1. So many great places to take it. The possibilities of where are endless when you don't have to worry about where your next bed is coming from. You could take a hike and when you arrive take tea. Or take a nap. Some of the best places to stay are athttp://www.recreation.gov. You can relax in nature, plan a tour of any state, or even check out every craft festival on the circuit, if that's your thing.
2. The road-trip: It's the Great American Adventure. Some historians say that the roadtrip was born during the depression. During the great excursion, after every Midwestern household was sent a bright, beachy postcard – in the dead of winter – hordes of people packed up their cars left their home en masse to beautiful, sunny California. Guess what they discovered: Route 66. You can relive that experience but you can't fly that route!
3. You have everything you need with you at all times. If it's in the camper, it's at your fingertips.
4. No hotel charges, and none of that other stuff that comes with the hotel either. No worrying about the cleanliness of the floor the kids are playing on; no exorbitant minibar charges; no crying over the stale bagel and crummy coffee that is so well-marketedly referred to as “Continental Breakfast.” (On what continent does old fruit paired with powdered creamer stand for breakfast, anyway?) 5. Rec. vehicles move a little slower, since they're bigger. Chances of getting a speeding ticket: slim.
6. Peace and Quiet: the kids will have many more entertaining distractions – which means less “are we there yets?”
7. Less cash and time will be spent on meals. Your fridge and tiny pantry can handle a good amount of sustenance. (Again, no minibar costs! Hooray for refrigeration!)
8.Getting lost not quite as painful as it can be with other travel options. (Driving in Florence? Painful. I don't recommend it) Getting lost is part of the adventure, and as I said before the kids are quieter. GPS users can disagree or say this isn't a real reason but...they have GPS.
9. Every town has a place to park. And a story to tell.
10.Choose your own travel crew. No strangers on a plane with germy recycled air. The only strangers you'll meet will be in a new, exciting setting or in the open air. And RV people are nice people.
A friend of mine just bought a car. A brand new
car. A brand new American car. No, really. He's not crazy and
he's not alone.
Apparently, lots of people are buying new American cars. Perhaps
you remember the sour-soaked bankruptcy news about a year ago. The Big
Three were in trouble, showing up to Congressional hearings, hats in
hand, filing bankruptcy. Word on the street was that American companies
didn't get it; they didn't understand what the public wanted. Today, I
can fess up to the fact that I thought American car companies were in
cahoots with oil companies because a couple of the American hybrids that
were made in 2005 got less gas mileage than the non-hybrids
made in Japan. Weird, right?
Well, turns out, I might have been the crazy one. American car
sales are WAY up. General Motors sales indicate a profit of $865 million from February to April. And things are looking up and up.
Experts predict that the rise is expected to continue - not just to blip
for the one measley quarter. Ford's sales are climbing up the charts,
as well...thanks in part to the success of the new Focus model.
Ford's brand may be increasing popularity, but the Mercury line of
Ford's brand does not exemplify that. As sales have decreased (92,299
Mercury vehicles sold last year, total), parent company, Ford is discontinuing the Mercury brand by the end of 2010.
2010 GMC Terrain
Theories about consumers' reasonings for purchasing American brands
range from patriotism to personal preference (certain Japanese
brands have made more headlines about safety concerns than truck
sales). Whatever the reasoning, instead of criticizing an American car
company for filing bankruptcy, signing off their debts, taxpayers
getting the gyp, yada-yada-yada, I'm thinking: that bankruptcy may have
done the trick! It may not have been great for investors in the
short run, but if you look at the numbers (GM was paying close to $1
Billion a month to their debtors alone - much less making nearly that in
profits)
It may have registered only a minor blip in the news radar but a blip can be a really good sign--especially if your name is General Motors. Sales indicate a profit $865 million last quarter, showing that those bailout dollars and bankruptcy we were all buzzing about a year ago might have been just the kick that GM needed. One analyst for the company was quoted, "This is exactly what the bankruptcy was supposed to do." In pre-bankruptcy days, the debting era of GM's recent history, the company was paying numbers similar to that profit in interest alone.
