OT. GM fuel mileage overstated

[rbowman]

I like cheesecake but my enthusiasm for making it dried up with 'take a springform pan'...

[DerbyDad03]

Not only do I enjoy all of those things, I enjoy the driving also. I seem to have passed that gene onto one of my daughters. We're trying to talk her out of driving 5 hours each way to attend her sister's graduation next weekend. 10 hours of driving for a 1.5 hour ceremony and a meal. That's all she'll really have time for.

Her response to me was "If it's about putting the milage on the car, I agree. If it's about me driving 10 hours, you know that's not an issue."

I guess I raised her right. ;-)

[Don Y]

Ah, mine is rectangular -- in a ~9x13 glass baking dish. Very "light" (far less calories than a New York style)

The problem is that the crust takes an hour to make. It can chill while you spend an hour and a half reducing the pineapple. The filling requires another hour -- assuming you've taken the ingredients out ahead of time to let them come to room temperature (cream cheese is remarkably dense!). But, the pineapple can cool while you're doing that. Baking takes an hour and a half -- which you will spend cleaning the various bowls and pots that you used. Then, packaging it (for transport) yet another hour.

And, it's "gone" in a matter of minutes! :-/

I bring one to my PCP around the holidays. His eyes light up when he sees the cooler accompanying me into his office. First one I made for him he was surprised/pleased. When I told him, "Oh, this is GOOD! You can trade it for sexual favors!!" he turned red clear to the top of his head! I've not bothered to ask what he "gets" from his wife for sharing it...

[Don Y]

I actually went looking for a large (HUGE!) springform pan for *pizza*. Always hard to find something deep enough for the pie, yet easy enough to cut and remove slices.

[rbowman]

After you drive 12,000 miles a month for a few years ,the thrill wears off. I get back into it after the first couple of hundred miles but getting up the enthusiasm to start off is difficult.

[Don Y]

When I was younger, I used to like "driving". Not "sightseeing" but driving. E.g., climb in the car on one coast, climb out on the next coast -- with nothing but stops for gas along the way. (e.g., the coloradoboston trips were 40 hours, start to finish)

Now, I don't have the patience to deal with all the other bozos on the roads, the uncertainties of traffic, construction, etc. "Are we there, yet?"

[DerbyDad03]

Well, it's not 12K a month, but my daughter had to do an internship for her Master's degree this past semester. 100 mile round trip, 4 days a week. Toss in a few weekend trips to visit friends at her undergrad school, trips home for the holidays, etc. and I think she's driven over 30K in the past year.

The (not so) funny part of this is that she's driving her mom's 2005 Taurus wagon. (I kid her that she's "the coolest kid on campus" but she loves that car.) Anyway, before we gave her the car we never used it for long trips. We always took my newer vehicle or rented a car if Mom was traveling on her own. Now my daughter has driven that beast all over New England for the past year and a half. She had it inspected at a trusted indy shop before heading off to spend the summer working in Vermont and the owner said not to worry: "It's old, but it's in great shape. I'd let my daughter drive it if it was hers."

[Ed Pawlowski]

You did. My daughter lives 5 hours away and she does it in 4 1/2 hours. She also has three cross country round trips to her credit. Twice with 3 kids.

Some of us just like to drive. Anywhere, any time except blizzards.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I can understand that. For us, the first 100 miles can be boring because we've gone most routes out of town frequently. Given the time we try to avoid the highways as they can be boring.

The pat weekend I knew the route from Hyde Park NY to Lake George and the to Waterbury VT. For a change I used the NAV and set it to avoid freeways and toll roads. Took us much longer but we saw a lot more. Took us on roads I never would have guessed at.

[rbowman]

One of the things I miss about back east are the alternative routes, even for a short drive. In much of the west, you take the interstate, end of story. There are frontage roads along I90 that I take for variety but you're just paralleling I90 and they are seldom more than ten miles before you have to get back on the big road.

[Don Y]

And, they're (west) just straight slogs!

I remember the first time I drove cross country. Got to kansas: "OK, this is interesting" (I was being generous... flat is anything BUT interesting!) After 30 minutes of that, I was ready for "the next state".

I joked that I didn't dare pull off the road for fear that I'd get back on, headed in the wrong direction, and not realize it until I saw the CO or MO state line!

[Stormin Mormon]

Many years ago, I went to a funeral in Indiana. The highway was clogged with road construction.

20 MPH instead of 65. I had a look at my USA map, and found a parallel route. Had to stop for the towns, but the travel progress was so much better.

The one time I went to Salt Lake City, we took I-80, think it was. The fellow riding with me said that Nebraska is endless. I have to agree, every 50 miles were cattle guards, and a small town. took about six hours to cross the state. We were lucky to have someone to talk with. I did wish for cruise control.

[rbowman]

The country would be a lot more interesting if Denver fronted on the Mississippi. On one trip I forgot Oklahoma was between Arkansas and Texas on I40. I was disappointed when i hit the OK line. Of course, Arkansas and Texas do adjoin at Texarkana but then you have a day and a half of Texas. Just can't win.

[rbowman]

I worked in Ft. Wayne for a year. I'd ride my bicycle 15 or 20 miles looking at soybeans, turn around, and ride back looking at the other side of the soybeans. The wind shifted as soon as I turned too.

Flying was even worse. When the scenery all looks the same you have plenty of time to think about the wings falling off or the engine stopping. The Tomahawk only did 100 knots happily so it wasn't much better than driving.

[Stormin Mormon]

My sister made friends with a girl scout from Canada. Sister asked friend how fast they drove, on the way to visit. Friend said "we didn't go very fast, we only went about a hundred". Sister exclaims how fast that was, we only go about sixty or sixty five.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm not sure the modern generation knows how food is produced, and how it gets to the store. Just as happy to see all those soybeans plowed under, and put up a theme park. "Starving clueless kids park".

You ever see bumper stickers "No farms; no food". Guess they never went hunting or fishing.

[Scott Lurndal]

You may wish to consider researching hunter-gatherer societies and the transition to agriculture and the advancements made possible thereby (such as the ability to support much larger populations). If you had to survive on hunting and fishing, you'd not have the abundant leisure time to support your voluminous useless posting and evangelizing.

[Frank]

Probably kph:

[Frank]

Instantaneous readout on my new Subaru indicates I get 100 mpg going down hill.

Wonder if that guy with little "d" after his name will mandate that roads can only go down hill? Would sure help deter climate change. If states do no follow mandate, they will not get highway funds from the fed.

[My 2 Cents]

cost of fuel is only one of the variables ... how much to get a mile down the road is the bottom line. AAA says..