Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Of Sundances and Tires

Was on the way to work and someone was very much in a hurry. Not just using multiple lane changes, but to the point of using exit and acceleration lanes to do the passing. I saw him quickly dart back into the driving lane after passing a fully-loaded dump truck leaving only a few feet of room. Quite the NASCAR move. But, HELLO, IDIOT! You're in a Plymouth Sundance! Do you realize that you're not much more than a bug on a windshield compared to that truck!? Maybe Darwin will strike for this person. Let's hope that it involves no one else at the time.

I've been looking for tires for the Toy for playtime off-road. Funds have been tight so I decided to revisit a retreading company that I had used before and was pretty pleased. Prices are still great, but better still is the environmental impact of this process - or lack thereof if you will - when you compare. To make a truck tire requires the use of 22 gallons of oil. Yes, 22 gallons are used in the process. Most of this is in the casing of the tire. A retreaded tire reuses the casing which does two things: keeps the casing from the landfill and only uses 7 gallons of oil in the process. More than one-third less. I'd say that's substantial. Now I can tread lightly and practice some environmentally-conscious recycling. All the little things add up.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Dude - you're an excellent example of an eco-warrior. I have some trees you can hug and some dirt you can worship here in Flagstaff when you're ready to move LEFT.

CTB said...

Whoops! I used my Dad's g-mail account. You can still be a tree hugger here, but going to MPLS isn't exactly left. Good luck with that tire idea, and keep Putin out of business.

Big Steve said...

You do of course mean LEFT on the map, right?

CTB said...

Oh yeah - 'Madisconsin is already as far left as they get, right?!