Some consumers likely scoffed when the bankruptcy was first announced - not a huge surprise if sales numbers exhibit real consumer interest. But now GM is pumping out new products like the Chevy Cruise and the Buick Regal in addition to stocking cars that people already want (the Equinox doesn't rest on the sales floor of most dealerships for more than a day), and consumer interest on the rise in a big way.
It might just be one quarter, three months from February to April, but it wasn't just GM that gained. Ford announced an increase of 24.8% for the month of April - just another 20+ point increase for the fifthmonth in a row.
In contrast to GM's praises for its bankruptcy, Ford execs downplay government-incentive programs, claiming that the uptick is more likely from the popularity of the full-size trucks that Ford's Japanese (and allegedly faulty hybrid-making) competitors don't produce. That might just be a PR thing: in April, the Focus C-car's sales rose 20.7%. PR thing or not? That's something I can only speculate. Something I can say with a lot more certainty is that America's auto industry is not done making great automobiles OR history.
"There were two Toyotas in front of me, and another behind.
Couldn't help but imagining a string of them in front and behind me,
trolling the slow lane all the way down the windy mountain in the rain
that was just beginning to fall. Fords, Chevrolets, Hondas, and other
brands just whirred by. It really speaks to the motorists' reactions to
the recalls we keep hearing about in the news. Toyota drivers are afraid
of going too fast if their gas pedals or brakes prove faulty." That was
how my cousin described her trip down to Santa Cruz last Friday
afternoon.
News about the recall came too late.
Deaths occurred, including one accident involving a police officer, his
wife and two children, which perhaps was the catalyst that marked the
recall of the Prius for the sticky acceleration-pedal problems. The 911
call that took place on the freeway prior to the death proved that there
were uncontrollable acceleration problems.
The
lawsuits against Toyota are stacking up all across the nation. And
Toyota is stacking up the recall list: Not only are the gas pedals
sticking in the 2010 Prius, but there other recalls are being made for
unrelated problems, including more makes and older models. The list
grows on and so does consumer confusion.
While the
CEOs and corporate PRs of Toyota focus on damage control, they are also
pumping out equipment and increasing maintenance crews at dealerships
to solve the problems. Yet they are limiting equipment distribution to
mechanics at their dealerships, forcing consumers to go back to the same
company that originally sold faulty equipment, instead of their
personal trusted mechanics.
When I was growing
up, my parents taught me that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound
of cure. Now that I'm older, I've come to understand that corporate
greed doesn't end with "selling quality products."
The interior was exquisite: a wet bar, dvd player, plush seats and plenty of space. The one place they never thought to look was the one place that could have destroyed their beautiful Rec-Vehicle: the very top. All of their luxuries precariously existed inside the dry, temperature-controlled space until the next rain or winter trip to Yosemite. Luckily, they spotted the cracks in the roof before any of their interior niceties suffered water damage.
RV roofs today are typically made with a plasticized rubber substance. With time and weather exposure this rubber gets cracked and brittle. This photo shows a roof in which the outermost-layer of the roof, which helps to seal the roof at the edges and prevent weather exposure, has begun to deteriorate from age and poor maintenance. Does vacationing under this sound relaxing?
To get the most mileage from your RV's roof, maintenance should be done on the RV at least once a year, preferably just before the rainy season. (Some roof manufacturers insist cleaning four times a year. If you live in a humid or rainy climate, more cleanings and treatments might be necessary.)The roof rubber must be cleaned and treated with a roof treatment.This works a lot like sunscreen to protect the rubber from the sun's UV rays--which are the biggest factor of plasticized polymer degradation. In this picture, you can see that the roof vents and all of the components had to be removed then rubber had to be peeled off and replaced.
Protect that roof that protects your investment, and your family will enjoy camper-life for many, many years. If you're trying to enjoy the great outdoors when the roof seals fail, you'll be wishing for a tent!
Alignment - Yes, it will save you time, money and having to buy new tires!!
A friend of mine was driving around when she hit one of those mysterious curbs that seem to come out of nowhere. You know the kind that I'm talking about: the kind that you don't really even know is there until you drop down from it, and even though the fall is only about four or five inches and takes place on only one corner of the car, it still makes a loud, scary noise that you can feel in the seat. Thankful that the tire was not smitten with a gaping, leaky hole, she continued on her merry way. She asked me to take a look at it the next day. After inspecting it, I told her about the rim that was slightly bent. "Well, that's not that big of a deal, right?" Riiiigghtt. Running out of gas is not that big of a deal either. But it gets your attention when it happens.
