Last year I wrote about my love of discovering new places to eat on the road, and while I still love discovering new places to eat on road trips, I think I have to make a change. That being, eating in the car. More specifically, eating while driving. I mean, it's not very safe, it's pretty stupid of me, and I've had some good warnings as well. Continue reading after the jump!

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Spotted today outside of a used auto parts store in Winnipeg was something I had to go back and get a few obligatory terrible cell phone pics of: a Toyota pickup with a diamond-plate body. I'm not sure how much of the original Toyota lurks under this truck and no, it's not a vinyl wrap. This is a truck rebodied in diamond plate, even moreso than the many Jeeps with damage-prone sections plated over or the trucks with custom diamond-plate boxes.

Why not? Makes it a fearless offroad warrior in a place where cars are known to rust in our long winters.  Bonus points for the mesh window cover and auto bra.

Right now I'm in my late 20's, and I've been driving for as long as is legally allowable where I live. Since age 16, I have owned my own vehicle as well. So that's well over ten years, certainly enough time to form a fairly solid opinion on what I believe is the worst type of passenger. So, what is the worst type of passenger? Well, beyond a feral dog, it's those without a license or even the ones who do have a license and have never owned their own car. Yes, these types of passengers are in fact slightly worse than having a feral dog loose in your car. Want to know why? Read on...

Snowy, frosty, obscured windows. It's winter and if you live in the snow belt then you've probably noticed cars on the road with drivers who have not taken the time to clear nearly enough snow off their vehicle. Some drivers will do a quick sweep of the windows with a gloved hand and then drive off with a snow drift on their roof, others will have no problem driving at night with ice crusted snow blocking their headlights. The worst offenders are those who will have the gall to get in and drive immediately with only the very bottom of the windshield being clear as they slowly creep along the road peering and hoping the engine will heat up defrosting their windshield. Saving precious seconds I'm sure and perhaps costing precious lives if they're not lucky. It's not even just the frosted windows, it's the people shooting down the road while the snow drift on their roof disintegrates falling on the windshield of the driver behind them. Continue reading...

Perhaps I'm only noticing this as much as I am now because a friend was the victim of an automotive smash-and-grab. Maybe it's the two cars on my street rocking plastic-and-tape windows, or maybe it's the fact that we had to get the police out to a popular Winnipeg hotel last night as some patrons were smashing windows on cars, including a taxi in our fleet.

For most people in Winnipeg, Canada it's not a question of if you do cross border shopping; it's "Fargo or Grand Forks?" Like many Winnipegers, I've been travelling the three- to four-hour trip since childhood and still make the journey about twice a year as an adult. Why? Why travel a few hours to one of two towns for the sole purpose of shopping? Well, it's only a few hours away, things cost less, selection of things we don't have available here, and unless you're terminally boring yourself you can have fun really anywhere, different surroundings help. These reasons make it a fun weekend destination. Continue reading...

After experiencing something that many of us have in the past few years—a layoff—I was quick to take whatever job I could as soon as I could. Twelve days later I had a job offer, and it was for something very different. After years of working in various call centers mostly as a supervisor and mostly in the financial field, I was now about to embark on a new job as an overnight taxi dispatch supervisor. On the immediate plus side, as a lifelong automotive enthusiast I sort of had a somewhat automotive related job now. From day one, this was an experience from which I have learned a lot. Continue reading...

"Two air conditioner settings, regular and 'max' and they both work," I said to myself while buying a Sable wagon for the wife to replace her old Taurus (Bort) that died in a roundabout accident earlier this year.  The car is overall great.  Nice silver paint, fold down the perfect half-leather, half-fabric, seats and you have a gigantic cargo bay, drives great, everything seems to work except the power antenna.  For the price of just less then two grand, this 1998 fairly basic model drives great, looks good to anyone who likes a Sable wagon, and with its remote start, rear defrost, heated mirrors, and new tires it seemed like it would be a great winter car.  I was wrong.

I love road trips and I love eating.  With a road trip from Winnipeg to Minneapolis a week away, I am already looking forward to wonderful road food. The tiny pizzas, heat lamp burritos, gigantic cups of flavored coffee, those little english muffin breakfast sandwiches, two-for-one hot dogs, and all the other delicious little formally frozen foods brought to life by a heat lamp. Continue reading...

It's been a while since the last time I submitted an article to one of my favourite blogs, so here I am, and it's for a gripe session. Did the terrible paintbrush picture give it away? My guess, no. That's fine, read on and I think you might even end up agreeing with me.

For starters, I live in a little house on a little street in an area that is fairly close to downtown. There are a lot of schools, churches, and to make matters worse, a small convenience store at the end of my street. Why is that worse? Traffic. We also don't have any driveways as we have a back lane with garages. Many of us have only one car garages so the street is always filled with cars. This leaves one or two spots open on each street at a time. If you can park in front of your own house, that's a good day. Continue reading...

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