Monday, September 14, 2009

A Foreign Car ?

We had been sort of half-heartedly looking for another car. We sold one of our cars about the same I bought the scooter last year. Having one car and one scooter has worked pretty well for us except in a few situations. Usually those situations occurred when the weather was bad, and my wife and I needed to be different places at the same time. Another problem happens when one or the other of us might need to be out of town. There were many times when we thought that it would be nice to have another 4 wheeled vehicle, but I steadfastly maintained my determination that I could prove to the world that I could exist and live by riding a scooter. Sometimes we would look at the newspaper in the morning to look at the advertisements for cars. Saturdays are a good day for this because most of the dealers in town take out good sized ads on the weekends. We did not need anything fancy as we didn't think the car would be used very heavily. Well, suffice it to say, there was a car advertised on Saturday that we became interested in. Yeah, it's another Subaru! Some people say we are in the minority because we like standard transmission cars, even though I drive a scooter with an automatic transmission. It is really hard for us to find standard transmission cars. Well we found one! The price was okay, maybe a little more than what we wanted to spend, but we got them to knock $500 off the price. The only problem? The car was originally sold in Canada! Bobskoot, Baron, other Canadian readers, please help us out here. The car speaks Centigradian and Kilometerian. Eh? We wondered If the GPS device we have could be adjusted to speak in Canadianese rather than the sexy female British voice we have been using up to now. How the heck are we to survive if all the mileage figures are grossly overinflated and the temperature readings are grossly understated (as long as the temp is above the freezing point of water) and overstated (If the temp is below freezing). The conspiracy theorist in me is suspicious that this is some sort of sinister government plot to make America conform to the rest of the world! I will only conform If I am allowed to kick and scream first! Thinking about sticking a conversion table to the front of the steering wheel or someplace noticeable. There is even an owner's manual in French. It seems that the car was traded in by someone that moved here from Montreal. He was employed by Bombardier, a company that owns a Learjet factory here in Wichita. We now are an Outback family with an '02 outback Sport (Impreza chassis) and an '01 Outback Wagon (Legacy chassis). If we ever get to Australia in our lifetime, we will be ready. But it will be a perfect second car for us. It has a lot of kilometers (miles?) on it but is in nice shape. We really anticipate that our cars in total may only get driven about 10,000 miles (? Kilometers) a year in total because I commute to work on the scooter. The scooter got about 4,200 miles in its first year and may get a little more than that in the second year. Unless of course I decide to make some extra longer distance trips. I have thought about many such trips. Maybe a Pirsig type pilgrimage from Minneapolis to San Francisco. I am thinking that Harv might want to join me on at least the initial portion of the trip. Better yet, maybe I can talk Jack Riepe into joining me on a ride from Dodge City (KS) to Deadwood (SD). I am hoping that Charlie6 and Torch might be able to ride along. A celebration of cowboys, feedlots and wide open spaces. What a pisser that ride could be. Or maybe a trip to Chicago to join Sharon and Baron on a drive along LSD and around Lake Michigan (can you do that?). Or meet up with Joe, Paul and Steve in Pennsylvania and ride through some sticks in the valleys of PA. We might allow Jack Riepe to come along, but only If he rides pillion with me and brings his laptop so he can chronicle the trip for us as we ride. Note to self: check the weight limit on the scooter first. Or join Lance, Dan, Bobskoot, Stacy and Orin in the great northwest for a ride along the Cascades or the Pacific coast. Maybe part of that Pirsig trek. Then another fun trip would be for everybody to make their way into Key West, with loud pipes rumbling, terrorize the city and make our favorite dispatcher call out the troops on us! We would all plead insanity (the Triumph defense) and plead for the leniency of the court. And wouldn't it be thrilling for all of us to ride through Turkey and parts of the Middle East and have our pictures taken in a sneaky manner by the famous Mad Dog himself. At any rate, now there is a 4 wheeled back up for my wife and I. It may sit a lot in the garage, because I still plan to ride the scooter year round as much as I can.
I just bought a license plate accessory from Aerostich for the scooter.
Maybe now there isn't actually one less car, but I guarantee you that the scooter will be on the road more than the car.
Two wheeled transportation is better, but a 4 wheeled backup can be important too.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

11 comments:

  1. YES! First to comment! Congrats to you and mom! Its a nice car. I am hurt that you are considering all these long distance trips and you won't consider helping pace a few runners across the country?

