Tuesday, July 24, 2018

"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only all you really need." - Vernon Howard


I was AWOL for a post yesterday and today will be a token post. But I've got a good reason. Honestly.

After the drive up Monday...
The Challenger did fine and gets surprisingly good mileage according to one of the umpteen display screen options. I averaged 27.1 mpg on the freeway. The engine drops to four cylinders once you're up to speed and the cruise control takes over. Hit the throttle and there's an immediate and strong response at every level. You're instantly going faster, the "avg. mpg" instantly drops way down, and there's an instant grin on the driver's face.

But I'm fine with going back to Sally.
The age old question: Is it better to drive a fast car slow or a slow car fast?
A: IMO the slow car driven near its edge is more fun. I've never had Sally near that edge and won't because I don't want to run any risk of breaking the 52-year old engine. But the raw and unrefined sensation of an old car is preferable in my book.
What I really don't like about the Challenger is the data overload they think is cool. The gauge cluster includes a screen that has about 24 different options. "Engine Performance" has six different screens, "Mileage" has two, there's a "Messages" screen (I don't have any), a "Media" screen.....
There is data on other screens and displays that tells me the outside temp in two places, the time in two places, and on and on and on.
With that much information available I feel some responsibility to look at it all.
Just too complicated.

OK, after I got here I met Scott at the motel room we are sharing and caught 20 winks to recover from our dual drives - Scott doing about 6 hours from Spokane and my 6 from Eugene. Then we picked up mom and met Mark & Mimi for dinner at a restaurant. Took mom back to Nordic Woods and came back for a night's sleep.

This morning we met at 6 a.m. at the storage unit. Mark thought it would take us three days while Scott and I thought we could get it done in two.
Working straight through we were finished at 2:30!!!!
Praise Jesus.
Scott's taking a U-Haul truck load back to Spokane, Mark took a large trailer filled with stuff back to his place, and I have a Challenger trunk load headed back to Eugene.
Seriously - today was a HUGE answer to prayer in many ways.

So, I will leave here when I wake up, probably around 3 a.m., and drive back to Eugene. By turning in the car early I'll save a day's rental fee and get back to Baker Rd. a day earlier. Alas, it will be 97 there tomorrow, 95 on Thursday, but into the high 80s by Friday.

And that early departure tomorrow is why this post is ending here. I'm turning in. Maybe when I'm home and have time I'll show you via pics some of the things now sitting in the Challenger truck. Some fun things.

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