Archives

What are yours?

We are going camping in Arkansas. It'll be about 300 miles driving each way, in the Odyssey. Only mild hypermiling techniques will be used. :rolleyes: TheLimeyBrit and family will be joining us, and another family. 3 couples, 4 kids ages 3 and under, camping. FUN!! ;)

I'll be doing... nothing special. My cousin just bought a house that needs some work so I'll probably help him out. Probably go see the new Indiana Jones and/or Speed Racer at some point. I live just off main street so I might watch the parade. I probably won't burn through even a gallon of gas though. :)

tomorrow morning i am driving a whole 35 miles to watch/photograph some friends at a horse show.

the rest of the time will be spent at home. i have fencing to put up and need to ride my fat pony a couple of times.

Throughout the weekend we will be doing many family related activities. cooking out, visiting , etc.

On Monday the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts in my family and I will be participating in the Memorial day service at the local cemetery. We have veterans from many wars including the most recent buried there.

It's always a very emotional experience for me and I am thankful for those that have served.

We were going to go to visit family at our lake house. Instead of driving 3+ hours, we decided to stay home and get some things done around the house. Save gas cross things off the honey-do list! We'll probably do some grilling and adult beverage drinking as well. :D :Banane35:

On Monday I am going to see a two Prius PHEV's. Hopefulley I will get some good pics and story to report back with.

On Sunday, we are off to Romney, West Virginia to ride the Potomac Eagle (http://www.potomaceagle.info/), and we hope to see some bald eagles. :flag: It's 140 miles from home to train. From there, we'll spend the night in Cumberland, MD and then return home. I am taking the crv.

I start a 1 week vacation in a couple of hours. It's going to be a "staycation".

I just found out that I'm going to have my Prius in our local
town's parade on Monday. There are few enough of them around
here [as opposed to just 15 miles south in Cambridge where it's
like the Invasion of the Pods] that I guess it's noteworthy.
.
Ideas for poignant messages to plaster all over it? "LESS GAS
is MORE PATRIOTIC" and the like? Is "our fallen perished for
your oil" too inflammatory?
.
Other than that, a trip down to Newport RI to wander the big
ol' mansions is in the works, and that's about it.
.
_H*

Hi All:

___A trip to the local Ace Hardware to rent a rototiller for the garden and back, return and back. DONE. A quick trip into the City at 04:30 AM and back by 08:30 tomorrow morning. Sleep, get up and go see Indiana Jones. That is about it :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Out Holiday weekend, was last weekend, so back to work on Monday for me.

I just found out that I'm going to have my Prius in our local
town's parade on Monday. There are few enough of them around
here [as opposed to just 15 miles south in Cambridge where it's
like the Invasion of the Pods] that I guess it's noteworthy.
.
Ideas for poignant messages to plaster all over it? "LESS GAS
is MORE PATRIOTIC" and the like? Is "our fallen perished for
your oil" too inflammatory?
.
Other than that, a trip down to Newport RI to wander the big
ol' mansions is in the works, and that's about it.
.
_H*

Well, I have a hard time recognizing sarcasm, so just in case... Yes, it's WAY too inflammatory for a parade IMO. I agree with the perspective that some lives have been spent for oil, and that it's terrible; but not every war is about oil, nor is any war about one thing, and most importantly I don't think a parade to honor the fallen is the time for education.

I think if you're going to post a message in a Memorial Day Parade, it should be something that brings people together. It doesn't matter what any particular soldier died for, in any particular war, or how insidious are the reasons for whichever war, or how any of it relates to "oil", they all died for us. We should all be able to stand next to each other on Monday and remember something about the price paid for us.

It was largely sarcastic, especially given the old codgers who
are organizing the thing... but I don't think "less fuel is more
patriotic" is an inappropriate message, and that one *does*
sort of give a lets-pull-together feel. That's the general
angle I'd like to go for, along with the usual "prius tech
answers" and "mpg hints" if anyone's curious and wants to come
ask me after it's over. Still looking for suggestions.
.
These "messages" are simply going to be bigprinted on 8.5x11 and
taped to the side of the car, nothing fancy, along with all the
other stuff already adhered to it. Probably already too visually
busy to catch all of as I motor quietly by, but what the heck..
.
_H*

I was referring to the other msg. Like I said, I've got a bad sarcasm meter.