DEAL - Mention you read this article on our blog for a 10% discount on alignment service. Offer expires 12/15/2009.
What usually doesnotget your attention is the alignment that skews with the natural wear and tear on your car. The tire alignment alters little by little every time you drive your car. It alters even more when any large bump, curb or pothole get in the car's way.
Is wheel alignment important? You bet it is.
Think of it this way:Research indicates that the average vehicle is driven about 12,000 miles per year.If your tires are .17" (that's less than 1/4 of an inch; in technical terms professionals measure in degrees and this would equate to a mere .34 degrees from the proper rotation) out of the ideal, the total mileage that's added when you automatically and subconsciously readjust can really add up. Gas mileage isn't the only thing that loses its quality: tires wear thin faster, too.
When you actually feel the alignment out of balance (if you feel drifting towards the right or the left, your steering wheel vibrates or is not centered), that will add up to a lot more mileage than the 1/4" that I am talking about. And, it bears mentioning, weight and shape of your vehicle can also greatly effect how much the alignment variation will pull you. Keeping your tires rotated, as well as keeping the wheels and tie rods (that's what connects all the steering widgets to the wheels) aligned will save you big bucks in the long run.
DEAL - Mention you read this article on our blog for a 10% discount on alignment service. Offer expires 12/15/2009.
Sadly, General Motors Co. is
ahead of schedule in the decommissioning of its Pontiac brand, with the auto
maker now expecting to run out of vehicles sometime in November, if not sooner.
GM announced in April
it would shut down Pontiac at the end of 2009 as part of its restructuring
plan, leaving Buick and GMC the lone survivors of what was a troika of brands
the auto maker had blended together into single dealer points throughout the
U.S.
Following the
announcement that it would close, Pontiac delivered 20,000 vehicles in June,
18,000 in July and 18,000 in August.
Only 16,000 plus
change are left, and within 60 to 90 days they will be out of Pontiac be out of cars. That is
about 4 months faster then anticipated.
"I wish they would
have done this and a few other things sooner, as it may have staved off the
demise of G.M.," says Steve of BARV.
2009 IRS Standard Mileage Reimbursement Rates Released
Business Travelers' Rate Drops 3.5 Cents to 55 Cents Per Mile
On November 25, 2008, the IRS released the standard mileage reimbursement rates for 2009.
Beginning January 1, 2009, the standard mileage reimbursement rate for business travelers will drop from 58.5 cents per mile down to 55 cents per mile. As I reported last summer, the IRS raised the standard mileage reimbursement rate 8 cents to help offset the high cost of gas. The 3.5 cent drop still would leave the rate higher than originally set for 2008.
By comparison, in 1999, 10 years ago, the rate was 31cents per mile. My, how times have changed!
We specialize in caring about you! Any shop can take your money and "fix" stuff but is that what you really want?
I was trained to be a science teacher. I love to learn, teach, coach and explain what we see and why we believe "it" happened. That way we can minimize it and or prevent whatever it was from happening again.
We don't just fix problems. We do what we can to discover why it happened in the first place so you won't have the same problem in the future. This often means that we do a lot of research before we offer a solution. Sometimes it takes a little longer but I sleep better at night and my clients are happier.
Yes doing things this way prevents me from making money down the road for the same issues but is that really what it's all about?
We care because you matter. It's as simple as that.
Give us a try and find out what it means to work with a company that doesn't just see you as a walking wallet.
Providing professional Automobile and RV Repair Services for San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell, Los Gatos, Cupertino,
Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Saratoga CA
Copyright 2009 Berryessa Auto Repair. All rights reserved.
1. So many great places to take it. The possibilities of where are endless when you don't have to worry about where your next bed is coming from. You could take a hike and when you arrive take tea. Or take a nap. Some of the best places to stay are at http://www.recreation.gov. You can relax in nature, plan a tour of any state, or even check out every craft festival on the circuit, if that's your thing.
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