On 1/7/2017 10:08 PM, Alex wrote:
Mr. Luddite wrote:
Just checked the weather forecast for today.

Blizzard warning starting around 8am this morning and lasting until
early tomorrow. 12-14 inches of snow with 50 mph winds.

Going back to bed.


I thought you moved??


We did. At least temporarily. Long story but the sale of our house was
"iffy" for a long time because the buyer was going through some unusual
financing for a mortgage. He was basically using the revenues of his
sub-S corporation as part of the qualification and had to wait until an
audit was complete before his bank would commit to the loan. Anyway, we
hadn't made any decision as to where we were heading when all of a
sudden, 2 weeks before the scheduled closing, his bank approved his loan
and we had to get out fast. Bought a place temporarily until the dust
settles. Or snow settles. Anyway, we are still "talking" about what is
next.

Alex Wrote in message:
True North wrote:
Big storm has started.
Maybe I'll haul out my Toro electric snowblower tomorrow and give it a whirl.

You went all out on that, big spender!



Wonder if he has the electric shovel or the full sized mini
snowblower.
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Wrote in message:
On Sat, 7 Jan 2017 13:08:14 -0800 (PST), True North
wrote:

Hard to believe but my Highlander will be 4 years old at the end of March and already has almost 38000 kilometers on the odometer.
And yes...Toyota does put soft, quick wearing tires on their vehicles. Michelins run smoother and a lot longer.

I put Michelins on the Sport Trak and it rides a lot better too.


Hag Goodyears on the camper. The front tires self destructed
within 20k miles. Replaced the fronts with Michelins. All of my
rolling stock except the Canadian machine has at least some
Michelins.
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Alex
True North wrote:
Big storm has started.
Maybe I'll haul out my Toro electric snowblower tomorrow and give it a whirl.

"You went all out on that, big spender"


Actually, I did. I researched the best of the electric at that time and went to a dealer where I paid full retail..about $450.00 for it. Now I can get a small gasoline single stage for about $100.00 more.

wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas


I owned a VW rabbit. Stick shift, fun to drive. The daughters got to
learn driving a stick shift. But I guess lazy these days. Looking a
buying a,Chevy volt for an around town driver, which are not stick shift.

On 1/8/17 2:20 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas



I grew up on stick shift vehicles and in the winter I earned a few bucks
with my dad's jeep and plow. I always thought the stick shift gave you
more control over what the wheels were doing and made stopping safer
because you could more easily shift the vehicle out of gear. After my
experience yesterday and today with the 4WD stick shift truck, I still
think I am correct. Though we only got about 7" today of snow, I got
through a couple of drifts two and three times that height (where the
roadway was plowed) without problems.

On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 11:42:47 -0600, Califbill
wrote:

wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas


I owned a VW rabbit. Stick shift, fun to drive. The daughters got to
learn driving a stick shift. But I guess lazy these days. Looking a
buying a,Chevy volt for an around town driver, which are not stick shift.

I have been driving a stick so long that I do not even think about it.
I just instinctively shift, double clutching on the down shifts.
I don't even think about it.
I agree it is a pain in the ass if you are just stuck in traffic,
bumping ahead 20 feet at a time.

On Sunday, January 8, 2017 at 12:42:52 PM UTC-5, Califbill wrote:
wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas


I owned a VW rabbit. Stick shift, fun to drive. The daughters got to
learn driving a stick shift. But I guess lazy these days. Looking a
buying a,Chevy volt for an around town driver, which are not stick shift.

The last stick shift I had was the Boxster, a six-speed. The Corvette was an auto, and the Audi is. Besides, while the auto eats some horsepower, they are usually faster that the manual version. Modern automatic transmissions aren't like your dad's auto.

For example, the Audi's tranny is an 8-speed. The computer keeps it in the sweet spot for how you're driving. Poking along, the shift points are low for economy. Push it harder, and they move up for better performance. Put it in sport mode, and you get higher shift points and it uses engine braking when you let off the gas, like a manual tranny would. And you can shift it manually if you want to.

These day there just isn't much reason in a "normal" car to get a manual tranny except for cost or nostalgia. Hell, even F1 cars use manually shifted automatics.

On Sun, 8 Jan 2017 13:06:10 -0500, Keyser Soze wrote:

On 1/8/17 2:20 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas



I grew up on stick shift vehicles and in the winter I earned a few bucks
with my dad's jeep and plow. I always thought the stick shift gave you
more control over what the wheels were doing and made stopping safer
because you could more easily shift the vehicle out of gear. After my
experience yesterday and today with the 4WD stick shift truck, I still
think I am correct. Though we only got about 7" today of snow, I got
through a couple of drifts two and three times that height (where the
roadway was plowed) without problems.

My most exciting snow experience was on my way to Endicott in the
winter in my Corvette. When I left Harrisburg it was lightly snowing
but OK and I did the illegal "drive around the barricade" thing to get
on 81 in the area that was not open yet (local knowledge thing). No
speed limit and no traffic, also no help if you got in trouble.
Suddenly I found myself in about 8" of snow in a car with about 4" of
ground clearance. I figured if I ever stopped, I would never get going
again so I just cranked it up and went, looking like a snow plow with
a steady stream of snow blowing out to both sides from the spoiler and
coming over the hood. I did that for about 10 miles until I hit the
next exit where the road was open. I was really happy to see those
barricades and the people coming down the ramp were surprised to see
me.

On 1/8/2017 1:06 PM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 1/8/17 2:20 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:02:45 -0600, Califbill
wrote:


I pretty much gave up on stick shifts for daily drivers in 1968. I
remember miles long traffic jams from Laguna Seca raceway via Gilroy of
stop and go traffic. My leg would start shaking from the clutch
work. And
pulling a race car trailer. Later, drop it in drive, and enjoy power
brakes.

I still like actually driving my sporty cars. A slush box is fine in
vans and trucks. I have worked very hard to avoid stop and go traffic.
I worked midnights for the past 11 years I was in DC. It was great
driving home in empty lanes on the beltway and watching the cars piled
up going the other way. SW Florida was very rural when I moved here
and a few tricks to avoid the trouble spots kept me moving right along
most of the time. They did not have much in the way of computer
customers in the tourist areas



I grew up on stick shift vehicles and in the winter I earned a few bucks
with my dad's jeep and plow. I always thought the stick shift gave you
more control over what the wheels were doing and made stopping safer
because you could more easily shift the vehicle out of gear. After my
experience yesterday and today with the 4WD stick shift truck, I still
think I am correct. Though we only got about 7" today of snow, I got
through a couple of drifts two and three times that height (where the
roadway was plowed) without problems.


If you are doing some serious plowing, it's hard to hold the plow
controller in one hand, steer with the other and try to shift if
necessary. Auto transmission makes it a lot easier.