OK. I don’t deny it. It is true that I look at the world with just a little bit of “tilt“ in my vision.

I travel a lot. I might travel more than just about anybody that you know. When I travel I am constantly getting a reaction from people that kind of goes like this, “You’re not from around here, are you boy”?

Remember when you signed up for my newsletter and I promised you a “Dave Barry-like “ experience at times? This is one of those times. These are just a few of the observations I’ve made over the past month or so with my friends on Facebook.

I have the same policy on Facebook as I do with my newsletter. I don’t discuss religion or politics. This does stress some people out. They kind of want to know if you’re “for ’em or against ’em”. I’ve had to unfriend people on Facebook for making political references after they have been warned not to.

I do talk about life experiences, financial strategies, cars, racing, and a bunch of other stuff. I hope you find that approach refreshing.

Last night in Baltimore near the airport I made my last gas stop with my rental car. It was 1 a.m. I noticed a young man making a commotion outside of the convenience store. It appeared that he might’ve been locked out intentionally by the store. He was pounding on the window, screaming and pointing. I hoped to get my gas and get out of there before any trouble came my way. That didn’t work.

Just as I was completing my fill up the young man came over to my car. At this late hour, there was no one in the area other than him and me. He started to verbally accost me with demands that I needed to give him some money for food. I don’t give money to people in situations like that.

He then started to get up close and personal with his demands. We were chin to chin and brushed up against each other. I really didn’t want to get into an altercation with this guy because I didn’t know what his weaponry might be. I didn’t know what his blood test results might be at this moment. People get killed in situations like this.

He got right in my face and it looked like at any second we could be “on“. Nope, I wasn’t looking for this. At that point, I used something that I learned a very long time ago in Marine Corps Boot Camp. I just started yelling and screaming at him at the top of my lungs and he backed off. He was surprised.

From a distance of about 10 feet, he circled for a moment somewhat like a wild animal and then walked away. Maybe I was just big enough or just athletic looking enough that the guy thought he might look for an easier target. Maybe NONE of that went through his mind. This encounter along with the rural Pennsylvania peeing episode with Mr. NRA told me that you have to keep your eyes open when you travel to the East Coast.

By the way, yes I lead a very exciting lifestyle. No, I can’t make any of this stuff up because I don’t have that kind of imagination.

At our house, Carol does 100% of the chores. I don’t do ANYTHING. Today I saw this lady mowing her lawn. I’ve never had Carol mow the grass. I can’t afford a lawn as a retiree living on a small fixed income. The last time I mowed a single blade of grass was in 1983. However, if I DID have a lawn I would have Carol mow it… and I believe she would have the time of her life. Don’t blame me. I’m only the messenger.

I use ApplePay on my iPhone. I NEVER have a coin on me. I rarely touch a piece of paper currency. I simply tap my Apple Watch and I’m on my way. Kids at a McDonald’s drive thru get frigging AMAZED when I do that. I love it when I see technology disrupt stuff for the better. I am an early adopter of most technology. Technology is all about making my life easier and reducing my expenses.

Here’s the cool thing about America. People vote with their feet! If a business gets more “votes” then they go to the bank. Others go bankrupt. How did Walmart and McDonald’s and Amazon wipe out the competition? People voted with their feet! I vote for capitalism.

I last slept in a bed on Tuesday night. It’s Saturday night now and today’s shower at the Love’s truck stop might’ve been my best ever shower! When was the last time you showered at a truck stop? Truck drivers excluded!

Ever heard of a “basket“ of fries at McDonald’s? Me neither. However, with my app they were free and I had room for 100 cal so I went with it. I love McDonald’s fries.

Somewhere out in Ohio on an 8 Hour overnight drive tonight. Wednesday night was an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Thursday night was an all-night drive with four hours of sleep in the Baltimore airport and now tonight an all-nighter down to Eastern Ohio. I am definitely living the dream.

From yesterday’s trackchasing trip …..There came a point where I needed to make a bathroom stop. Because the area in Pennsylvania was so rural my options were limited. You should know that I have spent a lot of time on a golf course in my life. There are times when you’re playing golf that a normal bathroom setup is not easily available. The typical round of golf is going to take four hours if not longer. I will leave you to your own personal conclusions as to how the situation is frequently handled by male golfers.

Today I pulled off the two-lane highway about 100 yards and drove my car up a narrow gravel road. I parked just outside of the view from the highway traffic. I noticed that I was situated at the entrance to what appeared to be a coal mine. There were several signs stating “no trespassing”.

I found my spot which was located very near a beautiful clear spring. I was admiring the spring and seemingly out of nowhere a white pickup truck came driving through that stream and made a right-hand turn right into the area where I was “operating“.

Rather than get somebody in the truck who might honk and smile or wave and smile or just ignore me the 50-year-old NRA member had to yell out in his loudest voice “Really?”. “This is private property!”. With that, I wrapped up my business so to speak, and made a hasty exit. What were the chances… right at that second?

Since the police didn’t lock up their bikes here in the Detroit airport I thought about taking one for a spin. Would that be the same thing as stealing a cop car?

This is the warranty info on my 2020 Tesla Model X. 4 years/50,000 miles on the basic vehicle and 8 years/unlimited miles on batteries and drive train. Some people say there is no such thing as “unlimited miles”. What do I say to that comment? “You are reading WAY too much into this!”

I pass this information along for one reason only. We can’t even imagine what people will come up with to make our lives better in the future.

I’m just relaxing in a soft chair here in the Philly airport after flying all night. The cops just rousted a guy nearby for wearing his blue jeans too low throughout the airport. WTF is the matter with people? I can’t make this stuff up!

