Heck, we used to have 4 raised 3x6 beds behind our garage to grow all sorts of vegetables which we had to haul the harvests to the neighbors and co-workers - it was amazing how much a small plot can produce. It was kind of like Labor of Love, regardless the money we poured into it (materials to build the planting bed, bought soil, organic matters to improve the soil, seedlings, organic fertilizer, etc etc).
Now we happily live in a condo and can pick up and go at the drop of a hat. 4 to 7 trips a year, 65+ total days out of home in past 3 years, this year it would be 75 days before Mid July, so I am pretty much sure the year-end tally would be in the 90's.
Oh, we have a '86 Camry which has 84K miles so far. We are waiting to see if "Cash for Crunker" would ever become the law by the Fall. Either way, will most likely buy a new Sonata as several friends and families have one for several years - they are happy owners. We drove one rental recently and like the feel.
We took an effort to reserve an Impala on our last trip in the hope to get a feel - well, when we went to pick it up at Hertz city location, it did not have it nor nearby locations. So we were given a brandnew Nissan hybrid instead, very good car but for our driving pattern, it will take 7 years to pay back the price difference between Hybrid and regular car! Unless someone can manufacture hybrid or electric car at much more cost-effective way so the price differentials becomes much less, consumers would not convert. Incidentally, 90% of the rentals available at that Hertz location were Toyota's with 10% GM SUVs. They wanted to give us the GM SUV but we turned it down.
As for American cars, well, they raise their sticker prices big time in past 6 months and then offer incentives - what a joke. |
