Commuting Oil and gas prices Safety Transit Travel
by Hugh
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psi – check your tires
Here’s a new year’s resolution you might adopt: Check the air pressure on your vehicle’s tires at the beginning of each month. I was reminded of this when I checked mine at the beginning of this week. I began to notice my vehicle, a 2005 Dodge Caravan, was not handling as well as it should. Some of you may think it is oxymoronic to use handling characteristics in reference to a minivan but the thing just didn’t feel right. Sure enough, each tire was 4 psi – pounds per square inch – low. The ‘bus has new tires, maybe two months old, and I checked them in mid November, prior to a trip to Houston. I was surprised how much the tires went down following the recent cold snap. So, maybe you should make checking your tires a monthly chore. Just being one or two psi down can really affect miles per gallon plus, it just feels better.
Pigs will fly!
As a married man of a certain age, one expects to be given Yuletide tasks. It is a given that your regular round will be interrupted with missions for which it could be said you are not the most adapted member of the family. But it came to pass this holiday season that my dear wife provided me with one of the most extraordinary chores I have ever had to perform at this or any other Christmas. It involves flying pigs at the Mexican border.
History Passenger rail Railroads Uncategorized
by Hugh
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Transportation Museum Christmas Show
It’s been a while since I posted here but I’ve been busy setting up “Santa’s railroad Wonderland” at the Texas Transportation Museum. In its eleventh year, this eight night event has become a significant source of revenue for this small, independent museum, which receives no government funding of any kind, from city, county, state and federal levels. So we get by, solely, on visitor support. We must be doing something right because we are still here after 45 years.
Click http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/SHD.htm for more information about “Santa’s Railroad Wonderland.”
Commuting History Oil and gas prices Passenger rail Railroads Roads Transit Travel
by Hugh
Comments Off on SA – Austin passenger rail still dead
SA – Austin passenger rail still dead
Like the old Saturday Night sketch about Generalissimo Franco, passenger rail between San Antonio and Austin is still dead. Oh a mortician applied a new coat of make-up, but the poor old stiff ain’t going nowhere. After twelve years of failure, a new name and an application for $5 million of tax payer money was enough to create a blip of interest but even that has not lasted long. Oh well.
Last Ford Model T cruise of 2009
Model Ts at Guadalupe River State Park
I was able, among other pressing projects, to squeeze in one last Model T drive yesterday, Saturday November 14. Accompanied by three other Ts, we drove from the Texas Transportation Museum on Wetmore Road twenty seven miles to the Guadalupe River State Park. Our small convoy represented the gamut of Ts well. There was an open tourer, a closed sedan, a light duty pick-up and the “Diva,” the museum’s heavy duty truck. I began calling it the Diva due to its unfortunate habit of running perfectly well at the museum and local roads but acting up horribly at any public event while, often, being the center of attention, for reasons that both bemuse and confuse me.
Car repair – be careful of what you are not paying for
Nobody enjoys having to get their automobile repaired. If you are lucky you get to drive to the shop of your choice. Finding yourself on the side of the road or even your driveway in a dead car is just about the worst feeling in this modern world of ours. You may never have a clearer understanding how much you rely on your vehicle than at this moment.
Commuting History Passenger rail Railroads Safety Transit Travel
by Hugh
Comments Off on No news = good news for railroads
No news = good news for railroads
I’m guessing you haven’t heard much about the railroads recently. The more they fly under the radar the better they like it because these days, when it comes to railroads, only bad news is good news. The Union Pacific is probably happy. Sure beats 2004 and the torrent of bad news way back then. These days they are regarded as just one step up from the water and sewage systems. These only make the headlines when something goes wrong. Certainly there are still far too many accidents at grade level road crossings but few blame the railroad for this anymore. If drivers are willing to risk absolutely everything to beat the train, just to save a minute or two and not miss the beginning of “Jeopardy” or something equally banal, well, you cannot legislate away stupidity.
History Roads Travel: classic cars driving old cars restoration
by Hugh
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1929 REO at the Alamo
Some old car restorations take longer than others. In the case of the 1929 REO Flying Cloud coupe belonging to the Texas Transportation Museum, it took a number of volunteers over ten years. But today, just in time for its 80th anniversary, it made its public San Antonio debut at the San Antonio Founder’s Day event held at the Alamo today, Saturday October 24, 2009.
History Roads: classic cars Roads
by Hugh
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San Antonio Car Clubs
Automobile fanaticism runs deep in San Antonio. There are at least thirty different car clubs in the city, from the Ford Model A to the Nissan Z and all points in between. There are enough car shows for at least one every weekend of the year. Some are specific to one manufacturer or even model type, others are general invite. In the cause of full disclosure I should admit I am heavily involved in organizing two of them, one in the spring and the other in the fall. Each focuses on entirely different parts of the spectrum, Ford Model Ts and military vehicles, and yet even here there is overlap, in the form of World War One ambulances.
By and large it is a masculine preoccupation. There are most welcome exceptions, with skills to put the best to shame, but when all is said and done, it’s a guy thing. Male enthusiasms are invariably inexplicable, mainly because they are essentially illogical. Why do some get so involved in stamp collecting? What’s the big deal about football? Can’t it be said with some certainty who won the Civil War and what happened at the Alamo? And why are you still playing with trains at your age? What’s wrong with you? Nothing, actually. We each seem to have some activity that floats our boat, or perhaps more appropriately in this context, a key that starts our engines.
Bicycles Commuting History Oil and gas prices Safety Transit: Bicycles Commuting gas prices Safety Transit
by Hugh
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Dude, where’s my bike rebate?
I recently acquired, at surprising expense, a bicycle, a seven speed commuter bike with full mudguards and a wire basket that can hold two single gallons of milk. It is even more “green” inasmuch as it has a dynamo for its lights, with a neat little capacitor to keep them lit when stopped at traffic lights, not a good place to be unilluminated. My main goal, at the time of purchase, was to avoid yet another piece of garage art, well intentioned but ignored after the initial enthusiasm wore off.