Tally Ho! (Five)

Times up.

It is five months to the day that we gave up our second car and became a one-car household. It is also how long my wife and I agreed to this living-with-less experiment. I had no idea it was going to be as stress free as it was and still is.

You can link back to my first blog entry to learn more about the factors that drove our decision.

So what’s the take-away? We can live with one car. But living in a community that was build around cars makes it difficult if not down right impossible for most typical suburbanites. What truly cut down on the potential stress level is that both us work out of the house. Most people, even those who commute by train, can’t cut their ignition wires from the grip of suburban sprawl. But if one car living is unrealistic, you can still cut your use.

Here’s the five-month savings and expense tote:

New car payments (4) $3,300
Gas $ 500
Rental car ($98.00)
Repairs ($1,180)

Total to date: $2,522

Now, after all this, I really can’t say we’ll stay a one-car family forever. In fact, I hope that it ends in early 2009. My business is changing, or I should say, my business partner and I are changing to aggressively grow it. That will mean more meetings and (hopefully) more clients to visit and service, requiring maximum mobility to get the job done.

So, for now, the lifestyle continues…

The pro off-shore drilling crowd sure is naïve. Do they actually believe that gasoline prices will immediately fall if the ban on off-shore drilling is lifted? They apparently do. Consider home page text of www.drillheredrillnow.com:

"As gas prices continue to increase, Congress continues to blame others while ignoring practical steps to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. To lower gasoline prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need real solutions to our energy challenges.

We, therefore, are petitioning the U.S. Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices (and diesel and other fuel prices) by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries."

That quote from Newt Gingrich sounds great during a contentious election year, but is it possible, let alone believable? Once drilling is allowed and I predict it will be, it’ll take a least a decade before the first drop of crude makes its way to a pipeline. It's not like someone can shoot at the ground and out spurts oil.

Second, with only three percent of the world’s proven reserves, a lot of oil needs to pump through U.S. spigots to make an impact on pricing. And, more importantly, oil companies will make us pay just as much for domestic crude as the imported Middle Eastern stuff.

Really. A domestic discount? Don’t bet on it.

While we are in a protracted economic slump (notice I did not say recession) that has dampened oil market speculators, Newt doesn’t seem to realize that a “practical” step has already delivered some recent relief at the pump: conservation. People are using their cars less and that is contributing to less pain at the pump.

Parking Garages Tell An Urban Tale

It’s Labor Day weekend, and my family and I took a day trip into downtown Chicago today. Like any major metropolis during the summer tourist season (albeit the end of it), parking the car turned out to be an exercise in comparison shopping. Near high profile Chicago attractions, like Millennium Park, there is nary a parking meter in sight. No matter. We planned ahead; Sunday means free parking at city garages.

Except today.

Because of the park’s holiday jazz festival, the garage’s electronic signage flashed $25 for special event parking. Oh, yeah. That’s special alright. So special that I wheeled the car around and quickly exited to find cheaper rates.

Sure enough, a scant ten minute walk away was a relative bargain at 16 bucks. Parking was plentiful in what turned out to be an apartment building garage. But it was also a bit telling about the odd relationship between some city dwellers and their cars: they don’t seem to use them.

As I wheeled my trusty Subaru into an open space, I was struck by the number of cars covered in dust. I must have counted at least ten vehicles covered in varying densities of urban particulate. Some had light coatings, perhaps sitting unused for several weeks; several more were thicker, perhaps several months. But there was a 2008 Honda Accord that looked as if it hadn’t moved since, well, since it was sold. A thick layer of dust left the front and rear window opaque. More telling was the stalactite-type deposit from water seeping down from the floor above. It left a white stain that ran from the rear portion of the roof and down the rear window. Curious if the car was dead, or just hibernating, I peered through the foggy driver side window. Looking at the dash, the tell-tale car alarm light flashed dutifully.

