving it for 250,000 miles. A lady I work with drove hers for 400,000 miles! It's great on fuel too!
Raven: It's so nice to be loved! THANKS! :D))
Snoopmurph: I helped a man with MS to his car (his wife was driving) and we talked at length about how unfortunate it is that GM or Ford can't match a Honda. The Odyssey is really a fine vehicle, truth be told.
Becky: I doubt that we will ever have a mass transit system that comes close to anything in Europe. Amtrak is a joke and should be shut down. I think Sir Richard Branson is about the only person who could seriously come up with a solution with Virgin Trains! And no, I am not kidding. You can Google that!
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