I am not fan of diet foods, light beer or filtered cigarettes.
In many ways I am not sure if the Godzilla truck will get worse gas mileage then my lifted Silverado – at least on the highway. The lift kit and big tires was a pretty big drag on the old truck, though it was a bit hard to get an accurate MPG reading on the screen because the 35 inch tires through off the odometer. But that’s beyond the point.
Gas mileage is great in a commuter vehicle where you are forced to drive every day, but for a truck I plan to drive primarily recreational, it’s not that important. A more expensive to drive vehicle is an incentive to drive it less. Much of the negative impacts of motoring is not the fuel consumed, but mileage driven. Fuel consumed doesn’t induce new highway construction or suburban sprawl. I want the truck to enjoy it and get to places in wilderness in comfort, not save a few bucks in fuel recreationally.
I have always used my parking brake at stoplights. I figure it’s good to exercise the parking brake to keep the cable from binding up, especially on automatics.
Apparently using a parking brake at stoplights is uncommon in America though widely practiced in Europe, but I was reading on the new cars with automatic parking brakes you can hit the gas peddle to release the parking brake, and can this help starting up steep hills if your car doesn’t have hill start assist.
As Google AI says …
Using the parking brake (handbrake) at traffic lights is generally not required by law, but it is considered best practice for safety, especially on hills, when stopped for more than 8-10 seconds, or to prevent rolling. It secures the vehicle, prevents rear-end collision damage, and reduces leg fatigue in manual cars.
Reasons to Use the Parking Brake at Traffic Lights:
Safety on Hills: It prevents the vehicle from rolling backward when moving off on a steep incline.
Preventing Rear-End Collisions: If hit from behind, a secured handbrake helps prevent your car from being pushed forward into traffic or pedestrians.
Resting Legs/Manual Transmission: It allows you to take your foot off the brake and clutch, relieving fatigue during long waits.
Avoiding Dazzling Drivers: It prevents you from keeping your foot on the brake pedal, which can blind the driver behind you with bright brake lights.
When You Should Use It:
On steep hills: Mandatory for safe, controlled, no-roll starts.
Long traffic light stops: If you know the light takes a long time.
Busy, close-traffic scenarios: To prevent accidental rolling.
When It Is Unnecessary:
Short stops on flat roads: Holding the foot brake is generally sufficient.
Automatic cars: While safe, it is not mandatory to stop the car from rolling unless on a significant hill.
Using the handbrake every single time can sometimes cause distraction, so the key is to use it when it enhances safety, such as on hills or long, busy stops.
Cue the Dire Winter Emergency alerts, as they need something to fill the colored television screens as the Extreme Cold Warnings are likely done for the year. I’m just hoping that I won’t get too soaked or pelted with sleet riding my mountain bike downtown at end of day to catch the yokel local bus with all the state workers and others on pogey all way home, it’s so slow, don’t you know.
Quite the sunrise this morning 🌅 before the Dire Winter Snow Emergency 457 of the year. 🌨️ I am sure I’ll get so wet riding down to the bus in evening but it will be a nice morning to ride in and not actually all that cold for a change. Maybe when there is no hope, there is help 🌷 that in the sense that spring is coming and soon enough I’ll be picking up that ginormous truck with the Godzilla engine. And then I can ride my mountain bike 🚴 to work on the bike trail, stop recycling plastic ♻️ and smoke weed up in wilderness with a big fire 🔥 while listening to Dick Curless. Get a cellphone booster then I can work remote or stream shit from camp even in more BFE locations with marginal cell reception.
As the poor desperate individual without an Ford F-350 truck, I did the radically dangerous thing and rode my mountain bike after dark to Hannaford via the back streets through the endless suburban sprawl subdivisions, and got some whole wheat flour, frozen Maine “wild” blueberries, olive oil and bananas so I could have some pretty damn good pancakes this morning mixed with carrots obviously for fiber. Truth is I rarely have any problem shitting these days with my diet. I thought about making more beans up last night but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning if I soak them tonight. It feels good though having studied the inventories of trucks, and seeing there are a bit of a glut of Godzillas on market in the spec I’m looking at, so I think I negotiate a deal that works into my budget, get the truck I want, then just pick it up, hand over a big check, and it’s mine. Then order the camper shell, cellphone booster and any other wires and hardware to get it done by early summer, ready for the big trip out to Michigan. Yes, it’s extreme mental illness, don’t you want the plastic house in suburbs? Yes, the farm and off grid cabin some time in the future , move back out in the country, but not this year. Getting old though.
It’s just so much more fun to ride my bike to work then to take the bus and shuttle to the suburbn office, much less have to – gasp – drive to work. I was listening to Dick Curless , everybody’s favorite cowboy singer with an eye patch . Not too cold, they finally have the Quay Street Bike Path connector plowed. I’ll figure out what to do when it’s snowing this evening but I don’t expect the snow to be too deep on the roads, and it should be fine for riding in tomorrow. While traffic wasn’t terrible at the US 9W and NY 32 split this morning, I can’t wait until the bike trail is free enough of snow to ride both ways. Don’t you know, professionals don’t ride their mountain bike to work, or take the city bus and shuttle, nor do they drive big-assed Ford Trucks to the wilderness. But it so much fun, and plus it doesn’t leave me feeling morbidly obese when I get to the office .
I did the radically dangerous thing and rode my mountain bike after dark to Hannaford via the back streets through the endless suburban sprawl subdivisions, and got some whole wheat flour, frozen Maine “wild” blueberries, 
olive oil and bananas 
so I could have some pretty damn good pancakes this morning mixed with carrots 
obviously for fiber. Truth is I rarely have any problem shitting these days with my diet. 
I thought about making more beans up last night but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning if I soak them tonight. It feels good though having studied the inventories of trucks, and seeing there are a bit of a glut of Godzillas on market in the spec I’m looking at, so I think I negotiate a deal that works into my budget, get the truck I want, then just pick it up, hand over a big check, and it’s mine. 
Then order the camper shell, cellphone booster and any other wires and hardware to get it done by early summer, ready for the big trip out to Michigan. 
Yes, it’s extreme mental illness, don’t you want the plastic house in suburbs? Yes, the farm and off grid cabin some time in the future 
, move back out in the country, but not this year. 
Getting old though.
then to take the bus and shuttle to the suburbn office, much less have to – gasp – drive to work. I was listening to Dick Curless 
, everybody’s favorite cowboy singer with an eye patch 
. Not too cold, they finally have the Quay Street Bike Path connector plowed. I’ll figure out what to do when it’s snowing this evening but I don’t expect the snow to be too deep on the roads, and it should be fine for riding in tomorrow. 
While traffic wasn’t terrible at the US 9W and NY 32 split this morning, I can’t wait until the bike trail is free enough of snow to ride both ways. 
Don’t you know, professionals don’t ride their mountain bike to work, or take the city bus and shuttle, nor do they drive big-assed Ford Trucks to the wilderness. But it so much fun, and plus it doesn’t leave me feeling morbidly obese when I get to the office 
.