Robert Hall

I assume Vance will carry the torch, and the brain washed masses that support the MAGA movement now will follow him even though he doesn't have the Trump name... There are plenty of young right wing MAGAts..it's not just the old farts...there are many brainwashed imbeciles of all ages that worship Trump, Musk, Joe Rogan, other right wing cretins... I never thought in my lifetime the movie Idiocracy would seem to be a documentary... a nation of useless imbeciles...f'em all. I have no interest in them.. Dwelling too much on the state of politics, state of the world and the state of culture is depressing. On the other hand, my stock portfolio is doing very well and my retirement investments are solid. A few more years in the game, maybe I'll retire early.. working from home at my current company is very pleasant, though. But I can't see myself staying in the tech grind until I'm 65... For the last week, it's been wet gray days in the 20s-30s with lake effect snow... winter came earlier than usual this year. Ugh.

Auugggghhhh....I worked for Wells Fargo in Chandler, AZ from 2009 to 2011...what a truly, deeply awful company...absolute sweatshop environment in IT/Software Development. Too many 70 hr weeks, 5am emergency calls, Friday night implementations...not to mention a 50 mile round trip commute in awful traffic... in 2011, after 3 people in my 25 person department had heart attacks in 6 months (one fatal), I had had enough. And I went somewhere even worse--McKesson, home of 90hr work weeks... I don't miss any of that.

Good news... I haven't paid attention to F1 much in the last few years, but used to be a huge fan...from reading about it in Road & Track as a kid in the late 70s to watching on tv whenever I could find it from the 80s through the early 00s, then again in 10s.

A lot of unrest and instability in the world today. I try and ignore the news and focus on things I can directly affect (work, pets, house, etc). Dwelling on the world is just too depressing these days.

There is also a Packard museum on the other side of the state...Dayton area IIRC. I want to visit that one also.

Speaking of Packards, can't recall if I posted about this here, but I went to the National Packard Museum in Warren (OH) last month...some really neat exhibits and cars. The 40s and 50s models had so much neat detailing.

The '72 Gran Torino is one of my favorite early 70s Fords..love the Sportsroof fastback roofline. I also really like the '71-72 Galaxies and LTDs..huge cars with very crisp lines.

I wouldn't mind retiring to somewhere walkable where I don't need to drive, but can drive when I want to..

My car has a supposed 525 mile highway crusing range on a full tank (19.5 gallons). I haven't fully tested that since I tend to fill up at 1/2 tank when on road trips..but I have recorded averages of 29.5 and 30 mpg on road trips, which is pretty good for a comfortable 4200lb AWD sedan..

@trinacriabob in your flying in recent years, have you had a trip on an A380? If so, how does it compare to the larger Boeings?

My cousin Mike in Kentucky worked for Toyota (quality control for interior assemblies) for 30 years and retired from them a few years ago, drives a 10 yr old Tacoma and his wife has a 10 yr old Camry. He does like my Cadillac, though. The funny thing is his adult children (all my age or so) seem to drive GMs. I've never been a Toyota fan or hater, but I wouldn't mind having a Lexus LC500 convertible in nori green.

Unfortunately, I share a birthday with Elon.

Strange days indeed...

'luxury urban SUV'...seems like Escalade (and others) has fit that description forever... not intended for off road use, more for city use. Same as a 'soft roader' I guess...something for city use and not off-road. Though in some cities a small SUV fits that bill while other cities (like Phoenix) size is not an issue.

I like the styling and shape of the Lyriq, esp from the rear..

Not sure...I'm not using it, so apparently it wasn't that useful to me...wherever I've gone, I've been there. Having on the phone only makes sense because you have to have location services turned on for it to gather data, and your phone is always with you, so...

Had to look up what Google Timeline was... apparently a feature of Google Maps. I think I've used it, but several years ago...not something I actively use. I mostly use Waze for navigation. I use Google Maps at home on my laptop when exploring an area/planning a trip then Waze when I'm in the car.

Neat pics. I've never been to Kansas, only been through Missouri on I-44 and I-70 a few times, never visited any tourist locations or anything away from the freeways.

Alas, I'm too embedded in the US to leave. I like my house and cars, my dogs, my job, my stuff. If I didn't have any stuff, I'd love to be able to emigrate to either the Yorkshire Dales or Devon coastline of the UK. I love gray, rainy maritime climates. And I am of 99% English ancestry, though going back to the 1700s in the US. Ride the trains around the UK and Europe. Get an old Range Rover and Jaguar XK8 convertible to drive around in. In the US, I have thought retiring to the coast of Massachusetts or Maine could be quite nice also. Also thinking about an RV. And figuring out how I can retire in 6 years when I'm 60. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of retirement, but my investments are doing well, so it's definitely doable.

I miss the colorful interiors and comfortable seats older cars often had.

3rd gen CTS was about the same size as the last STS...within 2 inches of wheelbase and length. I can see the appeal of the smaller 1st gen CTS for nimbleness and parking. With the length, long wheelbase, width and AWD of the CT6, I'm becoming accustomed to making 3- and 4- point turns in parking lots. Down the road I'm thinking I wouldn't mind an XLR-V or 2nd gen CTS-V coupe for another fun car...

I do miss the seats of my old '00 WJ Grand Cherokee. It was more comfortable on long trips than my '14 WK2 Grand Cherokee that replaced it. The newer GC is larger outside, but feels smaller in the front cabin than the old one (smaller windows definitely are part of that). The seats seem to not be as well padded as the old one.

Recently watched HBO's 'The Penguin' series with Colin Farrell--excellent spinoff of 'The Batman' movie, and the lead woman in it would make a great Bond villian--Cristin Milioti--she was very convincing as a psychotic mobster/megalomanic. The show had a great soundtrack also. Speaking of music, listened to a lot of The Cure on my road trip over the weekend... a lot of dark, gloomy yet beautiful and cathartic music..perfect for a dark weekend.

Had to make an impromptu road trip to Louisville, KY and back this weekend for a funeral..drove down Friday evening (dry and sunny) and back yesterday (constant heavy rain up I-71`). Saw a few interesting cars out and about-- a dark colored AMG GT cabriolet and dark Aston Martin DB 12 convertible near Columbus, a couple new generation Mustangs (a bright blue Dark Horse, a bright red convertible). Louisville and Cincinnati were easy to get around, Columbus was a mess--soggy and sloggy, tons of construction and closed ramps to other freeways--couldn't get on the 270 belt line going north from the southwest on 71 so had to go all the way across the city to 270 northbound on the east side--took an hour to traverse the city (3 lanes narrowing to 1 for construction, accidents everywhere in the heavy rain). Once again, the CT6 proves itself as a great road trip car..750 miles round trip, averaging 29.5 mpg. Felt solid and secure in fast traffic in heavy rain. When I filled up Friday as I was leaving, it said my range was 525 miles. Not sure it's quite that good, but yesterday after driving about 375 miles since filling up yesterday morning I still had about 1/4 tank.

And the Browns, predictably suck as usual. Off to a 2-7 start.