This is what I was faced with when I left work the other day. My beloved Rainier was covered in snow, and was nearly invisible given the remaining light.
What you don’t see in the picture is the foot of snow covering the entire parking lot, save where they plowed on this side of the truck. As I came out of the building the guy who runs the snowplow, which is actually a slightly modified payloader, was sitting there idling, waiting for people to leave so he could complete his task.
I had one of two choices that I could make; I could leave the parking lot by taking the route he’s plowed for us, which most people were doing, or I could go straight to my usual exit, through the foot deep snow.
Just to be an annoyance, I did the latter. The truck, for its part, never noticed. Meantime, the Prius parked in the row in back of the truck, tried to run out for the area that had been plowed, somehow lost control of the thing, and smacked a freshly built up snow bank…. whilst I drove away through the foot deep snow.
It’s moments like that that remind me, why I drive an SUV in the first place.
January 17th, 2009 at 22:00
Silly isnt it that the eco-fascists and their enablers in the Democratic party mock the fuel inefficient vehicle. Western NY, here in western CO, and a multitude of other places regularly have weather conditions that make that gas guzzler very efficient, not to mention just difficult roads altogether (2 mile rutted dirt driveways at 8%; Seattle during a snow/ice event). I’ve driven an Outback for the past 9 years, but there are places and times where I pull out the ’86 4×4 truck.
Being able to drive only half-way to your destination on a quarter as much gas is far less efficient than actually getting there.
January 17th, 2009 at 23:32
Well, yeah, there is that.
And in any event, I’m getting around 21 with my truck. In terms of efficiency, lb for lb I’ll put my Rainier up against all comers, including hybrids.