This morning I woke up and my first thought was, "I believe I'm feeling better today." Yahoo.
But I digress.
On the way to work this morning, Jack and I ended up behind a big, sage green Ford Expedition. It was such a pretty color and so smooth and shiny. But the driver was the only person in that ginormous vehicle. The thought of driving such a big, gas-guzzling thing, all by yourself, was astounding to me.
I kept watching the maxi-ford as we drove towards work. The guy driving it was young, maybe in his early thirties, so I wondered what he was thinking when he bought his 300-hp 5.4L Triton V8 engine that according to Ford's website, gets 12 mpg around town.
Jack pointed out that the guy probably uses it to pull his big boat to the lake, and I wondered if he had just taken it to a gas station to fill up its seriously huge gas tank (I tried to find out how big that tank is, but for some reason, that information isn't on Ford's website), but if the tank holds 30 gallons (which will take you 360 miles--the typical distance in a gas tank), it will cost at least $120 every time you go to the gas station--if Ford's numbers are truly accurate...
But the guy drove at least five miles, past several gas stations, so I doubted he had taken it out to fill it up. At one point, I lost sight of monstro-Ford and when I asked Jack if he'd seen it turn, he said no, but maybe it was behind the cement truck behind us that probably gets fewer mpg than the BIGgreenFord. I pointed out that there is a reason to have a big cement truck that gets low gas mileage. I can't think of a reason to have a bigFord when only one person is in it.
About that time, I noticed a couple of guys puttin' along on their little scooters and it wasn't long before my mind wandered to a possible time in the rosy fluffy future when we all drive those cute little scooters and there is nowhere near as much noise or pollution and wouldn't that be just adorable? And we could all have a basket on our scooter for quick trips to the market or post office, but if we are going on a vacation, we could pack up our Scion xA and our Scion would get us places when our scooter wasn't quite enough.
Think of it--a family puttin' down the road in a line, each carrying his or her suitcase in his or her basket and the family dog in the dad's basket--that would be so much better than those pretty green huge gas guzzlin' suvs with the window stickies that have a dad and a mom and a bunch of kids and a dog, don't you think?
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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5 comments:
i will never give up my lexus for a vespa or scion.
The SUV makes me so mad, just on the face of it, just seeing one. Maybe somebody has a good reason for driving one, but I'll only listen to pleas for exceptions to the "SUV is a butthead" policy on a case-by-case basis.
Okay, my last post was riddled with typos. It's the end of a hard day at work.
When I see huge SUV's I think, "No wonder the rest of the world hates us." I can't think of a better symbol for American consumption than a huge SUV. Does anybody outside of the military really need a hummer???
I would love the scooters, but they don't go as fast as I habitually drive. :)
And wouldn't you think a Smart Car would be able to get more than 31mph?
Hello gilian's gardens! The Librarian has sent me this way, and I quite enjoyed the hummer article and the comments! I, personally, have been working on medi-trans-meditation and instantaneous movement from point A to point B (Bikes make me nervous since Dropped myself and my Yamaha on my wife years ago...). I was successful on only one occasion to make the leap... I landed in somebodies bathroom... I wasn't welcomed to well...
Maybe an SUV would keep ME out of trouble!
welcome skybird! let me know when you get that mind travel thing worked out because I want to use it when I don't feel like getting off of the couch to get a soda.
please, return often and comment. the comments keep me smilin' and thinkin' and sometimes sane.
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