Subject:
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Re: Recreational vehicles and more questions about the US
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.geek
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Date:
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Wed, 26 Apr 2000 22:05:00 GMT
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Viewed:
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181 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.geek, Fredrik Glöckner writes:
Hehee.. it sure can be edcuational seeing the US through other eyes :)
> When traveling in Florida recently, I saw a lot of recreational
> vehicles. I realized before traveling to the US that everything "over
> there" is large.
Well, I can't compare to Norway because I haven't been there, but there are
plenty of small apartments over here. You just gotta know where to look. Come
over to my place some time. I'm thinking of building my bedroom furniture out
of Lego bricks so I can have a place to put them.
> But those RV's were extraordinarily large. Can you
> drive such a vehicle with a normal license?
To be perfectly vague, there is large (which requires no additional license)
and larger (Which does :) I can't explain it, and I don't know the maximum
size of a vehicle that can be driven with an ordinary license. And it can vary
from amongst states.
> And what puzzled me the most was the cars being towed by the RV. How
> can you negotiate a turn with a vehicle hanging behind? And why don't
> all the rubber on the car hanging behind get torn off at every turn?
> Or is there some kind of "magic" which turns the front wheels of the
> car at the turns?
If I understand you, it's a lot like the wheels on Lego trains: if two axles
are adjacent, they more or less behave as one set of wheels. When compared to
a long vehicle, the distance between axles on the short one is often not a
concern. In the long haul, it's really no more wear on the tires than a lot of
people incur while adjusting their car's steering while their car is
motionless (such as turning the wheel while backing out of parking places).
The other reason is that the wheels do turn at different rates on either side
of vehicle as well due to differential gears, so that helps a little too.
> I really wonder why people need to drive around in oversized trucks all the
> time.
For a lot of people, the size of the car is a safety issue, real or not. It's
then a question of how much space and 'armor' is between you and the next guy.
It's also an issue of comfort where lots of driving is concerned: there *is* a
lot of real estate to be passed by car when traveling in the US. Plus, there
are plenty of oversized people to drive them.
> Do you normally haul large items?
Not always. But think of it this way: if you lived in a country where you
could move quickly between two points and it was considered normal (even
expected) that you used a form of transportation that did this, you would
probably do it if you could afford it. Not just that, you'd get used to the
conveniences that such a form of transportation could routinely offer you.
> And the gas prices. There were lot of moaning over the recent raise
> in gas prices, but please keep in mind that home where I live, gas
> prices are _still_ much more than twice as steep! And Norway is a
> major oil producing country.
In Norway, how much of that price can be attributed to taxes?
> Of course, with the large vehicles you
> drive, I can understand the gas expenses is a major part of the
> household budget.
Yes. In a republic like America where you can gripe about it, we do, even if
it's not the problem that the rest of world sees it to be. It's therefore a
natural thing for Americans to mention it here too in this international
forum. We gripe about other things too, though the gas issue is one topic
shared by a lot of people.
If my memory serves me correctly, which it might not (so please correct me if
I'm wrong here) Norway is a monarchy. Does that have any bearing on why [more]
Norwegians don't complain about their gas prices? In what ways can it be done
there?
> In the US, you're supposed to tip in non-fast food
> places, right? So how about Pizza Hut, which is basically a fast food
> restaurant in my opinion?
Restaurant pizza is considered 'tipless' unless one of the two following
criteria are met (others knowledgable feel free to add if I omitted something):
1) the pizza is delivered to you somewhere away from the restaurant, and it is
intact and hot (inspect before tipping :)
2) the pizza is served at a sit-down restaurant with servers, usually Italian -
which often serves a good variety of other things as well - and all the food
was brought to you at your table (in other words, you ordered pizza at a real
restaurant).
> We tipped, but judging from the reaction of the staff, they don't normally
> get much tip?
Not at Pizza Hut :)
> All in all, we had a very nice trip around in Florida and the Deep
> South, but we had a tad bit too much driving and fast food in my
> opinion. But both were quite hard to avoid, it seemed.
Yes, even in the opinion of some Americans. Here's something my wife does
which helps: on trips she'll either bring ahead of time (most of the time) or
briefly go shopping for fruit on the way. Stores, fruitstands, sometimes even
farms with houses right on the road often do nicely. That way, while you might
have a burger, you don't have to eat the fries if you're still hungry - have
an apple instead.
-Tom McD.
when replying, the White House used to serve coffee and spamcakes at morning
fund raisers.
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