It was strange about this Accord. Not a bottom-of-the rung four-banger; it was the lux edition six cylinder model with dual exhaust, fancy wheels, in-dash navigation system and black leather interior. And there it sat. The worst fate for a car, other than totaling it, is not to drive it.

Now, I’m all about utility. We use our single car. We use it effectively. We’ll use it until it dies. But, to all appearances, this Accord owner is content on paying a monthly car payment, the insurance to protect it, and the space to leave it parked in. He or she is certainly saving money on gas.

Tally Ho! (Four)

A little over four months have elapsed since we decided to live life with one car. Still no problems. None. Zip. Goose eggs. Nada.

Here’s the four month savings tote:

New car payments (4) $2,640.00
Gas $ 400
Rental car $ 0
Repairs ($1,180)

Total to date: $1,860

With one month to go I'm mulling over the thought of again having a second vehicle. Knowing that my wife and I work at home,

• should we get a second car?
• what should we get? (forget about a Smart Car or a scooter).

I Don't Think So, Newt

Now that we all know that proper tire inflation can save gas (and money), you might wonder who collects the 75 cents or so you pay to keep your black walls within spec. Is it:

A. The gas station owner
B. The air pump vendor who pays to place its inflation device at the gas station
C. The oil company whose gas is pumped there

If you guessed A or B, congratulations. You are in the know, unlike former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.



Technorati Tags: air pump, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Tire inflation

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Imagine if we could harness this kind of gas

If there was a way to connect the utterly unrelated topics of off-shore oil drilling and Michael Phelps’ prodigious food consumption, leave it to comedian Rush Limbaugh to, well, at least try.

During his nationally-syndicated program today, Limbaugh said that since extra energy helped produce excellence in Phelps, drilling for more oil would do the same for the U.S.:

But now we read that Michael Phelps is burning and using 12,000 calories a day, while the Democrats are trying to alert everybody to the dangers posed by energy. The Democrats and left are now demonizing oil, they’re demonizing our own ability to be energy independent. They don’t want us to be able to get our own independent sources of oil or natural gas. Yet, look at Michael Phelps. […]

American consumption for the greatest production and the greatest rewards, why, that is fine if we do this in sports. However, if we consume and produce exceptionalism in goods and services for others, including ourselves, then somehow we are committing a sin.

Listen to this:


Oh, the pain at what this guy pumps.

Inflated Tires, Deflated Arguments

Barack Obama delivered some common sense advice on the stump recently about the high price of oil: properly inflated tires and regular tune ups can save gas. If everybody did, it would save a lot of gas. Did you know:

• The Department of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of driving on under-inflated tires.
• Fuel efficiency is reduced by 1% for every 3 PSI that tires are under-inflated.
• Proper tire inflation can save the equivalent of about 1 tank of gas per year.
• Proper tire inflation also reduces CO2 emissions.
• Experts estimate that 25% of automobiles are running on tires with lower than recommended pressure, because people don’t know how to check their tires or don’t realize that tires naturally lose air over time.

This is part of Car Care 101, about as basic as knowing where to put your car key.

So since when did common sense advice about saving gas become something to ridicule? You probably know some of the media “celebrities” that slung the most of this hydrocarbon-aided hash. But you may not know that some people and organizations not whole supportive of the Illinois senator actually agree with his suggestions. They include:

• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
• McCain V.P. short-lister Charlie Crist
• NASCAR
• President Bush’s Highway Traffic Safety Department

Here’s what that aforementioned organization published in the “Energy conservation from systematic tire pressure regulation” study in 2006:

The study indicates that substantial benefits would accrue if car care facilities systematically offered complimentary tire pressure checks with oil changes including: (i) increased safety by decreasing all crashes and saving more than 100 lives per year, (ii) reduced petroleum consumption by over a billion gallons/year, which would (iia) provide over $4 billion in economic savings for US consumers that could in part be recouped in retail/auto-care facilities, (iib) reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 13.5 million tons and automobile pollution and (iic) enhance national security.

