A Week of SUV Rentals

Sunday, January 17, 2010 

First, in Canada, I got a GMC Acadia, a moderately stupid SUV with seating for 7. It was snowing and so I suppose AWD was useful, but the only really good part about it was the heated seats. The gas expense was not so great…

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The Acadia was fine as far as it went, but then my next rental, in Las Vegas, was a Lincoln Navigator. I’ve not run across one of these before (though not much different than the Escalade). It wasn’t horrible as a driving experience, though I was happy enough not to have to take it through any urban areas as I would have needed to upgrade the wheels. I mean stock rims… Seriously.

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The heated seats worked fine in that one too, but the backup camera that emerged from behind a half-silvered rear-view mirror was pretty cool. Especially as looking back is pretty useless through a forest of headrests.

In both cases I was the only passenger. This added to the value of the experience.

At least in LA at the end of the week, Hertz gave me a lovely C300. I think the exact same one I had rented earlier. A lovely car that seems far less silly.

Posted at 18:46:34 GMT-0700

Category: photoRental carsTravel

A week of tweets: 2010-01-17

Sunday, January 17, 2010 
  • ((Starship Troopers + Dances With Wolves + The Lion King + Bryce^3 + (Lord of the Rings)^-1) * Jar Jar Binks) + Sigourney Weaver = Avatar #
  • Trying new EB flight path suggested by @phragments: last flight to ORD, AM connect to ET destinations. Like redeye but w/ 5 hrs in real bed. #
  • Damnit. Oven isn’t working so my nuts are cold. Hate that. #
  • Morons at crowne plaza ORD have totally useless VM and if you dial enough rndom nums to get front desk, cant give dirs to own shuttle. FAIL. #
  • ORD B6 RCC redesign is an improvement. Lots of outlets. #
  • OMG!! I haz found the user’s guide to the WHOLE internet in my hotel room! Only 2 pages! Skip to chapter on 4C #
  • Transport Canada has effectively killed CA-US travel. Nice work! no lines, fast wifi at the
    Lounge. Response does what terrorism can’t. #
  • Wow most polite, most efficient screening yet: RCMP WIN. Plus who doesn’t love a quick reacharound? Concourse empty Travel dead Canada Fail. #
  • Plus the female half of my RCMP pair looked very, very good in body armor. Now to kill the hour allocated to screening, which took 5 min. #
  • 2 new mm-wave “naked scanners” at term 2 YYZ but no lines: not us customs, nor security, nor 2nd search/fondle. No carry-on still annoying. #
  • Yay @unitedairlines lost my priority tagged bag from YYZ to jfk. Meeting tomorrow naked. BS YYZ rules mean I have nothing. #
  • Terorrists exploit allergic response. Trivial bite triggers anaphlactic shock, kills US economy. #
  • Warning!! UAL RCC at LAX warning. After the refurb (to hospital style pale green) men’s and women’s rooms have been swapped. Look b4 peeing #
  • And, not just new toilets, but btand new hz busses in la. Mmm new bus smell (really). #
  • Attending Joe Davis’ lecture at the California NANOSystems Institute auditorium. #rubisco #aliens #
  • I like a rental car with inflation advice for 100+ speeds. #
  • “Every drop counts”. Nowhere more true than on a urinal. Thanks for the reminder, Toto. #
  • #

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Posted at 01:11:00 GMT-0700

Category: Twitter