About those fuel prices…

[dogofwar]

Ours are now $1.25 per item. Remember that parts of China have been locked down - really locked down - for months because of COVID-19. Which means that China is not producing the stuff that fills the shelves of Dollar Stores. And that to get that stuff here, ships are burning more expensive fuel (because higher fuel prices are GLOBAL).

Transport companies, like the ones run by the family of the Senate Majority Leader, Secretaries of Transportations and Commerce, are making the best of the situation (and making up for lost revenue) by gouging.

I've heard that all the dollar stores around here have gone up and they are now three dollar stores!

 

[krichardson]

I guess I won't be selling the old mountain bike afterall.The extra cardio workout will do me some good.

 

[pacu mom]

I got my first car at the age of 18 which was my dream car. 2020 Mustang premium GT. This was April 29 of this year. Turned 19 may 3rd, so it’s about to be 2 months of owning it and this v8 likes to eat up gas like a freaking pig!. I pay like around 65 every 3 days or so. But you know the saying, you gotta pay to play!

Your story got me thinking back...way back. My first car was an old VW fastback. Had to always drive in the right lane going up hill, as all the other vehicles passed me. When I was in a position to upgrade cars, I got a beautiful Mercury Cougar. No more right lane driving for me. I was at the car wash watching my car to go through when an old lady approached me and commented that it was a beautiful car. She asked me, "what kind of mileage does it get?" My flippant reply was, "I didn't buy it for the gas mileage"

I'm now on my third Toyota hybrid car. YIKES!!! I've become that old lady Although, truthfully my Avalon hybrid has all the bells and whistles, is smarter than my smart phone and can pass all the cars I want to pass with ease and can never be confused with a Prius. I might be old, but I don't ask people what kind of mileage they get, so I'm not exactly like the old lady I met.

 

[pacu mom]

Costco Anyway Visa card - 4% cash back on the first $7000 eligible gas purchases. After that 1% You can bet I'll be using this card when we fill up the gas hog truck and boat this summer...at least for the first $7000 in gas........ Speaking of rewards cards, Chase always had a quarter with 5% cash back on gas. I just checked. Starting July 1, 5% cash back for the first $1500 in gas...that won't go far with my gas hog V8s

 

[Stanv03]

Your story got me thinking back...way back. My first car was an old VW fastback. Had to always drive in the right lane going up hill, as all the other vehicles passed me. When I was in a position to upgrade cars, I got a beautiful Mercury Cougar. No more right lane driving for me. I was at the car wash watching my car to go through when an old lady approached me and commented that it was a beautiful car. She asked me, "what kind of mileage does it get?" My flippant reply was, "I didn't buy it for the gas mileage"

I'm now on my third Toyota hybrid car. YIKES!!! I've become that old lady Although, truthfully my Avalon hybrid has all the bells and whistles, is smarter than my smart phone and can pass all the cars I want to pass with ease and can never be confused with a Prius. I might be old, but I don't ask people what kind of mileage they get, so I'm not exactly like the old lady I met.

How are hybrids? I’ve always considered getting one in the future !

 

[pacu mom]

How are hybrids? I’ve always considered getting one in the future !

I love my current car - best car I've ever had. The thing is, though, I don't drive it like a Prius. I'm sure all of us have been behind a slow Prius driver. They are driving along watching the gauge "Oh look, I'm getting 75 mpg" "Let's see if I can drive to town and keep the mpg above 60 the whole way." That novelty wore off the first week I had my first hybrid car. I live in redneck country where every fourth vehicle is a truck with a chainsaw and/or gun (kidding), and road rage is real. I'm certainly not going to drive slow to see what kind of mileage I can get...it could be hazardous. When I come across a slow driver admiring the tall redwood trees instead of driving the speed limit, I turn on my hazard lights. They usually eventually pull off the road. I have a car that gets good mileage, and that is enough for me. When I'm on the on ramp to the freeway, and a car gets into the fast lane because they think I'm going to slow them down, I put my car in sport mode and get on the freeway at 70 or 75 mph, um, no one has passed me yet. I have to be careful though. They built a huge new CHP complex in our little town, and apparently it's a CHP training facility. Don't know if the trainees are in our area learning to give out tickets, but in case they are, I try to stay no more than 10 over the speed limit. I guess maybe I'm aspiring to be the little old lady from Pasadena.

 

[Ulu]

To be clear, apart from the dig at LGBTQ people, I'm not sure what you're saying. I think we agree that the status quo is untenable.

Want different direction? Choose - and support - folks who won't put the former CEO of Exxon (who received Russia's highest civilian medal from Putin for investing in Russian oil drilling and infrastructure) and the man formerly known as "The Congressman from Koch Industries" in charge of our foreign policy.

Complaining that gas is $5 per gallon seems to be pushing us right back into the arms of the people who profit most when gas is $5 per gallon

I never said anything about queer people.

I didn’t read the rest of your drivel after that.

 

[Ulu]

I love my current car - best car I've ever had. The thing is, though, I don't drive it like a Prius. . . .

I keep buying regular gasoline powered Toyotas because when I went to the Toyota dealer to look at hybrid cars (2008?) I asked, “How much does it cost if I have to change the battery. “

Nobody knew.

“How long before the battery gets weak?”

Nobody knew.

They could tell you how much it costs for a new gasoline motor. If the battery wears out, who knows? It could cost anything.

And what is the one thing that happens to every battery powered device? The battery wears out.

In fact it all turned out to be so expensive that there’s a gray market in battery remanufacturing where they pull the bad cells out of a pack and replace with new ones. It’s still not an inexpensive procedure. It costs a fortune just to get the battery(s) in and out of the car.

In the end I decided I could drive a three cylinder motor and haul around a bunch of batteries and an electric motor too, or I could just drive a four cylinder motor which seemed less complicated.

We keep a Camry and a Tacoma but the Tacoma is a six cylinder. I was gonna buy my wife the Avalon and she didn’t want it because she is short & it was more difficult to see out of than her Camry. So she got another Camry. Saved me over $10k and her dogs aren’t chewing on leather upholstery.

The truth is, in the length of time that we have had lithium battery cars, I have expected us to have developed fuel cell cars. It turns out that one of the best ones that they could make actually works on gasoline and somehow nobody could go for funding that.

They are developing ones that work off of other fuels and I think we’re going to see electric cars that you don’t have to charge from an outlet or a generator, but by adding some fuel.

If that sounds like a way to generate more pollution, generally fuel cells only emit water vapor and heat.

Traditionally.

I don’t know about these new ones that they’ve been developing & the technology is guarded.

 

[LBDave]

Drivel. Now that’s funny.

 

[dogofwar]

I'll remind you of what you said: "Here’s the thing that amazes me. Everybody’s focused on them selves and their problems and their orientations in their pronouns and nobody gives a fook about the wars.

They are all worried about showing off for some fancy pride month and nobody’s protesting the killing."

I never said anything about queer people.

I didn’t read the rest of your drivel after that.