Jeremy Herndon

I found out that yesterday was the first day of school for the neighborhood kids in this county. All the school buses are heading out bright and early to pick all the students up and the roads are getting jammed up again in the morning. I’m glad that most of the buses are done delivering when the evening rush hour heats up.

I hate bumper stickers. You would never catch me putting any bumper sticker on any of my vehicles. They just look tacky to me and they really take away from the looks of the vehicle. I’ve seen cars just plastered with these popular stickers and it just really grosses me out.

State Farm is really pushing their “Neighbor” campaign. It seems that at least 4 times an hour we are being told by the State Farm Rep to talk to our neighbors and see if they have State Farm. And if it isn’t State Farm, we are watching Progressive’s aggressive campaign with their dingy acting and looking female spokes person. So much insurance with so little time and/or money.

As you can probably deduct from looking at my WordPress theme, I have an interest in cars.  I enjoy reading magazines and websites about cars, and I enjoy watching the NASCAR  races, and watching television shows about cars.  I like to think that there isn’t very much about cars that I don’t know.  So it comes as no surprise to me when a friend or relative tells me that they are shopping for a car and ask me about my opinion on the car itself, or about the prices.

One thing I do suggest to my friends is to check out websites like thecarconnection.com website.  In addition to reviews of gazillions of cars, they also list prices – both of new and of used cars.  So it is as easy to find bmw x5 prices and toyota rav4 prices as it is to find chevy colorado prices  or nissan maxima prices.  Just a few clicks of the mouse and you can find all of the information you could possibly want on new or used cars.  I appreciate having a guide like that before I make a decision to buy or sell a car.  Isn’t the Internet great!

Having been born and raised in a small town, it is really nice knowing who you can trust to do a good job, and who to avoid. After all, you grew up and went to school with everyone in town! Everyone knows everybody, and there are no secrets, that is for sure! Sometimes that can be a bad thing, but if you need an oil change or a brake job you know which shop to take it! And most of the shops are just large garages behind the proprietor’s house. Many times you swap services in a barter system, so often all you actually have to pay for is parts.

It’s not like living in a big city, like Houston; that is for sure! In a large city like that I’d have to rely on some other method to find a good Houston auto repair shop. And in the big cities like that, often the shops specialize in a certain brand of car. So I couldn’t take my Acura TL to just anyone – I’d have to do some research to find out which places service them. In a way, I’d feel hostage to the big companies in that way. Yeah, I’m sure glad I live in a small town. There’s a feeling of security and comfort here – even though the gossiping can turn against you in the wink of an eye!

Private number plates have always fascinated me.  I like to look at other cars plates when I’m driving, or when stopped at a traffic light.  Many of them are designed to “say” something special and are easy to figure out what it is they are trying to say, like “LUV2FLY” or “IOIO” or “C-YA” or even “JAIL-B8.”  I’ve seen business vans with company plates with special designations that referenced the business.  If I had a daughter who drove a car, I’d definitely want her plate to read “JAIL-B8″ until she was 18 years old!  I’m sure she wouldn’t like it, but I sure would feel better about letting her out on her own!

Having these special plates, often called “vanity plates” costs more when you register your car.  Because of that, I’ve never gone ahead and bought one for myself.  I’ve always had other important bills that needed to be paid!  But I understand that there are several states that use the money raised by the sales of these plates for worthy causes, such as supporting youth sports programs.

I think that is a worthy cause, and I’m going to check and see if my state does that too.  If it does, then maybe I’ll go ahead and order a plate.  The challenge is in finding a plate that I like that isn’t already being used by somebody else already!

My wife and I decided to stay home for New Year’s Eve and just relax at home. We had a really nice dinner – beef stroganoff; one of my favorites! A nice bottle of wine, some home made bread. Relax by the fireplace and put on some mood music, dance a couple of slow dances.

The ringing phone blew those plans apart – my sister-in-law called us, in a panic. Her daughter had borrowed her car and hit a deer on the way home. The car is undriveable. She was calling me to ask me to go out with my truck and find the daughter and take care of the situation as best as I could. Since the accident was closer to my place than to hers it was hard to say no.

So my wife and I bundled up and hopped in the truck, off in search of the wrecked car. Sure enough, the front end was bashed up pretty good. We called for a tow truck and drove our niece back home. Thankfully she wasn’t injured herself – the deer was a large six point buck! Too bad for the deer, it didn’t survive the crash.

So the new year is off to a bad start – a car wreck on New Year’s Eve! Well, maybe that’s just a bad ending to the decade and we hope that this new year will be an improvement….

