Archive → May, 2010
Roughing it
When we went to Green Mountain to look for dispersed camping locations, some of the roads were pretty bad, and I wondered if we could get the RV up there. After seeing this video, I have no fear:
RIP, people-mover
Ah, September of 2003. We had just purchased a new ‘03 Odyssey. We were so excited:
In early March, our van met its end on route 21 in Passaic:
The van was a total loss, so we had to find a new vehicle. The van was great, but its 3500-pound towing limit was strained by our RV and luggage. Since we tend to camp at state parks and other areas that have unimproved roads, We decided to replace the van with a used 2007 4-wheel drive vehicle with more ground clearance.
In the end, we looked at the Nissan Pathfinder, the Toyota 4Runner, and the Kia Sorrento. All three are truck based SUVs with a 5,000 pound towing rating. We eliminated the Pathfinder because it requires premium gasoline, leaving the 4Runner and the Sorento. The Sorento was $6000 less than the 4Runner, and Kia’s warranty gives us coverage through Summer of 2013, so that’s what we purchased:
I’ve been spending a good bit of time outfitting the Sorento with the same towing gear that I installed in the Odyssey back in the day. The Sorento’s 3.8 Liter V6 seems to shrug off the Trailmanor in a way that the Odyssey couldn’t.
What is “camping”?
From the Thataway Blog:
When you get right down to it camping has nothing to do with where you sleep and change your clothes. It doesn’t matter if you get your milk out of a fridge or an ice chest or whether you cook over a campfire, a Coleman stove or in a microwave/convection oven in your Mini Winnie. Camping is just being away from home free to do what you like because you left your guilt bag behind. It’s the people you’re with, the deeply gratifying thoughtful and funny conversations with family and good friends you never seem to have enough time for. It’s eyes that sparkle just because you’re all together and the stress is gone.
Camping is unleashing your spirit and letting it run joyously free like a dog chasing gulls on a beach.
And when you go home, as you must, your heart is happy knowing you’ll do it again.
Oh wait, you want the actual price?
Looking at vehicle prices online. I see a few I like, and when I click on the any of their listings, I see down in the fine print "PRICES BASED ON $1995 CASH/TRADE DOWN PAYAMENT".
So basically, they list price "X" on autotrader.com or kbb.com, but the actual asking price is X + $2000.
If you’re trying to pull a fast one on pricing, why would I trust you enough to actually buy a car from you?
Flawed EPA mileage reporting
We are looking at buying a mid-sized SUV, so I started doing a bit of research. I found two models, both with similar EPA gas mileage numbers. I then found out that one of them, the Nissan Pathfinder, requires premium gasoline. All the car sites just give the EPA numbers, and don’t say what grade of gas was used for the test, so I went to the EPA’s own website. Sure enough, the Pathfinder was tested with Premium gas. Being that Premium gas is on average 11% more expensive than standard unleaded, the Pathfinder’s 16MPG becomes 14.4MPG when accounting for the higher cost of the fuel! I suspect very few people realize that this is an issue.
The crimson Tide(tm)
We unwittingly switched laundry detergents after Passover to Tide X2 Clean Breeze detergent. The first day I wore clothes washed in it, I developed a skin rash so severe that a steroid shot only held it at bay for 12 hours or so. The itching was so bad, it was just awful. Once we rewashed all of my clothes, I was fine. I always knew I was a sensitive guy.
Hello WordPress!
Blogger stopped supporting blogs published to non-blogger sites (like wymore.net) on 5/1/10, so I moved the blogs to WordPress. It’s amazing how much more powerfull and flexible WordPress is compared to Blogger. The “Wymore Family Blogs” page that shows the latest post on each of our blogs is actually a fifth WordPress blog, with an RSS feed widget in the left bar. I set the left bar to be the width of the screen, so that’s all that is shown. So much easier than the old way!