Hallelujah! Our problems are solved. Obama Motors The taxpayers are guaranteeing warranty coverage for new GM and Chrysler vehicles. After the government really messes this up, are you really sure you trust them with health care? I don’t.
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Markets are down today on fears of lower corporate earnings. <Sarcasm class=”thick”>Clearly the Fed needs to intervene. The goal should be to inject billions into every public company. We need real capital infusions, even outright ownership and control. Only that will end losses, and leave us with the profit-only system once called socialism. Just look how profitable all socialists countries have been, and without these horrible cyclical changes!</sarcasm>
h/t: Jeffrey Tucker, the Ludwig von Mises Institute
I’m not sure I’m 100% on-board with everything published on that blog, but many of the ideas appeal to me at a very deep level. More on such things later, mixed with the usual geekage and NASCAR wrap-ups.
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2214 miles on the Search for America, at 9 mph over the posted speed limit. Increasing the LTD fuel economy of our POS Mercury from 18.0 to 23.3. Drivers moving out of the fast lane when they saw you’re faster. And me returning the favor for others.
8 miles to Dulles Airport to return the rental. Being passed on the shoulder and on the gore point of the off-ramp within a mile of the house. Dealing with a Dodge Magnum coming left from the gore point who clearly didn’t understand my right turn signal to get on the off-ramp to the airport. Being cut off on a right-hand merge back onto the Dulles Toll Road fast lane on the return trip.
Damn, I thought we were lost for the last week, with the courtesy and generally nice folks we encountered.
We clearly came back to the place from whence we left. Glad we’re safe and all, but these living arrangements gotta change.
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Tonight finds SWMBO and I west of Nashville, on our way to Hot Springs AR. Normally, we would be in Hot Springs by mid-afternoon tomorrow, but we’re staying in Little Rock tomorrow night. Elder Daughter is taking the red-eye from California, and arrives on Friday morning. So, we’ll stay close to the airport there, and meet her flight on Friday. It’ll be nice to see her again, even though the purpose of the whole trip is a little bittersweet. SWMBO’s mom is beginning to fail noticeably, at least mentally, so this could be the last time they’re all together in some semblance of the way things have always been. I plan to consume my brother-in-law’s beer, watch his TV, and generally hang out.
There are no Buick fuel economy numbers to report; Avis was out of Buicks, so we were stuck with a Mercury Grand Marquis, a supposed equivalent. I made so many snarky comments about the Merc on the drive over that I feel like I’ve blogged them already. I will recognize the efforts of Drew, the Avis agent on duty at Dulles airport this morning. He turned over every Avis inventory for 30 miles in search of Buicks, to no avail. I appreciate his efforts; he did proffer a Lincoln Town car. I told him I’m a GM guy, and asked if they had any Cadillacs. Nope. If I’m going to go funereal when it comes to driving, make mine Cadillac.
The Merc accomplished one thing worthy of note; it maintained my no-fly streak. And that’s worth something, I guess.
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Fly. I’m not scared of crashes, terrorists, or anything like that.
I’m not even scared of the TSA strip searches, arbitrary whims, and telling me how much hair gel I can bring onto a plane. I just refuse to participate in the whole cluster eff.
Plus, I’ve grown fond of SWMBO and I going on Buick Economy Runs, whilst Searching for America.
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Technorati Tags: TSA
I’ve always reported vital statistics about my rental cars here on this old blog, but I’ve never before had an image of any car. Well, with this last trip, things have changed; we rented a Buick Lucerne CXS, which turns out to be the top-of-the-line Lucerne.
The life-to-date fuel economy increased from 21.7 MPG to 23.3; a noticeable, though not earth-shattering increase. As it turns out, this ol’ Buick had a 4.6L NorthStar V8. I noticed it had plenty of punch motor-wise, but compared to a Saturn, a lot of cars do.
There was also an electronic doo-dad that tracked LTD Average speed; with road driving, that went from 45.3 MPH to 55.3 MPH.
And talk creature comforts; I’d previously decided that heated leather seats perfectly symbolized America’s decline into excesses reminiscent of the Roman Empire. This car had them, SWMBO used them; she has a bad back, and finds it tedious at best and uncomfortable at worst to sit for any extended period. The butt-and-back warmers helped her to endure being confined in the passenger seat. It even had a heated steering wheel; I tried that out, just to say I had.
Having never experienced a dual-zone front air conditioning system, I’d have to label that a winner. SWMBO likes it significantly cooler than I; the dual-zone made it possible for us to maintain our preferred degree of warmth.
Then, there were the side rear-view mirrors, which automatically tilted down when the car was put into reverse, as well as the totally glare-free inside rear view, which made rolling across chunks of Tennessee at night tolerable.
There are doubtless features we totally missed, not knowing which buttons to push and all.
Why don’t I buy one? At a base MSRP of $35,440, it’s simply above my vehicular purchase threshold. I’ve lived in cheaper houses than that; don’t laugh, I come from humble roots, and am proud of that. However, when our travel plans call for long distances via car, I’m renting another one just like this one.
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The picture was lifted via screen-capture from the Buick website. If any humorless GM/Buick tightasses object; then:
The Search for America Tour, Buick Economy Rally, and Cracker Barrel evaluation finds us east of Knoxville TN, after nearly 600 miles today. We’re just over under 500 miles from home; an early start tomorrow, and we should be home before dark, get the rental turned in, and collapse into our own bed. Fortunately, we both have Tuesday off.
I’ve got lots of good things to say about the Buick Lucerne, but I’ll save that for later. Right now, a cold one, and lights out.
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Arrived safely back home a couple of hours ago. SWMBO and the cat were happy to see me; the feeling was mutual. The big ol’ Buick rental has been delivered back to Avis, and all’s right with the world.
The Buick economy numbers went from 24.9 life-to-date MPG on my arrival in Raleigh, to 24.5 while I was there, because of the start/stop short jaunts. I managed to get it back to 24.9 on the return trip. Those City/Highway MPG numbers are really true.
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Arrived in Raleigh safe and sound. A couple of cold beers, a plate of good BBQ, and I’m about ready to call it a night. The mighty rental Buick ran well, and I managed to boost its life-to-date mileage from 24.5 to 24.9, in one 320 mile trip.
Looking forward to a good week at Red Hat, and the homecoming Buick economy run later this week.
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