Bryce’s son Jared just bought a Honda motorcycle – a 900RR. It’s bright red, black and white graphics. Just sitting still it looks like it’s going 100 mph! It’s registered for 170 mph and he says it will do every bit of it! Better him than me! He just got done changing the exhaust over because it wasn’t loud enough. There again, he was questioned by “the authorities” but he produced a legal sticker and they told him to “cool it” and let him go. That’s a joke! But still, what a nice bike!

My friend Bryce has a new 4-wheeler. Actually, to me it’s a four-wheel drive Cadillac! It looks like a golf cart, and it’s all enclosed with a fiberglass top, windshield and doors. It has a full bench seat and a heater that you actually have to shut off even when it is cold out because you get so warm! It has four big all-terrain tires on it and you can go anywhere in the snow, but the other day, when I went over, to my surprise he had bought a conversion kit and turned it into a bulldozer! It actually has four independent tracks on it in the shape of a “V” and it really looks funny when you stare at it because the tracks turn independently on the front and you can go anywhere – and I mean anywhere!

The first one I ever saw belonged to the bait dealer in town where I live. He wanted something that would go anywhere anytime he wanted without worrying about getting stuck. The kit was an extra $3,000 but he said it was worth every penny. Now there are two of them in town! It’s camouflage green, so when you park it in the woods in the summer you can barely see it. He keeps asking me to come over and go for a ride, he says I can drive it, but I just haven’t had time. I hope to do it soon!

My friend has an ’89 Camaro. He basically restored it – all he really needed was to pull a few dents, paint it, and replace the chrome that was worn out. But he went a little overboard – it had a small block 350 in it and an automatic transmission – when he was done (with the new paint and chrome) he added a big block 454 with a 5 speed standard. The car is gloss black, and it is hard to see at night. You ought to see it go!

For some reason, he can’t seem to keep rear tires on the car, it doesn’t matter which size. He has a problem leaving the remnants of the tire in the road where ever he leaves from! Last week he told me the State Police were getting tired of getting complaints about the noise that this car made. I said “which noise, from the tires, or from the exhaust?” He laughed and said “both!” He said that now he has to go down back roads and play with it when he wants to, and we all know what I mean by “play with” – screech screech vroom vroom! He gave me a ride in it, he’s a real good driver, but I don’t want to ride in it again!

I’m afraid that I am going to have to put the car in the shop this week, it is running rough, and I don’t want to be out and about going to or from an errand and have it quit on me. Especially when there are so many “dead spots” in the cell phone service out here. It acts like it is running out of gas, but it has plenty of gas. So I put a can of dry gas in it, thinking that maybe it was just some water in the tank, and it ran fine the next day, but started acting up again the day after. So maybe it’s the fuel filter, or the fuel pump. I don’t know, but it needs to be fixed!

Just one more aggravation, another thing sucking the money out of my wallet!

This morning I was unhappy to discover that my car had a flat tire.  I guess it was a good time to have a flat tire, since I was home at the time.  Not that it is EVER a good time to have a flat tire; they are a pain in the butt!  But if I HAVE to have a flat tire, I’d much rather be at home discovering it than out on the road; especially on an Interstate Highway in rush hour!  But face it, a flat tire is an aggravation, no matter what!

Thank goodness my spare is good, but it IS a donut tire so I need to go to the tire store as soon as possible to either get this flat tire repaired (I hope it is repairable!) or replaced.  I didn’t have road hazard insurance on the tire that is flat, if I have to buy a new one I will be SURE to get road hazard insurance this time!  Tires are not cheap!

I was very irritated today. I went to the self-serve gasoline station to fill up my car. I clicked on the trigger to make the pump continue to pump (it is supposed to kick off when the tank is full) and I was using the windshield washer squeegee and fluid that the station provides to clean off my windshield and headlights. The trigger didn’t kick off, it kept going and going, even though the tank was full. I noticed that there was gasoline just dripping down the side of my car. I rushed to the nozzle and turned it off manually. Boy, was I ticked off! I made the station give me a free car wash, and take $5.00 off of my charge for gas.

In my opinion, people should be diligent about making sure that they have enough insurance, both for their homes and the vehicles.  These are big ticket items that would devastate someone financially if something bad happened to them and the owners could not afford to fix them up.  However, in this economy, people need to pay careful attention to what insurance they are buying; they want to make sure to get the best value for their money!

With that in mind, I think it is wonderful that you can get Online Instant Insurance Quotes to help you find out what is available “out there” without having to make a lot of phone calls.  I love how you can get Auto Insurance Quotes and Home Insurance Quotes with just a few clicks of the mouse and keyboard!  You can get all of the information you need in the comfort of your own home!  Isn’t technology wonderful?

