Thursday, October 23, 2014


Heading south

The trees are turning color and there’s been a frost on the grass this morning so, it’s time to head south again.

 It sounds romantic, just  hop on a sailboat and sail off to tropical islands but to accomplish a dream like this, it takes lots of attention to details…everything is in the details. Just like when we are on the Snow Goose I have to make lists to ensure that all of the details get done. Well, when leaving Michigan it’s just the same.

Winterizing the well

We must winterizing the house, the barn, the cars, boats, finishing projects around the rental houses, our house. Wrap up the last contracting job and help out friends with last minutes things that they need done. Endless decisions about what to bring and of course, even more important,  what to leave behind. Is Edie’s stuff ready to go: her shots, pills, a fresh hair cut. If we plan to go to the Bahamas, did we send away for the correct forms? Seeing friends, and family before we leave and taking care of social engagements. When it’s a month before it’s time to leave it seems like there’s plenty of time to get everything done yet, now with the departure only 4 days away, I realize that I’ve still a LOT of stuff to do! The long and short of it is that “living the dream” can, at times, be a  reoccurring nightmare.
Next stop New York City, see ya there.
Now, doesn't this look like fun?

This year, I hope to bring you blogs that try to catch the feeling of what it’s like to be a live aboard sailor as we travel this winter. If you have any ideas or questions that you’d like to express,  toss them in and I’ll see what I can do to answer them.






Saturday, October 11, 2014

Cars and their cost







Just a little rant about cars in general and the cost to run them.
Cars are like boats, their a hole in the road that you pour money into… here’s how to make the hole smaller.
My 1992 GEO Metro just rolled over the 200,000 mile mark and still gets an average of 47 MPG all of the time. This got me thinking, over the last 4 years that we’ve been using the Metro (instead of using our  Plymouth Voyager van which gets 23 MPG) we have driven the Metro about 50,000 miles and averaged 47 mpg during that time (high of 55 mpg and low of 45 mpg), (Oh, I’m not guessing,  I’ve kept records to prove it).
 
Lets do the math…
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GEO Metro
50,000miles / 47mpg = 1064 gals of gas
1064 gals of gas times oh, say $3.50/gal = $3724.00 spent to run the little car over 50,000 miles.
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Plymouth Voyager
50,000miles / 23mpg = 2174 gals of gas
2174 gals of gas times $3.50/gal = $7609.00 needed to run this car over the same distance!
______________________________________________________________
This is a difference of $3885.00 !!!   that we saved by using the Metro

WOW!

The GEO Metro may be a little cheap rattle box but the savings in gas alone has paid for…
Original cost of the Metro
Repairs to the car to put it on the road
The entire purchase of “pinky” our KIA Spectra-5
The cost to insure both vehicles all these years
The maintenance cost for both vehicles

 
My question to all of you is…

 
When the GEO Metro was built it was designed to get high fuel efficiency because gas was …ready for this… $1.65/gal.!!!!!!

Gas is close to $2.00 more expensive now than when the car was built (22 years ago!),

Why can’t they build a cheap car that does the same today?

 
PS.
Here’s the cost savings over the life of this little car…

$30,400 to drive the Voyager 200,000 miles
$14,000 to drive the Metro 200,000 miles
$16,400 savings over the life of the car

Now, if only they still made this little car think of what you could do with an extra $16,000.00 in your pocket!

PPS.
Never leave an old dog in the yard alone!