Hello from the middle of Missouri

[Bluerauder]

Nothing like driving from Indianapolis back to Virginia just to catch a plane to St. Louis. Followed that up with a 2 hour drive out I-44. Three more nights in a hotel. Man my bed at home is gonna feel good when I make it home.

Thought that my rental car was a Grand Marquis .... how the heck did I get a dayum Toyota Camry SE.

Report card so far is not good. Seats are hard and uncomfortable. Some of the buttons and switches are not intuitive. No power whatsoever qnd the transmission downshifts on every little hill. I am NOT impressed. Why do people think these things are better than sliced bread. After a 2 hour "test drive", I now can attest that one will never see my driveway.

[JUST 1BULLITT]

SORRY Charlie! You MUST be in the Middle of Fort Lenord Wood!! LOL! I FEEL for ya buddy! SORRY no MGM for your Rental car either! hang in there guy! Was GREAT meeting you in person last weekend!

Take care!

John
"J1B"

[88LTDCV351]

The guy I carpool with drives a Camry hybrid. His car doesn't seem so bad to me.

He makes fun of my cars though and my taste in cars. "Why would anyone need such a large sedan? How come a big American V-8 makes less power than a smaller engine from competitors and even uses so much more fuel? Why didn't they turbo it? etc. etc." He is a fan of Jetta's and other such small or fast imports.

I've ridden in the back of the Camry when we had one or two more carpoolers and it feels roomier than the Marauder, at least in the back. But then again, our carpool is an hour each way so not sure how much I would like it in the Camry over a longer period.

Regardless, I still like my classic cars, muscle cars, vintage police cars, etc. and don't let it bother me anymore.

But he brings up a lot of good points about how he used to drive a Ford Mustang new in the eighties and how Ford quality sucked back then even new and how he and lots of drivers will never go back to a Ford. The days of the big three ended even before the bankruptcies, I'm sad to say. I'm afraid to say that other than die hards like myself, a lot of people probably will never go back to a Ford. Just look at the slogans from some of the American Car companies where it sounds like they are saying, "OK, we messed up. Try a new Ford because we are better now." Too bad damage was already done and those customers are elsewhere for life.

[Bluerauder]

SORRY Charlie! You MUST be in the Middle of Fort Leonard Wood!! LOL! I FEEL for ya buddy! SORRY no MGM for your Rental car either! hang in there guy! Was GREAT meeting you in person last weekend!

Take care!

John
"J1B"
Bingo. I knew about this trip before MV7. FLW is not so bad -- after being in NoVA for more than 20 years, I would swap for this area in a heartbeat. Wide open roads. Hardly any traffic. Room to run.

Nice to meet you too John. It is always special to finally put a face to a screenname.

[rayjay]

Safe travels Charlie.

[SC Cheesehead]

Ah, the life of the Road Warrior! ;)

Safe travels, my friend.