Mr. Obama never suggested that the U.S. could achieve energy independence by inflating tires. He said the aggregate savings from better maintenance would eliminate the need for off-shore drilling, as explained recently by Time magazine reporter Michael Grunwald:

“The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

Is the math entirely accurate? Maybe, depending who is doing the ciphering. But even if it’s off by half, less off-shore drilling is a good thing. Because, in the end, the U.S has only three percent – yes, that’s right – three percent of the world’s proven oil reserves. And if it will take 10 years to see the first trickle of oil, drilling now won't do a thing to bring prices down. Driving less, like we're doing, along with better maintenance, is already achieving that,

"Within five years, technology will obliterate the need for business travel."

This was a recent soothsaying headline from the Fast Company blog saying that “apart from becoming more and more unpleasant, recently business travel is also becoming far less necessary. With videoconferencing technologies improving and fuel prices rising, more businessmen and women seem to be choosing the option to stay put and use new technology to cut down on travel.”

Obliterate? A reduction is more likely. Now, how about applying that thought to the daily grind? Give employees leeway to stay home and work to cut down on long, traffic-choked commutes to cut gas usage and its associated pollution.

For the one or two days at home, use relatively low-tech conference calling to connect with colleagues. Let’s face it, besides sales people and rainmakers meeting prospects face-to-face, I know of so many employees who sit on conference calls a good part of their work week. Why sit through these sometimes mind-numbing meetings at work when they (you) could do it at home?

Tally Ho! (Three)

Pinch me.

When we turned in our leased Honda Odyssey on April 19^th, I thought, holy cow, how in the world are we going to manage living with one car? I envisioned pure domestic chaos juggling work, kids, school, and then the logistical nightmare of summer activities.

Fast forward 90 days and I sit here stunned that it has been an almost angst-free experience (as I knock on wood). This month, however, our trusty Subaru Outback threw us a curve. It goes into the shop this week in need of a new power steering box and rear struts. That’s the price of owning a 10-year-old vehicle.

With that, here’s the three month tote:

New car payments (3) $1,980
Gas $ 300
Rental car $ 0
Repairs ($1,180)

Total to date: $1,100

With two months to go, I’m thinking of extending this exercise to the end of the year.

How Much!?

Ever really add up the cost of car ownership? Here's a take from Editor-at-Large of The Agonist, Sean-Paul Kelley.

"To me a car is like a prison sentence, once all the real costs are figured into the purchase. First there is filling it up. Easily $50 right now, $2,600 a year. Then there is oil for the engine, $5 every couple of weeks, maybe every other month or so. Then there are state taxes, $100-$200 a year, maybe more in other places. Tolls? $1.50 each way once a day equals $60 a month, just for the twenty or so business days when using toll roads. Then there is the upkeep. On an American car I'd assume on average over a year it comes out to maybe $1,000. On foreign cars, especially European luxury models? Much higher. Then there are inspection stickers, or exhaust fees for some states: $200 a year in some places, $30 in others. And don't forget the insurance racket: $1500 a year? Maybe less, maybe more? Finally, we come to the price of the car in the first place. I think it's pretty hard to get into a car for less than, say, $14,000, so maybe a minimum payment of $400 a month for five years, so about $4800 a year? What's that come out to for a year: $10,000 just to drive one car! (Just imagine having two teens in the house?)"

Read the rest of Kelley's post here.

As an American, Would You Buy This Car?

This is the BMW 118d, a five-door rear-wheel-drive car with a 2.0-liter direct-injection turbodiesel four-cylinder engine. It seats five and looks pretty good. The engine makes 141 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque. It will prod the car to 60 mph in about 8.8 seconds, returning 59 mpg on the (foreign) highway and spewing only 118 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The best part, the car will go 700 miles between fill-ups.

