This past Wednesday afternoon, I met rigger after work in west Fort Worth near "the bomber plant" (it did during World War II - it's now where Locheed-Martin builds the F-16)


My car on the left - rigger's on the right

We had a chance to share a few stories, but actually someone else did most of the talking.

An engineer from Lockheed stoped over and talked for a long time about the inherent inefficiencies of the ICE, our flawed energy policy, etc.... I gave him rigger's card promoting GH. I hope he joins....

 

Sure enough everyone did a bit of talking . Quite an enjoyable meet though. Honestly it was great to see someone elses Insight up close and talk about it, a huge bonus too is meeting someone as enthusiastic about hybrids as myself.

The drive back to Florida was uneventful though I was expecting a tailwind I had a STRONG headwind. My original plan of taking my time on backroads was a wash when the wife said hurry up and just get us home. I had to go back into "old AL driving mode", still I didn't go but about 5 mph over the speedlimit. With the huge headwind and large amount of payload we had I ended up with about 56 mpg (that's a low estimate, I didn't do the math yet as I need one more fillup).

We had the car stuffed to the gills full for the return trip. Even the dog could barely move. That's right ---- 2 non-lightweight passengers, a dog, a bunch of luggage, lots of books, largescale diecast cars in boxes and more. I made sure I kept the battery vents clear though.

I think for the ride back I would of only gotten about 36-40mpg with my HCH, the HCH would of been a little bit more comfortable BUT it wouldn't of been as fun. On the ride back driving through the country farmers stopped in their tracks in the field to watch the car go by, in small towns it never ceased to draw a crowd. All in all, a good trip.

On another note I think I may have talked my brother-in-law into getting an Insight. I let him drive it and he fell in love - all while killing my mileage .

A great meet Chuck.

AL

 

rigger, I hope I quoted you correctly on the poll....

That must have been crowded with a dog! I generally put my cats in carriers as for some twisted reason, they like to hide under the brake pedal.

 

It was stuffed with all the items we had. The dog stays put as she is VERY well trained and normally does what she is told. I can use facial expressions, a flick of my head, or a quick hand movement to have her obey.

My cat normally goes in the box on trips. This time she sat this trip out and stayed home.

For the poll, I only think a teeny tiny amount of people would be enraged. Voted - great idea.

 

The one thing I DON'T WANT TO DO driving is what a Prius driver did in Chicago did a few months ago. He stalled traffic by driving well under the pack speed with a bunch of enviromental stickers on his bumper.

 

What he was talking about can be illustrated here.