I drove the 600 miles to Philly last Thursday (left early to beat the traffic), my mother lives here, spending a couple weeks up here.

I got passed by the same Hummer H2 four times in six hundred miles. I guess he got gas that many times?! :eek:

Well as usual I worked the weekend and am just starting my my time off. But since I have Monday off as a holiday and normally am off on Tuesday/Wednesday it all works out as still having a 3 day weekend. Trying to get a few things done around the house. including installing a solar panel in the HCH. Other than that, being that I just got back from Florida the week before last and am planning on going to HF2008, I am keeping my driving to a minimum for the holiday.

My younger son was graduated from high school and turned 18 this weekend. Not wanting the kids to go out drinking and driving, we sponsored a good party for them with a couple of other families. We had it at a house with a pool and pool table, rented one of those inflatable space bounce rooms, so the boys would have a safe place to wrestle and had beer in the backyard for old guys like me. Well a couple of hours into the party the idiot police came and rousted our party and made all the kids come out for breathalyzer tests. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: No arrests or anything like that (we eventually convinced them the kids hadn't been drinking without actually doing the breathalyzer), but the police are getting really bad if you can't have a beer in your backyard at your kid's birthday party without getting rousted. Tuesday I'm joining the ACLU.

Better that than not having them when you need them, So be happy. Could be allot worse! H:)

Better that than not having them when you need them, So be happy. Could be allot worse! H:)

Best not go there; often they aren't when you need them--we had a work zone fatality at an emergency response last year when the sheriff patrol pulled off of traffic control duty while we were setting up. :( I suppose there was a birthday party he had to break up--too many cops are less interested in protecting people than in showing that they are big men.

I'm still fighting the battle with my adolescent sons that the police aren't the enemy, but what can I say now?

I'm keeping it simple.

Lamb burgers, Beer, and Guitar Hero, and I'm walking to the party:Banane35:.

My younger son was graduated from high school and turned 18 this weekend. Not wanting the kids to go out drinking and driving, we sponsored a good party for them with a couple of other families. We had it at a house with a pool and pool table, rented one of those inflatable space bounce rooms, so the boys would have a safe place to wrestle and had beer in the backyard for old guys like me. Well a couple of hours into the party the idiot police came and rousted our party and made all the kids come out for breathalyzer tests. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: No arrests or anything like that (we eventually convinced them the kids hadn't been drinking without actually doing the breathalyzer), but the police are getting really bad if you can't have a beer in your backyard at your kid's birthday party without getting rousted. Tuesday I'm joining the ACLU.

Consider yourself very very lucky, parents go to jail for supplying alcohol to minors in some places.

Times sure have changed, we got to drink at 12 or even younger at family events with very few issues, but that was Wisconsin in the 60s-70s.

Consider yourself very very lucky, parents go to jail for supplying alcohol to minors in some places.

Times sure have changed, we got to drink at 12 or even younger at family events with very few issues, but that was Wisconsin in the 60s-70s.

Thing is, no booze was supplied to minors (one of the points of the party; in fact, it made a handy source of designated drivers)--just us old farts were drinking--the cop was clear about throwing us in jail if he found a minor drinking. Not that I have issues with controlled minor drinking at family events, but we had plenty of guests. Only illegal thing we did (that I know of) was the blank cannon shot around dusk that made one of the moms spill her beer on me.:)

I'm still fighting the battle with my adolescent sons that the police aren't the enemy, but what can I say now?

I do think they are the enemy. At least in Northern Kentucky. There is virtually no crime so all they do is hit the White Castle late at night and then compare testosterone levels. I am absolutely convinced they have quotas to make, and that's around the 1st and 20th of each month. I have nothing but utter contempt for the prohibition laws and ignore them at every opportunity.

If I am technically of full legal capacity (I could be tried as an adult for crime at a much, much younger age, in fact!), I can vote, and I can join the service, I'm getting a beer if I want, end of discussion.

