There are a number of things that I’ve been thinking about sharing with you but that slip my mind when I sit down to write. I should like to rectify that with this post.
I am driving a technological wonder. It’s a 2017 Volvo XC90, so one shouldn’t be surprised that it has bells and whistles. But man, what bells and whistles it has. First of all, adaptive cruise control is the bomb diggity for trips like this. Dial in a good speed and a good following distance, get in the right lane, and then relax. Dial the speed in five mph above the limit and Johnny Law’s gonna pay you no never mind. The only times on this trip where I’ve even been a little worried about tickets have been when I’ve been off the interstate, and one of those little 35mph towns comes into view. I’ve been good, but they make me take notice.
Economy mode is another wonder—I gotta believe it adds 10-15% more miles to each tank of gas, although I don’t know that because I’ve maintained a strict practice of fueling every time I stop and any time I go below a half tank.
If I’ve driven too long without stopping, the car tells me so. I suppose there’s some way to gag this, or to change the interval at which it comes on, but I prefer to leave it there and pretend that someone cares. There is a setting that I don’t use (much) that seems to be a precursor to driverless vehicles. If I activate it, it senses the lanes and steers automatically to keep me in the lane. You gotta keep your hands on the wheel or it will shut itself down, but you really don’t have to do much to stay on the straight and narrow.
Neither of my cars has a setting that integrates my (Android) phone. This one does, and it has made everything (maps, calls, and podcasts) much, much easier. I am not a member of the Apple cult (except for Earbuds), but the cars don’t integrate them either.
A couple of bones to pick with the authorities in Wyoming and Utah. Posted speed limits of 80 are spectacular. Set cruise at 85 and all is well. But in both states, the limit will change back to 75 in what can only be described as pseudorandom fashion. There appears NOTHING different about the road, the traffic density…nothing. But the limit changes for some odd reason.
Another bone to pick…is with tractor trailer drivers. Here’s the scenario. I’m in the right lane doing my thing. Up ahead (a mile or so) I see a tractor trailer, and then another one a modest distance ahead of it. I’m clearly gaining on both, so I get into the left lane and continue to pass. There is no one behind me in either lane for some distance. I cannot begin to tell you how many times in this scenario, the first truck — when I’m a quarter mile or less from it—puts on its signal (good) and just veers over into the passing lane to pass the truck in front of him. This of course, activates my adaptive cruise, and I slow from oh, 80 to 67 while this very slow pass happens. Eventually, both me and the truck ahead of me pass the guy in the right lane and the truck directly ahead of me heads over into the passing lane. But here’s the thing. If the dude spent a quarter second longer looking in his rearview before veering into the passing lane, he’d see that there is NO ONE BEHIND ME, and that if he just waited twelve more seconds, I’d be past both him and the other truck and he can pass without slowing me down. This scenario is driving me nuts.
Today’s Event
Before setting off this morning, I googled “museums in Salt Lake City”, hoping to do an art museum or a museum of the west or something like that. One art museum looked promising but was closed today. I swiped the offering to the left and a whole series of additional museums came up including this nifty spot, The Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. We have a Land Cruiser, a 2003 with 250,000 miles on it (the fellow at the front desk of the museum said “just getting broken in”. It was The Kitten’s car for a good long time, and then when The Kittens became old enough to drive, we got the Volvo (above) and the teen girls wrapped themselves up on the two tons of Toyota that the vehicle provided. I’m a big fan of older Land Cruisers. There’s a dude in downtown Easton (MD, where I live) who has one I’ve always admired—and it looks something like this. Well, I’ve been on this trip long enough to miss all my Kittens, so I thought it would be fitting to stop in at the museum. Glad I did. They’ve got over a hundred going back to 1953, including ones not sold in the US.
A friend of mine is a big fan of Land Rover Defenders, the older ones. I asked the gent at the Land Cruiser museum about “the competition” in the US. He mentioned Jeep, Bronco, IH Scout, —but not the Defender. I asked about it. I clearly hit a nerve, because he dismissed them out of hand. “Unreliable. Didn’t sell well here. Did you know 80 of all Land Rover Defenders purchased are still on the road? The other 20% made it home.” Now that’s brand loyalty.
Day 8 Agenda
Today is the longest driving day of the trip, Salt Lake City to Lake Tahoe, 552 miles/8 hours. The good news is that once I get there, I’m there for two nights and then just a short trip over to Sacramento to transfer the vehicle. As I write this on Saturday evening, my plan is for a 0500 wakeup, a little coffee, workout, and on the road by 0615. We’ll see if I pull it off. I’d like to get there with a few hours of daylight left.