Colorado 2011, Part One

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I seem to be on a trend of going cold places in winter.

I don’t quite know how that happened, except to say that we aren’t rally devoted to the idea… it just happens.

Our trip to Colorado at the end of February was initiated by a work conference Heather had been asked to attend.

So, let me back up for a second… You remember the speeds we each used when cross-country skiing? I know it’s a single data point, but it stands as a clue that Heather might not be as interested in high-speed winter sports as I am. That being said, when there was a trip to a ski resort in the middle of winter, I was kind of excited. Heather thought it would be fun… in her defense though, she had to work part of the time, so I had a lot of reasons to be more excited than she was.

Anyway, exceptions aside, we were both ready for a few days away from work.

Heather actually managed a few more days away than I did, heading down to KC two days early to visit some friends and then spend an entire day babysitting our one and most favorite nephew ! By all accounts it was fun, but more work than she expected! Who knew an 11-month-old could be so much work?

We boarded a plane from KC to Denver bright and early Wednesday morning. Thanks to the time-zone weirdness, we landed almost the same time we took off. Then off to the rental place. Apparently rental cars are in high demand leaving from the Denver airport on a Wednesday, not a problem though, we have a reservation! Only, the lady at the desk told us our reservation didn’t exist.

This is the point where you would expect the customer service person, the closest thing to a rental car expert we can find in the moment, to spring into action, providing us options and ultimately a car.

We got a blank stare. With some prompting we were assured that there “aren’t any cars left… at any of the companies here” when asked “you mean there isn’t a single car left to rent in Denver?” she said yes. The next question was just “so… what do we do now?” She pointed us to the shuttle-bus stop, and said that we could get back to the airport on the next bus, “maybe one of the other companies has a car I don’t know about”

Back at the airport, we power-walked our way to the only rental-car booth with a huge “cars available” sign sill showing. (it really felt like we should run… but one doesn’t want to stand out in the airport, who knows what they might mistake you for.) Let me tell you about the booth, unlike the other booths, this one lacked a few key items: name we had ever heard of before, a computer, a phone, any furnishings beyond the counter and a chair for the solitary staff member working the booth. The guy assured us “don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of ‘us’ ether, before I got this job… but I guess ‘we’ are big out west” He then assured us they had cars left, talked from memory about the price and options we would have, then wrote our desired car on a scrap of paper. Scrap of paper in hand, we headed out to yet another bus stop. After watching every other rental-car bus pass about three times, our bus finally arrived. The ride was normal, until we got to the ‘T’ intersection leading where you would turn to go into the rental car row. Our bus turned left instead of right. About a mile in the wrong direction and we were in the parking lot for a mostly vacant industrial strip. There were rental cars though! Dirty rental cars, but rental cars. Inside we learned that they were having problems with the car wash, but not to worry the car would be fine. A few sheets of paperwork later, and we had some keys! The instructions were to: “just wander around pushing the panic button on the remote, you will find it eventually”

Low and behold, that tactic worked perfectly, despite it’s lack of professionalism. Once in our car, we found that it had less than 300 miles on it, and was wonderfully clean– on the inside. After that, we stopped for a quick and uneventful lunch and headed up to check into the place we were staying.

hmm sorry I didn’t make it to a part where we have a picture, but the wall-of-text is sufficient to make me think I should close part 1.

-Jordan

Do More Outdoors, PT 2

Posted on by Jordan

Hey there, as you may have noticed… I haven’t posted much.

Well, it has been cold and snowy… and we really haven’t been up to much.

Our apartment is cleaner than it has been, perhaps ever! I have played a fair amount of Warcraft although nothing like I used to.

I have been meaning to post the other half of our day outdoors, I just didn’t want to bring the mood down.

Given the lack of topics to write about… I guess that is my next post!

After an enjoyable time doing various outdoor winter activities, Heather and I walked back to the car. The abundance of people attending the event had overwhelmed the small parking lot at the lodge, so we were partially off the road a few hundred yards down the way. Given that setting, I offered to pull the car out, so Heather wouldn’t have to climb through several feet of snow in the ditch.