[/rant]

Thing is, no booze was supplied to minors (one of the points of the party; in fact, it made a handy source of designated drivers)--just us old farts were drinking--the cop was clear about throwing us in jail if he found a minor drinking. Not that I have issues with controlled minor drinking at family events, but we had plenty of guests. Only illegal thing we did (that I know of) was the blank cannon shot around dusk that made one of the moms spill her beer on me.:)

They normally don't drive around looking for parties to roust. Hate to say it but more than likely one of your neighbors called the police saying that some drunk teenagers were shooting off a cannon.

They normally don't drive around looking for parties to roust. Hate to say it but more than likely one of your neighbors called the police saying that some drunk teenagers were shooting off a cannon.

The cannon was shot about four hours later. The cop said that somebody had called saying a minor had come home after being served, but that couldn't have been true since all the minors were still there. There's a church fellowship hall across the the street a couple of lots down where some snobby folks from my son's class were having what appeared to be a duller party at the same time. We thought maybe it was them calling or more likely the cop riding around looking for trouble and figuring he found it once he saw a bunch of teenagers at a party. The cop didn't hassle the families at the church. Profiling of a sort, I guess.

It's a helluva commentary when you can't have a party with teenagers unless you seek the sanctuary of a church.

Your 18 year old son, a man now, is old enough to die for our country, but not old enough to drink? Stupid.

So sad a young man can't celebrate graduation by having a beer with his parents.

They obviously lied about their report. Good luck convincing your son that such liars are not the enemy.

I'm in such a bad mood. The wife and I went to the town parade today, which was nice. But afterwards... Some vets gather around the War Memorial, to say a prayer and honor the fallen. And don't you think people in the audience could shut the f*&k up for 10 minutes? No, everyone's too busy talking about their coffee, or their bicycle, or whining at their kids... Why even go there and stand around, if you're not paying attention? And even if you don't give a sh*t about those who died so that you can lead your careless life, why ruin it for everyone else? I couldn't hear anything. We had to just leave. Makes me want to puke.

Well, to try and pull things up again a little bit ... my mem
day was awesome! Here's how I dolled up the car for the parade
[select the pic for a larger copy to read the signs]:
.
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/pix/memd08/priprep_s.jpg (http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/pix/memd08/priprepar.jpg)
.
I managed to come up with a small batch of simple inoffensive
and not-too-smug messages, keeping it to a minimum since it
would have to be read on the fly. Some are the attractors
I usually stick to the car at the energyfests anyways. The
"right foot" strip was an inspiration as I woke up around 6am
this morning, and took a while to print and tape together
but I think it totally worked. It's still on the car as
of this evening, and I might just drive around with it for
a couple of days until it starts to shred itself.
.
They weren't staging up the parade cars in any particular order
so I just lined up behind some ol' coupe and soon this vintage
truck pulled in behind me and several more cars filled in
behind us along the side of the road. I had no idea there
were that many of them around here; they must only come out
for special occasions.
.
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/pix/memd08/parback_s.jpg

After checking in with the coordinator I ran around frantically
finalizing my decor and handing flyers to a couple of vintage
owners who were definitely bemused by this techie pod dropping
into their midst. Soon the parade actually got moving. I was
basically sandwiched in between a bunch of muscle cars, and
it was a continual rumble of lumpy cams and glasspacks both
fore and aft. [And they did *not* shut down to descend a small
hill...] This allowed me to make the "those guys can make
all the noise for me!" comments as I waved to people while
drifting silently along. And they seemed to love it! I kept
hearing a ton of comments, "yay prius!" "go green!" "that's
the best car!" "is there a raffle for that one?" which was
just incredible to hear around me.
.
But what really got 'em going was this piece of my signage,
another early-morning inspiration:
.
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/pix/memd08/65mixed.jpg
.
which I frequently heard back toward me as a half-question,
like "look at that, *65* miles per gallon??" to which I would
occasionally reply "yep, that's real life!" ... because that's
what was honestly sitting on my display with about 450 miles on
the tank. A few of us went down to Newport to tour some of the
big ol' mansions [ahem, "summer cottages"] yesterday, and I drove,
and without even workin' it that hard that's what I came back
with. 260 butt-miles per gallon for that run with 4 people.
Newport was awesome, and yesterday had been a totally perfect day
for it. Now we were having another perfect day for this, and I
was definitely opening a few eyes as I slid quietly past.
.
After the parade they had the usual speeching, which was a minor
struggle for me to keep overlooking the continual invocation
of imaginary friends, but whatever...
.
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/pix/memd08/kiosk_s.jpg
.
and the expected pseudomilitaristic pyrotechnics from the
Olde Redding Battery folks.
.
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/pix/memd08/minit_s.jpg
.
Then a bunch of people from my neighborhood had a cookout in
the local park, and I got a little bit of bike ridin' in before
the day was over. All in all, a good time. Only downside was
that the participants scattered fairly soon after the parade
was over, so I didn't really have a chance to run around and
get more pictures.
.
_H*