I think that it is great that so many car manufacturers are developing, manufacturing, and selling a variety of hybrid vehicles.  Finally they are starting to respond to what the consumers actually want and need!  I’d like to buy a new vehicle in the next couple of years, once the economy settles down a little bit and we are a little bit more confident with our financial status.  For now, we are looking at cars like the honda civic hybrid 
and the toyota camry hybrid as the frontrunners for our car search.

My brother has been telling me that he wants to buy the new audi a3.  I was reading about that car on the website thecarconnection.com and think that it is a nice looking car.  I was surprised to read in that review that they seem to think that Americans in general don’t like hatch-backs and wagons.  I love them!

My cousin recently moved to the DC Metropolitan area.  He sent me an email detailing his adventure on the commute last Friday afternoon.  It all started when he accidentally left his cell phone at home.  Well, it only got worse from there.  He went to work, the day was fine, but when he left for home, trouble started.  He had just got onto I-66 when he blew a tire.  So, he pulled off to the shoulder.  Well, he is young and never paid attention when his father showed him how to change a tire, so he really didn’t know what to do.

And, he had no cell phone to call AAA for help.  So he put on his hazard lights and waited for someone to stop and offer help, or at least a police car to stop to investigate.  He waited over an hour before someone pulled over to check him out.  He was smart enough to turn off the engine, so as not to waste fuel, but he listened to the radio and kept his hazard lights flashing (and with his car, if the key is turned on the headlights are on.  I think you can guess where this is going.)

Finally a nice man stopped to see if he needed help.  He didn’t change the tire, but he coached my cousin through it so my cousin changed the tire himself.  As the job was nearing completion, a DOT maintenance vehicle pulled up to check him out.  When the tire was changed, my cousin thanked the guy who stopped first for his help, and the good Samaritan left.  My cousin hopped back in the car to start it up, only to find that the battery was now dead!

Thankfully the DOT vehicle was still there, and that man gave my cousin a jump start so he could finish his journey home.  He got home more than two hours late, but safe and sound.  Hopefully he won’t forget his cell phone again!

I was reading that President Obama has asked the EPA to consider allowing California to require better fuel efficiency in cars. I think that fuel efficiency should be required in all of the states, not just California! I don’t think there is a valid reason in the world why so many cars and trucks get such poor fuel efficiency! The technology is out there; we should be using it!  One of the reasons the big 3 car companies are struggling right now is because they keep producing gas hogs, so people are buying foreign cars that get better mileage!  They need to wake up and smell the coffee!

My aunt has a 2008 Toyota Prius that she has put a lot of miles on.  I’ve been envious of her Toyota Prius ever since she bought it.  She likes to brag about how she gets 50 miles per gallon with her Prius Hybrid, so she says she doesn’t worry about the price of gas.  Well, I think that even though she gets such great mileage she should still worry about the price of gas!  After all, when the price of gas goes up, so does the cost of everything that we buy – food, clothing, everything!  I guess she’s just a little bit naive about how the world really works!

I’d like to buy a hybrid vehicle the next time we buy a car; I like the looks of the Honda Insight.  The reviews on that sound promising!  It may be a couple of years before I have enough money to buy any new car, though, so I’ll be interested to see what else comes out on the market!

Well, the winter weather we have been having recently certainly makes for dangerous driving conditions!  This area does not get this kind of weather frequently enough for the government(s) to invest a lot of money in snow plows and sanding machines, and the employment of the driver/operators needed to run them.

What’s sad is that so many businesses still expect their employees to come to work, even in extreme weather!  I don’t think that speaks well of those businesses.  I think that if the local schools are closed, it is because their experts have determinedthat it is not safe driving for the school buses to get the children safely to school.  And I feel that if the roads are not safe enough for the school buses to be out there, then all businesses (except the essential hospitals and emergency services) should be closed, too.  Simply out of concern for the safety of the workers.

I was reading on the Discovery Channel’s website that a new car will be hitting the market later this year.  It is a flying car!  Basically it is a plane that has wings that can fold up so that you can drive it home and park it in your garage.  It will fly for 500 miles on one tank of regular unleaded gas!  Now I think this is a really awesome creation, and I’d love to have one!  (I’d also like to get one of those car-boat things that were sold back in the 60s! – oh, and a hovercraft!)

Anyway, it will retail for (are you sitting down?) $194,000!  I think I’ll have to wait a few decades for the price to come down!  But it sure would be really awesome to own one of them!