I also give a wide berth to women drivers and this sometimes draws attention. I mean when I’m on the bicycle and some woman driver noses out over half the pedestrian sidewalk (you don’t use the 18-inch wide “bicycle lanes” over here and live to talk about it). She only looks left, so never pass in front of her. You see, if a female driver kills you with her car in Florida, all she has to do is cry and tell the world she is sorry. And this is something that Florida women can do exceedingly well. Why, it almost convinces even me.
JZ and I were also talking about women. I know all the standard gripes, but he did ask a poser. Out of the usual, is there any defining characteristic of older women who claim they can’t find a good man? Yes, and it is fundamentally different than a man who claims there are no good women. In each case, the only thing on the woman’s mind is her own immediate creature comfort in the next five to ten minutes. Anything beyond that is too distant to consider, and anyone else’s viewpoint is just drama. If you find an exception, we’d like to meet her in person.
While we are talking about insurance, auto insurance is a racket in Florida. Full of shifty operators, so beware. You do not require a driver’s license to own or insure a vehicle in Florida, but you must be a resident. You do not require a credit rating, but unless you give out enough information to an insurance office to do a soft hit, they won’t sell you insurance. That means it is de facto a requirement and if you don’t know what a soft hit is, I’m not going to be the one to tell you.
If you value your personal information, do not insure with Geico, Allstate, or Progressive, nor any office affiliated with them. Under law, the only personal information an insurance agent needs is your name, address, and age. The other factors they want, like your driving abstract, credit rating, and criminal record are factors that influence your rate. When they talk “eligibility” they mean for a discount, but often are too uneducated themselves to understand that. And if you are willing, as I am, to pay the top rate, eligibility is no longer a factor. But like I said, Florida is full of slimeballs.
Worst offender? Direct Auto Insurance. Avoid those people like the plague. They cannot give you a quote until you supply them enough information to do real damage, should you by now decide not to buy their product. I told the lady to “stick it where it felt good”, although with her mentality I doubt she grasped my message. This all means I leave tomorrow without insurance, but I’ve taken that chance before. An interesting defense would be that nobody would sell it to me.
I leave in the morning tomorrow. Am I ready? Nope. And neither are you. If I failed to mention, the brake light problem turned out to be wire gauge, a particularly difficult situation to remedy. A rainshower dampened my head rest in the camper, which I should have been ready for but was not. Tomorrow I find out how to air out the sarcophagus “on the fly”.
One of the better sources of information turns out to be Skip, the biker from Jimbos who likes to blast along at 80-90 mph, accepting any citations (tickets) as a cost of doing business. Not me. I moreover doubt that regardless of scale (Harley scale), I would ever really enjoy driving a motorcycle over 55 mph.
ADDENDUM
The results of the test run, as promised. I had to replace lug nuts that would not stay tightened. I hesitate to use locktite on lug nuts. And all you hardware people who make out like metric nuts are so special they should cost three bucks apiece—you are so stupid. Just call them what they are: vastly overpriced. I mean, they are made on the same machines using the same process as any other nut. Nothing special, so don’t pretend there is or that you have some insider knowledge to justify such rip-off prices.
The camper does not like speed bumps, or as they are known locally, speed breakers. It does not like in-town driving altogether, as fully loaded it does cause a noticeable tug on the hitch pulling away from a green light. Naturally, a camper is harder on the brakes. Although the tongue weight somewhat improves traction and Honda brakes will squeal, they squeal a tad longer with the camper attached.
What else? Everything on the interior will have to be battened down extra well. Everything I attached on the inside was lying on the floor when I got to the far end this morning. The battery clips I’ve been using can be jarred loose, though I may have to live with that on this trip. The only really good news is that I seem to have more electricity than I need. Alas, all extra is wasted as the battery stops charging at capacity. But it is there if I need it.
The rig draws a lot of attention, so I’m happy the mesh cladding mostly disguises the solar panels by making them look roughly like a roof rack. I was going to tidy that up, but now, I’ll leave it as is. Overall, the camper was very well-behaved on the freeway for 20 odd miles, so I know if I must, it will tolerate higher speeds. The camper is designed for long secondary highway trips, not touring the town. As mentioned last day, the camper behaves perfectly in the range of 48 mph up to 52 mph, representing the fastest I ran the test.
My self-installed camper brake lights quit working, indicating a loose or faulty relay, an easy repair. I will also purchase a special deep socket for the lug nuts, as I didn’t have the proper tool to cinch them and that cost me. I discovered the low battery condition inside the camper causes the lights to flash instead of just go dead or go dim. That is a nice design touch because I can install an idiot lamp instead of constantly checking.
I don’t trust mpg ratings, the only gas mileage stat I believe is the one you get out on the road for 500 miles at a stretch. My guess, by the feel of the throttle, is that I will lose around 1 mpg off the 33 mph I now get, which is insignificant but something I will watch ever so acutely. I’ve resolved to give the camper bolts, not just the wheels, a check at each fill-up, or approxitudely 150 road miles. This is a two minute job compared to other campers which require a checklist a foot long.
This is an additional step, this walk-around because you can not stroll away while the Honda tank is filling. What? You want an explanation? I can do that. If you insert the nozzle deep enough to anchor it, the mechanism will trip when the tank is only a quarter full. You must carefully hold the nozzle at precisely the correct position to top off. Even with practice, years later you will still occasionally spill some gasoline. No smoking, please.