Just a quick report. The camping was great. The forecast had chances of rain, and that didn't happen. :)

I, my wife, and child, along with TheLimeyBrit, his wife, and child, all packed into the Odyssey. We juuuuust fit! Full AC running, heavy load with camping gear and food.

26.9 mpg / 119 miles - me driving
29.7 / 86.2 mi - me
26.1 / 105 mi - me (it was 28.5 until the base of Mt Nebo. 4 miles of 10mph switchbacks and 18% grade KILLED the mileage. :eek:)
27.7 / 88.4 mi - me on the way home (not much recovery from the uphill grind, switchbacks removed any chance of that!)
29.3 / 100 mi - TLB driving
29.2 / 71.7 mi - TLB, put in 3.5 gallons to make it home, at $4.19 a gallon! In the middle of nowhere, they can charge whatever they want...
26.6 / 69.5 - TLB

Overall: 27.8 mpg / 640 miles.

The Oddysey is rated 18/25 on the old epa tests. Techniques used - DWL, P&G mild enough that nobody noticed, keeping the speed low, and a little bit of distant drafting.

I gave a little mini-presentation to a friend who joined us there. He tried some stuff on the way home - 400 miles or so - and got 28.x in his Crown Victoria. :woot:

We did yard work all weekend. Saturday I cleaned up all the leaves that I didn't get to during the fall/winter. Sunday I mowed and some other minor yard work related things. Monday we mulched our front flower beds. We ran out of mulch, so we'll be finishing up next weekend. Unfortunately, we were so tired from doing yard work that we didn't have the energy to grill. I guess we'll have our grill meats sometime this week.

We stained our deck on Saturday, then loaded up the Volvo and drove 60+ miles North to visit the in-laws and help them open up thier pool. We went to the drive-in movies on Sunday night(saw Indiana Jones)...it was my kids 1st time @ a drive-in. We drove back home on Monday afternoon...stopped along the way and filled up @ $3.80/gal. It was a busy weekend but we made the most of it.

Just a quick report. The camping was great. The forecast had chances of rain, and that didn't happen. :)

I, my wife, and child, along with TheLimeyBrit, his wife, and child, all packed into the Odyssey. We juuuuust fit! Full AC running, heavy load with camping gear and food.

26.9 mpg / 119 miles - me driving
29.7 / 86.2 mi - me
26.1 / 105 mi - me (it was 28.5 until the base of Mt Nebo. 4 miles of 10mph switchbacks and 18% grade KILLED the mileage. :eek:)
27.7 / 88.4 mi - me on the way home (not much recovery from the uphill grind, switchbacks removed any chance of that!)
29.3 / 100 mi - TLB driving
29.2 / 71.7 mi - TLB, put in 3.5 gallons to make it home, at $4.19 a gallon! In the middle of nowhere, they can charge whatever they want...
26.6 / 69.5 - TLB

Overall: 27.8 mpg / 640 miles.

The Oddysey is rated 18/25 on the old epa tests. Techniques used - DWL, P&G mild enough that nobody noticed, keeping the speed low, and a little bit of distant drafting.

I gave a little mini-presentation to a friend who joined us there. He tried some stuff on the way home - 400 miles or so - and got 28.x in his Crown Victoria. :woot:

Strong work in driving and teaching.