I wish we could do with just one vehicle Deborah. It is nice to have one SUV in the family. My dh drives a 2 door sports coupe which he adores. We tend to take my vehicle for camping and vacation as it has a lot more room. This is the first vehicle I've bought that has 4 doors. If we didn't need the extra room so often, I would love to buy a itty-bitty car to zip around in but as Duane says, it does come in handy. I cannot bring myself to drive a moo-van, so the smaller SUV was our only option. The big SUVs scare me.

deborah

Urban Assault Vehicles...Suburban Intimidation Vehicles...it's all the same.

What's not helping, of course, is that the drivers of these vehicles are now all officially REALLY angry. Gas prices are double what they were when they bought their land yachts, their trade-ins are worth very little if they chose to trade-in for a smaller car. They're in a real pickle, even if they *are* smart enough to want to change their ways (which many aren't...I've seen a lot of free-floating anger on the road lately, as well as at the pump).

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the hard-working contractor who really needs his F-250 (fortunately for him, he can deduct his mileage). I'm not talking about the family with 4 kids, who actually really need the Ford Explorer (although probably not the Excursion!). Hell, DH and I have a "yard truck", a big ol' GMC pickup (an early 90s model that gets maybe 10 mpg) for plowing the driveway and going to the dump. But it never leaves our town, and we'd never dream of driving it on a day-in, day-out basis!

I'm talking about Joe-Sixpack accountant who bought his Tahoe because he thought it looks cool, and rarely if ever hauls more than one other person (or a six pack) around in it.

Sorry, Joe, but perhaps you could have seen this coming...

But the really sobering thing is this: We burn a lot more extra fuel by eating food which was grown more than 1500 miles away from where it's consumed than on any of this SUV nonsense. I was ecstatic the other day when I found Massachusetts-grown Granny Smith apples at the local farm stand (my DH's favorite --- and as a city letter carrier, his lunch is VERY IMPORTANT!). No more flyin' those puppies in from Colombia...

It's odd to think about it, but eating local is really just about the best thing one can do for the environment (other than not having kids, o' course).

The local co-op is actually having a "grown locally" potluck this Saturday. Everyone's supposed to bring something that they made out of local ingredients. When I can, I buy local, especially fruits and veggies. Less travel means less bruising, and less sitting around losing flavor!

I also drive a smaller car, a geo prizm. It's a bit beat up, but it zips when I need it to, and doesn't guzzle gas, and has plenty of room in it. I used to take the bus everywhere, but I get motion sickness easily, and it's really hard to get groceries/do anything in a timely manner when using public transportation.

Red Writer

LOL! Those of us who drive larger vehicles have the exact same problem with the commercial trucks! Makes me wish that I could drive a tank.

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Never trust a sheep.