When she got into the car, she said “the front tire looked kind of low when you were pulling out.” I took a quick peek at it: Flat, not kind of flat… FLAT.

Ok so, pull off the road so other people can get around us at least… and hmmm…. Well when we were waiting to get our cross country ski boots, I was looking around the shed we were in. It wasn’t really a shed, it was the park maintenance building. I remembered seeing lines for compressed air running down a few beams throughout the room. I hadn’t seen a portable air tank, but figured it was worth a shot.

Walked back to the shop, asked the DRN person there if they had an air tank, and if I could barrow it. She didn’t normally work at the park hosting the event, and had no idea what tools they had on hand. She did say if I could find what I needed it I could barrow it! After a little looking I found the air tank, and ancillary items needed to re-inflate a flat tire.

Walked back to the car, filled the tire. I figured if it was holding pressure by the time we drove the tank back to the shop we might be able to at least make the five miles back to the small town we passed on the way in, before making some phone calls.

At the shop, I returned the air tank, and helped the staff person load some ski equipment into her truck. I must have been a little flustered, because without realizing it, I left my brand-new mittens laying in the shop.

We pulled into a parking lot in Bondurant, and I checked the pressure in the front tire again. Things were looking good, it hadn’t lost any pressure so far! I figured we could probably make it the remaining 20 minutes home before it started to loose much more, and didn’t really relish the idea of finishing off a long day by sitting in a cold car waiting for a tow truck on Sunday evening.

Pulled off one more time, about half way home to take another look, and we were down 2-3lbs, but still above normal operating pressure (I had over-filled the tire about 8lbs). I decided we should push the rest of the way home. I should say that, while ultimately supportive Heather had some reservations about this whole plan, but I don’t think she wanted to sit a few hours in the car any more than I did 🙂

once home, we realized we probably only had a few more hours before the tire was un-drive-ably low again, so we headed back out onto the road, with two vehicles this time, bound for our mechanics lot. The trip there was uneventful, but once there it’s hard to feel 100% comfortable dropping your key, and a note through the drop-slot and walking away. We didn’t have much of a choice though, so that’s what we did.

Once home I checked, and re-checked for my mittens, and well… it was kind of demoralizing. I really considered myself to be more responsible than to loose my stuff like that. I even bought the really nice stuff, because I “knew” I could take care of it for a long time. At this point, Heather jumped in and started making phone calls. It wasn’t a good time of the day or week to catch anyone, but she left messages at a few different DNR offices. She then continued to call over the next few days, until she located the mittens, and then used her lunch break to drive out to an office on the northern extremes of Des Moines to pick them up!

During that same time, our mechanic was able to extract a nail from the front tire of the car, leaving us as good as new!

All in all, it wasn’t the greatest end to what started out as a really fun day… but things worked out in the end.

-Jordan

Find A Mechanic

Posted on by Jordan

Not so long ago the front left brakes on my Escape started making a sort of rumble when slowing down. The sound started getting progressively worse, adding an air of anxiety to counteract my normal procrastination when it comes to dealing with the hassle of trying to figure out where to take my car.

Heather and I had gotten by using the local “quick oil change” specialty shops thus far in Des Moines. I don’t really like having them change my oil, but the convenience of being able to get in when it woks for me, without having to call way in advance is nice. It doesn’t hurt that they all happen to be fairly cheap too.

I really didn’t want those guys looking at my breaks though.

So I figured I would just go to a dealership. Not the cheapest option, but you figure they will at least do a top-quality job. I started looking online for Ford dealerships, and wasn’t finding too much that was close. They are in Des Moines, but were all going to be a huge trip out of our way, and not practical on the way to or from work. Did I mention how quickly that rumble was getting worse? So I clicked on the sort of close one in Google Maps, and as often happens, the map pop-up bubble had a customer review on it. It was overwhelmingly negative, not really what I wanted to read right then.

Seeing the review got me thinking though, I had been talking to someone who moved recently, and he mentioned how helpful the “Car Talk” website had been in tracking down a good local mechanic. Going to the Car Talk website then wondering around until I realized the “Actual Car Info” tab had “Mechanic Files” that then lead to “Find A Mechanic.” It turns out they have lots of reviews for the Des Moines area!

