JC wrote:
>Okay, the 4-runner looks like its some kind of macho statement, but look
>who's driving it!  Its my 4'-11" wife!  (they must have based that
>commercial about how awkward it is for a woman in a tight skirt to get
>out of one of those things on her...not the tight skirt...at least in
>this decade...but on the distance from grade to running board!)

At least you have running boards!  We can't have them because they
interfere with clearance!  Combine no running boards and mountaineering
tires and I need a trampoline to get into ours. Our 4-Runner was bought
because my geologist husband needs a field vehicle that can take
**serious** abuse and still see 300,000 miles.  The old Chevy truck we had
when he burned up the highways and dirt roads of the Four Corners states is
still crawling, but just barely, and has been put out to pasture.  It
probably saw 200,000 miles of dirt roads, though!  It  truly is our hope
that we will not be in a city for more than a few years and that we and our
SUV will be returned to rough rural terrain.

Perception of driving distances in the US really is, at least partially,
geographically based and, perhaps, also is the choice of vehicle type.
Driving in the rural West is vastly different than driving in the East.  In
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming it is nothing for people
to drive 500+ miles to get anywhere and most of them have some variation of
a truck!  Fuel effiency is not generally the most important auto issue out
west.  It's whether or not the vehicle is American made.  That's not to say
that there aren't small, economical foreign vehicles on the roads, but you
can be sure if it's a Japanese car, the driver is not a fourth generation
resident of those four states.  I definitely stood out in my little red
Nissan!  I suspect the same could be said for other western states,
especially Montana and Nevada.  I worked briefly in a horrible job as
hostess for a marketing company that sends out those dreadful flyers
alerting you to all the money you can save on a new car and of the free
gift you will receive just by coming into the dealership--hey, I was in
grad. school and needed the money!  People from Wyoming would come down to
Colorado and once I was sent to Laramie, WY.  Residents of Wyoming do face
some severe winters and many still live way, way out on ranches and in
small towns.  Consider that the three largest towns (Laramie, Casper, and
Cheyenne) have a combined population of about 123,400 and you can see why
people drive to Colorado and other surrounding states to shop for
groceries, cars, and clothes.  Yep, if you want low population in the lower
48, I'd recommend Wyoming.  So they need vehicles with large fuel capacity
and hauling ability.  A fuel efficient American made truck is an option and
many diesel dualies are sold there.  But they don't worry about pollution
too much.  And if you have ever been to Wyoming you will remember the
absence of the brown cloud that hovers over most cities, so the issue of
pollution is different there.

There are some concerned citizens in the west, mostly transplants who
believe in such radical ideas as recycling.  In Arizona the fuel is
switched statewide from a "winter-blend" to a "summer-blend" to help with
pollution control.  I think it is in Denver that the city does alert people
to days when they cannot have a fire because the pollution is at too high a
level.  So there are some good things going on in the west.

But living in Houston--an oil city where people really take gas for granted
and, BTW, a city with little history of zoning--the SUVs and honking big
American trucks are everywhere.  And I mean the big gas sucking kind--our
Toyota looks like a clown car compared to the Surburbans, Expeditions, and
one-ton trucks.  Of course, it is a city and there are all kinds of autos
here, big and little, but most people do not worry about the
overconsumption of fossil fuels in this town.  The solution to congestion
here has been to expand and build more roads.  Houston really is a
boom/bust town that is experiencing a boom right now.  The city has three
concentric expressway bands.  It does have a bus system, but considering it
is the 4th largest city in America, you would think that it would develop
some light-rail mode of public transportation to ease the congestion.  I
suspect that a subway would be out of the question since we are just barely
above sea-level--maybe a chunnel would work, though!  My perception is that
in this city, public transportation is really for the poor souls who can't
afford a car.  I can't imagine the fur coat and polished gem crowd taking
the bus!  They are too afraid.  At a bus stop just one block from my apt.
there was an execution-style shooting just about 2 weeks ago, so many
people here are leary of taking the bus.  Granted that was no random act;
it was a 2 year vendetta according to the news.

Another problem with public transportation in Western cities is that they
are so spread out.  Traditionally there has been enough land to grow out,
rather than the forced upward growth.  I really can't imagine taking the
bus across Houston.  I could drive to Galveston and back before the bus
made it halfway across town.

I think that in the West the issue of personal independence is tremendous
and cannot be separated from the automobile and driving issues.
Independence and self-reliance has been necessary for survival.  Just think
that Arizona has been a state for less than 100 years.  In the west,
however, just think about the anti-government sentiment, takings issues,
and history of the region.  My husband has been out doing field work in
Arizona and has encountered ranchers and Timothy McVeigh types whose first
question to him was, "You don't work for the government, do you?"  A friend
of mine worked for the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and had to go around
and see if ranchers were doing what they were supposed to on the public
land they leased from the fed. gov.--running the correct number of cattle.
She couldn't wait to leave that job and go to work for the Soil Conservancy
in an advisory capacity rather than a regulatory one--and she was from the
Southwest!  The ranchers that I met felt like there was no "public land"
that it was "government land".  It does no good to suggest that our
government is composed of the people.  I do not mean to imply that ranchers
are bad people.  I would trust a rancher to help me out in a bind with no
fear.  They are the living history of the area, if you will, and are
fighting to maintain their independence and way of life.  But they are
stubborn and have passed that on to their children and often do not see the
need for change because life in rural America does not change as quickly as
in a city.  Suggest driving less or a smaller vehicle out here and you
might get shot.

Just some thoughts on the driving issues, not the democracy and building
issues.  Maybe next time.

Stetson




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I can breathe in a small town . . . Taught to fear Jesus in that small town
. . .  And that's probably where they'll bury me."
John Cougar Mellencamp