If you are going to be in Wichita, you must go to the NuWay restaurant on West Douglas. I think you get off at the Friends University exit. The NUWay was a new way to make hamburgers. The owner resisted offers to become a chain because he thought his loving technique would be lost. Enjoy the pretty much preserved original. Ketchup is now made available, but in the old days was not because he thought it an abomination.
As a pilot who flies over this vast emptiness regularly, this is the perspective I think people who stay within the boundaries of a large city just do not comprehend.
“EV purchases are motivated by a combination of ideology and tech lust.” Don’t forget government subsidies. The member of my family who is the go to for practical purchases recently bought a Tesla. Suburban Chicagoan, it’s their second car. EVs have their niche.
I made that drive maybe 12 years ago in a Prius. It was OK. For the past 5 years I have traveled the back roads and small town of America in an F-150 and an Airstream - 47 states and 80,000 miles. Here is why: https://geekemeritus.com/2024/03/25/why-i-wander-america/
I assume you are going back west, and you should not miss following old Route 66. Some of it is missing and some replaced by Interstate, but much is real, and you can find yourself "Standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona..."
"gob-smackingly parochial group of leading candidates" I haven't seen "gob-smacking" for a long time. Useful comments on EVs and politics. I still haven't figured out what is going on with the Libertarian Party, which was my default vote. EVs are going to need a much longer runway and plug-in hybrids will fill the gap as Toyota has discovered.
I've more than a dozen cross country trips similar to the one you are describing and it matches my experience well, more than the folks who are mostly flying over all of that mostly empty space. I've driven it with more than one gas-powered vehicle, including towing a travel trailer. I'll likely never be using an electric vehicle anywhere; maybe a hybrid, but currently inclined to hang onto the F-150 indefinitely. Thank you, and hope you eventually end up traveling to all 50 states; there is plenty to see!
We should promote EV USE with a tax on net emissions of CO2 (i.e., an excise tax on first sale of fossil fuels into the supply chain in proportion to the carbon content. We should promote EV PRODUCTION (if we _should_ promote EV production) with a (tax funded, non deficit increasing) production subsidy that does not make domestic sales more profitable that export sales. And if we don't think US made and subsidized EV's will be competitive in export markets, we should probably not be promoting their production at all.
Do you really think a candidate misleading people about their state of health is equivalent to lying about who won an election? You're in California so you choosing not to pick the obviously better choice for the country isn't so big a deal, but discouraging your readers, who could be anywhere in the country, from doing the same, is frankly irresponsible. When Trump uses the machinery available to the federal executive branch to undermine electoral institutions in 2028, will we be glad that we didn't vote for the guy who was too old for the job?
I think it makes it much harder to run on an "I tell the truth, unlike the other guy" platform. It's a very elaborate lie, supported by all the handlers they tell us we're voting for when we think we're voting for Joe Biden. Democrats keep saying this is an existentially important election but they aren't acting like it.
Great commentary as always, but as a lifelong Midwesterner whose mother was raised in Oklahoma, I am disappointed that you have not yet visited that great state. Of the many people it is notable for, perhaps the greatest is Will Rogers, who is among my favorite cultural commentators of all time.
I'll buy "An American Yarn" (under whatever better title is threshed out) pre-publication. Embedding videos in a book might be a bit difficult. Still, the votes in favor are rolling in. It's a landslide!
I know the electoral college will never go away, but I’d like to see it switch to proportional allocation. It would incentivize candidates to campaign in more states. In 2020 Trump got more votes from California than any other state, including Texas. Biden got about as many votes in Texas as in Michigan and Pennsylvania combined.
If you are going to be in Wichita, you must go to the NuWay restaurant on West Douglas. I think you get off at the Friends University exit. The NUWay was a new way to make hamburgers. The owner resisted offers to become a chain because he thought his loving technique would be lost. Enjoy the pretty much preserved original. Ketchup is now made available, but in the old days was not because he thought it an abomination.
What a wonderful piece, Virginia. It’s a book — and far better than JD Vance’s.
I would definitely buy a book of Virginia’s road trip reflections. Also better than Kerouac.
“This is a big, empty country“
As a pilot who flies over this vast emptiness regularly, this is the perspective I think people who stay within the boundaries of a large city just do not comprehend.
“EV purchases are motivated by a combination of ideology and tech lust.” Don’t forget government subsidies. The member of my family who is the go to for practical purchases recently bought a Tesla. Suburban Chicagoan, it’s their second car. EVs have their niche.
I made that drive maybe 12 years ago in a Prius. It was OK. For the past 5 years I have traveled the back roads and small town of America in an F-150 and an Airstream - 47 states and 80,000 miles. Here is why: https://geekemeritus.com/2024/03/25/why-i-wander-america/
I assume you are going back west, and you should not miss following old Route 66. Some of it is missing and some replaced by Interstate, but much is real, and you can find yourself "Standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona..."
"gob-smackingly parochial group of leading candidates" I haven't seen "gob-smacking" for a long time. Useful comments on EVs and politics. I still haven't figured out what is going on with the Libertarian Party, which was my default vote. EVs are going to need a much longer runway and plug-in hybrids will fill the gap as Toyota has discovered.
Fun article also.
I've more than a dozen cross country trips similar to the one you are describing and it matches my experience well, more than the folks who are mostly flying over all of that mostly empty space. I've driven it with more than one gas-powered vehicle, including towing a travel trailer. I'll likely never be using an electric vehicle anywhere; maybe a hybrid, but currently inclined to hang onto the F-150 indefinitely. Thank you, and hope you eventually end up traveling to all 50 states; there is plenty to see!
Thanks for the insight on electric cars! Made me recognize my own tech attraction when I think about getting one.
Also I thank you for so succinctly describing my thoughts on the election.
We should promote EV USE with a tax on net emissions of CO2 (i.e., an excise tax on first sale of fossil fuels into the supply chain in proportion to the carbon content. We should promote EV PRODUCTION (if we _should_ promote EV production) with a (tax funded, non deficit increasing) production subsidy that does not make domestic sales more profitable that export sales. And if we don't think US made and subsidized EV's will be competitive in export markets, we should probably not be promoting their production at all.
Do you really think a candidate misleading people about their state of health is equivalent to lying about who won an election? You're in California so you choosing not to pick the obviously better choice for the country isn't so big a deal, but discouraging your readers, who could be anywhere in the country, from doing the same, is frankly irresponsible. When Trump uses the machinery available to the federal executive branch to undermine electoral institutions in 2028, will we be glad that we didn't vote for the guy who was too old for the job?
I think it makes it much harder to run on an "I tell the truth, unlike the other guy" platform. It's a very elaborate lie, supported by all the handlers they tell us we're voting for when we think we're voting for Joe Biden. Democrats keep saying this is an existentially important election but they aren't acting like it.
Great commentary as always, but as a lifelong Midwesterner whose mother was raised in Oklahoma, I am disappointed that you have not yet visited that great state. Of the many people it is notable for, perhaps the greatest is Will Rogers, who is among my favorite cultural commentators of all time.
I've been there now. Spent the night in Texhoma in the panhandle.
I'll buy "An American Yarn" (under whatever better title is threshed out) pre-publication. Embedding videos in a book might be a bit difficult. Still, the votes in favor are rolling in. It's a landslide!
I know the electoral college will never go away, but I’d like to see it switch to proportional allocation. It would incentivize candidates to campaign in more states. In 2020 Trump got more votes from California than any other state, including Texas. Biden got about as many votes in Texas as in Michigan and Pennsylvania combined.