Comparing Trucks – 2006 Nissan Titan vs. 2013 Ford F150 EcoBoost
After researching pickups for features and towing capacity, and disqualifying any I thought too ugly or expensive, I settled on – and subsequently custom ordered – a new Ford F150 V6 EcoBoost. With the rear end I ordered – 3.73 – it’s rated to pull 11,300 pounds and a GCVW of 16,900 pounds (insert Tim Allen grunt here). It has twin turbochargers and gets decent mileage (for a truck) – at least when not towing. The Titan is rated at 9,300 pounds towing, still not too shabby, and more than adequate for our fifth-wheel trailer. As I was driving it home, and then later in the driveway, I started mentally comparing it to my seven year old Titan. Following are my observations: Smoother ride in the Ford – less trucky Less tendency to jump from a...
Read MoreStill-Life Masterpieces at NC Museum of Art
File this under the heading of things to do when out-of-town company visits in the Raleigh area. You know how you hate to just sit around the house or go shopping? This is an inexpensive (relatively) way to get out and burn a couple of hours and maybe tack on lunch, the way we did recently. The exhibition, on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, features a bunch of artists I’ve never heard of plus a few that I have. In the interest of full disclosure, I was not an art major in college, although I did take an Art Appreciation class one quarter. That’s probably why I’ve heard of Georgia O’Keefe and so was interested in her painting titled Sunflower from Maggie, painted in 1937. I also am familiar with (well, I’ve heard of)...
Read MoreTitanic: The Artifact Exhibition at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
I’d been meaning to attend this exhibit since it was announced, and I finally got the chance when out-of-town visitors arrived for a week’s stay with us recently. It’s ironic how the need to entertain company can provide the impetus to finally do the things you’ve been meaning to do anyway. Or at least in my world it is. The museum web site describes the exhibition this way: “On April 15, 1912, Titanic, the world’s largest ship of its time, sank after colliding with an iceberg, claiming more than 1,500 lives and shaking the world’s confidence in the infallibility of modern technology. One hundred years later, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, which showcases 200 artifacts retrieved from the wreck site of Titanic, arrives at the...
Read MoreA Tasting We Will Go…
If you think that the wines produced in North Carolina are all syrupy sweet, you will be in for a surprise if you visit some of the wineries in the state. Although you will certainly find many sweet wines, you will also find many others that rival California, Oregon or New York wines, both in taste and in quality. When a group of four of us spent a Sunday afternoon visiting three different area wineries, I was very pleasantly surprised at the offerings available. And, without planning it that way, we experienced three different styles of presentation. The first was Chatham Hill Winery just off Aviation Parkway in Morrisville, not far from the Raleigh airport. Located in a sizeable office complex, the facility is large, open, well-appointed with a...
Read MoreTerrific Things Come In Small(er) Packages
It was amazing to me that such sleek products could come out of such a compact facility. My tour of the Coach House RV plant in Nokomis on a beautiful southwest Florida morning started in the back lot behind the building. Here there were huge molds used to create the main bodies of the luxury compact motorhomes built there. The company has their own molds for the six different models they build on site. The units start as bare chassis which they buy from Mercedes (diesel) and from Ford (gasoline.) The chassis arrive at the facility with a van front end and a bare structural frame. Each includes two front seats, engine, drive train and dual rear tires on a single axle. Everything else to complete the units is built in the facility. All of...
Read MoreA Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Experience
If you’re a fan of the show on Food Network hosted by self-described “full Cali” Guy Fieri, then you know about “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” If you don’t know, keep reading to find out what the heck “Triple D”, as it’s sometimes called, is about. Hint: “Triple D” isn’t the size of a woman’s foundation garment – at least, not in this case, anyway. As part of our planning for a recent visit to the aviation museum in Charlotte, Ellen wanted to research a restaurant which had been featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and stop for lunch while in town. This is a TV show where the host travels the country, nominally in a fully restored red ’67 Camaro SS convertible, and showcases...
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