This is for the engineers and math majors. I can’t be misled by this chart. I have NOT walked 4 miles today. I flew overnight and landed on the East Coast this morning. I did some powerwalking this morning in the airport but 1.7 miles of my walking was done last night after 9 PM in California which puts that mileage into my East Coast totals for today. This is where the foolery comes in. If I stopped walking at this point for today when I returned to California those 1.7 miles would be deducted from my total for today because they actually occurred “yesterday“ in California. Nothing in life is simple. That’s one of the things I like about life.

It’s nearly a half day job washing the windshield on my Tesla Model X. Well not exactly. The car has the largest windshield in the world at 31 ft.². Although I park it indoors when I’m at the airport the windshield will get dirtier faster than the car body which means I have to wash the windshield about three times as often!

This is me streaking down the 405 freeway here in California in the carpool lane. I’m driving by myself. Normally, the carpool lane requires two people to be in the car. However electric vehicles do not have that requirement. I don’t make the rules. I work hard to understand the rules. I try to take advantage of the rules.

I’m planning to go to a major-league baseball game tomorrow with a buddy. I had to figure out which park I wanted to visit. I chose the game with the lowest-priced tickets. Angel Stadium. Six bucks. I’m kinda glad the game in Minnesota didn’t have the lowest-priced tickets. My savings would’ve been eaten up in airfare, right? Inflation? Inflation don’t exist in my world.

Questions?

What a beautiful night for a ball game.

We’ve all seen those cars driving up and down the road that are rusted out badly from the salt that is put on our highways during winter snowstorms. Think this corrosion only happens outdoors? Can you give me an example of when corrosion does take place indoors and what might cause that? Were you thinking of this? No…you weren’t.

My Tesla has so much technology in it. It’s really a computer on wheels. Here I’m opening my glovebox with my private PIN number. No keys to mess with. This is a nice security feature when using valet parking, which I try to avoid at all costs, because I don’t want anyone touching my car.

Probably the most frequent question I get about my Tesla automobile is how long does it take to charge it. No one ever asks me how long my Apple Watch will last or how long it takes to charge it. The answer is my watch can get through the day easily and I simply charge it overnight whether I’m at home or on the road. The answer is the same for the car. Just like anyone with an Apple Watch or a Tesla most people charge them overnight. When they wake up they’re ready and raring to go for the entire day.

I’ve got a question for you. I’ve probably heard 100 times or more that wind machines are a blight to our landscape. On the other hand, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone tell me that telephone poles carrying electrical lines are an eyesore even though telephone poles are probably 1000 times more prevalent than wind turbines. I’m looking for anyone’s opinion who can express it without whining about political parties or politicians. Would love to get your perspective because I certainly don’t understand it.

People often ask me “How much does it cost to charge your Tesla?”. Well…here’s the answer. As the attached photo shows it takes one kWh of electricity to move my car 3.36 miles (139.9/41.6). To make that equivalent to dollars/gallon you need to know your cost of electricity. Let’s say you pay 15 cents/kWh. Let’s say your gasoline car gets 25 MPG. It would take 7.44 kWh (25/3.36) of electricity to move my car 25 miles. At a cost of 15 cents/kWh it would cost the equivalent of $1.11/gallon (7.44 kWh X $0.15) for electricity. You can fill in your own electrical expense and MPG to get an answer specific to you. Remember, and this is important, people don’t pay $60,000 and up for a Tesla to save money on gas…but that is a benefit!

One more thing about my California carpool lane sticker. It’s not free. It costs $44 for four years which I think is a steal for the time it saves me. Unfortunately, it cannot be renewed. Soon I will start pricing mannequins.

Wife Carol, who has a more than healthy distrust for the media, is requiring me to tell you that some of the accounts explained in the “McDonald’s barbecue sauce“ story are semi-fictional. Stuff like this gives us something to talk about in our 50+ years of marital bliss.

We have a big house. If I were to move the smallest knickknack a quarter turn within 24 hours Carol would ask me “Why have you been touching my knickknacks?” I got home late last night from Minnesota. I was trying to finish off the last remnants of a McDonald’s buffalo sauce packet…and dropped it! The contents went all over the kitchen barstool, my brand new Dude brand shoes and landed face down on the floor. Just lucky I guess. I did my best to clean things up. This morning when I woke up she was standing over me…waiting. Her first comment was not “Welcome home”. It was “What did you do to my bar stool?” What did I learn from this? There is no WAY I could hide another woman in the house!

This is my 38-panel solar panel array. I’ve had it for nine years. I have only one nagging question about this solar idea. Why didn’t I do it sooner? Answer. Just stupid, I guess.

My Tesla Model X is 2 1/2 years old. It still looks as good as the day I took ownership. Notice the orange carpool sticker? This allows me to drive in the carpool lane, which exists on virtually every freeway in Southern California when I’m the only person in the car. Otherwise, the only vehicles allowed in the carpool lane would be cars with two or more people and motorcycles.

Life is made up of a lot of very simple questions that need to be answered. One of his them is can a plastic fork be washed with hotel bar soap and be good to go? I never know the correct answer to questions like this because at home I have “people“ who take care of this stuff.

If I ever leave my house dressed like this you have my 100% authority to have me committed to the nearest mental institution or Hollywood fashion show.

Breaking in my new Dude brand shoes (size 15!). I think they are going to work out very well. By the way that is no longer a golf tan but a power walking tan.

My Tesla doesn’t have a bumper that looks like this…yet anyway.

I can never pass up a sale. Four bottles for $9.99. Plus anything packaged in bright and attractive colors has to be good for you, right? I am now prepared for the dog days of summer trackchasing.

Just when I think I’ve seen it all…I am reminded I haven’t. Just outside Globe, Arizona.