@Fryowa always talks about how he packs his own food when he and his boy travel to Iowa sporting events. You bet it adds up fast. The days of pulling into a Dog n Suds and feeding a family of four for under $10, or even under $20, are long gone. Not when you have to pay teenage employees fifteen dollars an hour to entice them to stay.
You have to pay people, even teenagers, king's ransoms just to entice them to work, and to insure them on the job. The bottom line is inevitability going to show up at the other end.
My wife and I have talked about backpacking Europe for an entire summer after retiring, selling our house, and traveling the country in an RV and a convertible.
And teen cars are kings ransoms compared to the 69 I bought for 250 on my 2 something per hour.
I didn't even own a car until I was almost 25. Went through all of high school and college without one. By comparison my daughter is 22 and is already on her third or fourth.
Oh, you were one of those kids....
Found it.Oh, you were one of those kids....
I lived in a farm community and not having a car was social suicide. I bought a 69 Satellite with 70k miles on it and different colored fenders. Got it painted, repaired rust, bought mag wheels and it was pretty cool. Those cars were basically road runners with chrome and a smaller engine (318) and smaller brakes. Gave up a girlfriend because she lived on an Iowa gravel road. No way I was taking it over dusty gravel... In college the timing chain broke and rapped the valves. An engineering student and redid the head in the dorm parking lot. Ran it to 175,000 miles which was a lot in those days. 8 track with triaxle speakers... Those 318's would take those cars to 145 mph.
Mine was a lot like this only more solid mags, lighter green main body and a dark green vinyl roof. Had the back raised some.
View attachment 9028
I had access to a vehicle in those years, just never owned one. And while it caused the obvious social awkwardness, I didn't necessarily march to the beat of the typical social drum in high school. To an extent I still don't. It's part of how I survived growing up Irish on the heavily German north side of Dubuque back when that still meant something. It's how I continue to survive being a hard core Hawkeye fan living in Wisconsin.Oh, you were one of those kids....
I lived in a farm community and not having a car was social suicide. I bought a 69 Satellite with 70k miles on it and different colored fenders. Got it painted, repaired rust, bought mag wheels and it was pretty cool. Those cars were basically road runners with chrome and a smaller engine (318) and smaller brakes. Gave up a girlfriend because she lived on an Iowa gravel road. No way I was taking it over dusty gravel... In college the timing chain broke and rapped the valves. An engineering student and redid the head in the dorm parking lot. Ran it to 175,000 miles which was a lot in those days. 8 track with triaxle speakers... Those 318's would take those cars to 145 mph.
Mine was a lot like this only more solid mags, lighter green main body and a dark green vinyl roof. Had the back raised some.
View attachment 9028
Indeed! I lived in Madison for 15 years, and wearing an Iowa hat in Madison will require a thicker skin, over time!
Yuck. Yes, that does seem plausible. I've been reading some articles about our US oil refining capacity and it doesn't look good.
North is a closet Badger...
Nice move. You aren't Byron are you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoVWIM_Lbuo
A lot of the problem with interpreting the refining data is that there's no clear cut method for determining what's included in capacity. There's a lot of capacity out there right now not being considered because it got shut down during the germ and hasn't been restarted yet. That capacity can go online quickly relative to new construction, and it will once price and demand cross each other.