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  2. cpa3485:

    Jim, We also have a Subaru WRX sport wagon. While I ride most of the time, I also have a backup vehicle which is usually parked. (Honda Civic EX coupe) Last winter we had the worst snow accumulations in 100 years. We couldn't even get the WRX out of our driveway as the ice and snow was too high for the undercarriage. The cheapest way to get MPH would be to get a Garmin GPS and put it in speedo mode. (Note to Jack "r": Not that kind of speedo)
    Tonight's essay was nicely done. I was thinking along these lines too. It's really too bad that we all live so far away. Good and bad at the same time. I was thinking more along the lines of safe houses across the country where we could ride and leave our scooter fly home, and continue the journey at another time.
    In case you wanted to start making plans, rumour has it that Mr Jack "r" and Sharon are going to be in Redmond Oregon in Mid July 2010. I was going to twist Lance's arm as I pass North Bend. We could probably head over to Albany and Corvalis on our way home

    I also think that changing to metric was a conspiracy to make us think our cars were wearing out by indicating much higher mileage numbers by using kilometers. You could get a lower mileage car by changing the speedo head.

    bob
    bobskoot: wet coast scootin

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  3. There are too many Candians already in Key West in the winter thanks for offering. They show up when the first snow blankets Montreal and Crosse and Blackwell tinned christmas pudding shows up on the shelves at Publix. Their tags tell us they remember themselves ("je me souviens") which is important apparently because Quebec tags used to say "la belle province" which probably sounded a bit tarty to them; they are a serious people.
    We in Key West prefer to measure temperature from 32 (freezing) to 212 (boiling) rather than some communist conspiracy of going from 0 to 100. Kilometers are a French conspiracy too, measuring the distance round the world from Paris to Paris and back again. Miles are based on the distance around riepe's ass and therefore much more sensible. Just drive the car and walk around muttering "je me souviens" and you will be fine. Or not.

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  4. Darham,
    Oh firstborn of my loins. You must remember that I am getting old! Remember that CT scan they took of me at the hospital? They found no concussion, but found that my grey matter has, or is, turning to oatmeal. Sorry for the oversight, but I can blame all sorts of memory lapses like this to my rapidly depreciating brain cells.
    Now , what were we discussing?
    Thanks for stopping by,
    Bad Dad

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  5. Bobskoot,
    July 2010 could be a lot of fun. You at least have met a couple of bloggers, but I have not yet, face to face. What if we met and couldn't stand each other? Or what if Jack "r" smells funny? What then?
    Thanks for stopping by,
    Jim

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  6. Conch,
    Really didn't need that vision of Riepe's ass as a measurement technique used by surveyors. LOL And you almost sound racist against Canadians. Have you had a bad experience somewhere, or is it natural for people of Italian descent to harbor ill feelings towards Canadians?
    Thanks for stopping by,
    Jim

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  7. I would love to ride with an escort of intrepid scoots.

    Come on over for a visit and I'll buy you a beverage and show you the good roads.

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  8. Dear CPA3485 (Jimbo):

    Good luck with a great car!

    My hot squeeze (Stiffie) has Subaru Forester with a turbo engine. The machine is a mechancial wonder and ran the ass off the Audi A4 convertible she had. However, I was not impressed with the Forester's performance on snow. The high RPM engine gets worked up too easily for the conditions. My old Suburban is better on snow and a lot more comfortable. It is also 280 feet long.

    I am always delighted when I find myself the subject of scientific discussion with folks from Key West, Canada, and other extensions of Oz. Not only is my ass wide, but it is very clean, and suitable for kissing. As per your question, "What if Riepe smells funny?" I cam tell you I smell of expensive cigars, cheap rum, and $200/hour whores... Kind of like Vegas.

    I'm certain Bobskoot and I will ride in Key West togeher. Skoot is going to rent a bike... Probably a honking huge Harley in Canadian pink. I'm sure you could meet us there and rent a scooter. The ride is going to be called, "So Where Is The Nude Beach?"

    I can't think of a better group for a ride: You, Bobskoot, Allen Madding, myself, and a tour guide.

    That would be some ride.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad

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  9. Stacy,
    If ever the opportunity occurs, I would love to meet you and ride with you. I bet there are some really nice roads in your neck of the woods. Have only been out tyhere one time in my life, but thought it was absolutely beautiful.
    Thanks for stopping by, and take care,
    Jim

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  10. Toad,
    That Forester with the Turbo is a really nice vehicle. Saw one recently around here that had been lowered a bit and customized. It was really sweet. But as for snow, 'Burbs' can be fine. There are tons of Subarus in Colorado where it snows a lot of course. Just ask Charlie6.
    That ride to Key West would be really fun, even if you might smell a litle funny.
    I don't mean to pick on you, it's just too easy, and I know you can take it.
    Thanks for stopping by,
    JimboBob

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  11. cpa3485:

    Jack wasn't kidding. think about it.

    also consider going to Redmond, OR next July 2010. Tentative plan is to ride and eat for a few days, then ride over to Albany and knock on Irondad's door.

    bob
    bobskoot: wet coast scootin

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