After a little reading, it looked like West Side Auto Pros was a good option, and they were not too far from Heather’s office. I called first thing the next morning, and when the guy heard I had break problems he shuffled things so they could for sure get me in that day! I was able to leave my car, drop Heather at her office and make it to work without really even being late. I have to say seeing the big signs for “AAA Certified,” “NAPA <something or other>, and “Voted Best In Iowa” was reassuring, as well as the really sharp looking facility.

They were not cheap… not to say I think I got over-charged, but I didn’t walk away from the transaction saying “wow they came in way lower than I expected.” I have to say though, it’s like driving a new car… you wouldn’t think breaks make that big of a deal, but it feels so smooth now.

I haven’t actually gotten around to adding my review to the Car Talk site, but I wanted to share the fact that it really helped in picking a shop to use. Definitely something to keep in mind if you are trying to find a good local shop.

-Jordan

Car Problems

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I ran a few errands Saturday, including the first part of our three stop cake testing extravaganza (more on that in a later post). Unfortunately my Escape had different ideas, and refused to start when we were leaving a tux shop.

I will say that AAA pretty much sold us on getting a membership once we are married. The free tow would nearly make it worth it, and the addition of an extremely helpful tow truck driver pretty much sealed the deal. There was no question he was willing to go miles out of his way to drop me off at the church for an engagement, or for driving heather back to her car after dropping my Escape off at the shop. He also spent almost an hour trying different things to get us going before resorting to towing.

Now the downside is, from what the mechanic tells me this morning, he was completly miss-diagnosing the problem. The symptoms were that the dome lights came on, and the automatic locks were fine, but when I turned the key *nothing* happened. No clicks, no fans, nothing. Even putting the ignition in the “run” position wouldn’t let you roll down the windows or turn on the radio.

The theory the AAA guy was working under was that the on board security system had tripped, preventing the power from being engaged for ether the “run” or “start” positions. Everything he tried was related to tricks to reset the security system (apparently a problem he sees quite often). The last thing he tried was unhooking the battery for 5 minutes, and while he was at it he tested the battery and cleaned the terminals.

The shop told me over the phone that I just needed a new battery. Completely plausible considering the one in there is at least 6-7 years old. The symptoms don’t quite seem to add up to a weak battery, but its hard for me to know given I didn’t see the tester when the AAA guy checked it. If a new battery fixes it great, I just hope its still not some weirdness in the security system that just reset after setting outside the shop all day Sunday

-Jordan

Hybrids

Posted on by Jordan

I read this article first thing this morning, and realized I had a pretty bad understanding of hybrid state-of-the-art.

  1. Current production hybrids still allow for the gas engine to directly drive the wheels
  2. The lithium-ion battery in the Volt weighs well under 1000 pounds.

On the first point I am still sort of torn on, it seems really dumb to have the extra drive-train for 2 engines, when you consider weight to be your number one problem for staying efficient. Even with the dual drive option, you are looking at using the gas engine outside its optimal operating speed at least some of the time.  On the other hand, charging a battery is extremely lossy… it seems like 20-30% is the number I read not to long ago. Running your engine at optimal RPMs, you’re still bleeding energy all over, losses when you generate electricity, losses when you charge the battery, losses when you discharge the battery. I am really fascinated by the trade-offs there, I really wish hard numbers were more available. (Maybe they are and I just haven’t looked)

On the second point, I am really impressed by the performance they are getting out of a fairly small battery weight footprint. My personal experiences with lith-ion batteries haven’t been all that positive, but I think its because sooner or later my cell phone runs dead, and I hope that preventing that will extend battery life substantially. Its also interesting to me that they aren’t really charging the battery with the gas engine, just putting in enough power to keep the battery above 30% charge, so hopefully avoiding a lot of waste in the explosion –piston -coil/magnet-wire-chemical _reaction system they have to go through to charge the battery on the road.

I am still highly skeptical when it comes to the long-term viability of a battery powered car, the article claims they are shooting for 150,000 mile lifetime on the battery packs. If they make that, I suppose it’s loosely comparable to automatic transmissions.

-Jordan