This iReport is part of an assignment:
Still driving that gas guzzler?
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Posted June 3, 2008
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Location
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Assignment
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More from socalscicafe
Pulled my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
I am never giving up driving my Chevy truck. One may think perhaps I'm nuts -- especially given that I sold a Honda Civic Hybrid in order to buy the truck. However, there's a good reason. I am a 6-foot-8, 250-lb man with most of that in my legs. So the sight of me driving around in my little Civic got to be comical after awhile. Not only that, I started to get back problems. Remember that guy in the Simpsons episode -- the real tall guy that Nelson made fun of for driving in a little clown car, and then he got out and said, "Stop making fun of me and my little car!" Anytime I would ask my friends about my Civic Hybrid, they would always mock me for being the Simpsons guy. Not to mention, on the road here in Los Angeles, the big truck drivers and SUV drivers didn't show me no R-E-S-P-E-C-T. On the 5 freeway, you can get creamed if you're not at truck/SUV eye level. It just so happens I got rear-ended 6 times in 2 years by trucks, vans, and SUVs driving my little civic. Now that I have a Chevy Silverado 1500 extended-cab, no one messes with me on the road. So I thought, "this is ridiculous." To pay for the gas, I get help from my well-off family, and I have a good side business I do over weekends helping people move their stuff or throw it away, as you can see in the picture. In my truck, I can stretch out and sit comfortably, just the way I want. Gas can go to $10 per gallon for all I care. I just know that my orthopaedist will be charging me $1,000's more -- and no one will hire me because of the health care costs -- if I keep driving a sedan. My '05 Chevy gets 20 mpg highway, anyway. Relatively high mpg for a truck + low health care costs -- with road respect to boot. That's what I call a compromise. BTW: Join me and others at SoCal Science Cafe for a panel in Los Alamitos, California this August or September on high fuel prices, the science behind the latest alternative energy, and featuring Congressman Ed Royce (R-Los Alamitos) so you can hang 'im up by the ears on why the heck gas prices are so high. Register for FREE for updates at www.socal-sciencecafe.org. SoCal Science Cafe is a nonprofit public outreach program.
- TAGS:
- headline_news,
- hin,
- morning_express,
- big_truck,
- gas_prices
- GROUPS:
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