Question: Looking at specs only and forgetting that it's a BMW, and based on permanent $4+ gas, would you buy this car? Please answer yes or no and why in the comments section. Then send this post to friends and family and ask them to answer.

Car Thieves Love 13-Year-Olds

Cars, that is. Who knew that a 1995 Honda would be “cet obscur objet du désir”. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau:

...the '95 (Honda) Civic was followed by the '91 Honda Accord, the '89 Toyota Camry and the '97 Ford F-150 as the nation's most stolen cars in 2007. The top four on the list are unchanged from 2006. For the fourth year in a row, the '95 Civic has been in the top 10.

A Civic?! If this was a statistic compiled over the last several months, I could see it… maybe. I certainly would entertain buying a 2008 Civic, but a ’95, uh, not so much.

It turns out that older model Hondas and Toyotas are sought after by the hot wire and Slim Jim set because they’re reliable and plentiful. Lots are still on the road, making them a bigger target because the value of their spare parts.

Me, I go for even younger cars, like my 10-year-old Subaru.

Lead Foot

Evidence is mounting, statistically and anecdotally, that American’s are changing their driving habits to save gas. They’re taking mass transit, car pooling more, consolidating trips, or getting rid of one car, like I did.

But one thing hasn’t changed: how people drive.

Forget all that advice about how to save gas. I still see aggressive stop-and-go driving; jack-rabbit starts; burn-outs; tailgating; and sudden lane changes. Some of the clueless, immature and poor time managers among us still need to feel like the master of their domain while behind the wheel. Now it’s just costing them more.

Curb This!

I guess this make sense… on Opposite Day.

George Carlin's 7 Words

Rest in peace, George.

Sad But True

I want my OIL

I want my…… I want my OIL.

Take the opening chorus of Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” and substitute the phrase above. It’s what some Americans are essentially singing about renewing efforts to explore for oil off-shore in the lower 48 and Alaska.

They’re baying at the moon. Even if exploration on both coasts was given the green light today, it’s estimated that prices wouldn’t begin to drop until 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration. Moreover, since we consume 25 percent of the world’s oil and have only 3 percent of the world’s reserves, we can’t drill our way out of this mess.

Sadly, the only people who would benefit from tying up even more public lands for oil exploration (they already have 68 million acres that remain untouched) are the oil companies and their friends who are glad to assist them.

Tally Ho! (Two)

On April 19, we began our living our lives with one car. So paraphrasing a question frequently posed by New Yorkers, "How we doin’?"

Honestly, not that bad. A little forethought about work schedules, conference calls, and the kid cartage schedule has helped us eliminate a hefty new car payment and is saving us cash on gas, not that we spend that much to begin with due to working out of the house. We have yet to tap the rental car option.

So to date, the tally looks like this:

New car payments (2) $1,320
Gas $ 200
Rental car $ 0
Repairs $ 0

Total $1,520

This was our approach to dealing with the soaring price of oil. What have you done to cope?

Know Thy Pain

If you’re planning to hit the road this summer, get a sense of how much pump pain you’ll endure before you feel the urge to break out a Seppuku knife.

The Chicago Tribune recently published its “Gas Gouge-o-meter”, a handy calculator to estimate what you’ll spend in gas. For example, based on gas costing $4.15 at my local BP, driving round trip from Chicago to New York would cost me $273.20 to cruise those 1,580 miles.

Ouch.

But, hey, it’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than four round trip airfares, even if I have to spring for road food and an overnight stay at a roadside flop. And I won’t have to pay $15 to check my bags.

Disturbia

It occurred to me that the ever rising price of gas could have profound effects on the suburban lifestyle. How will we get to our jobs, transport our kids to karate lessons across town and drive to grocery store? Do urban 20-somethings now have a leg up on older suburbanites because they don’t need cars?

While it’s very likely others have had this thought, today I was made aware of 2004 documentary called “The End of Suburbia”. It describes the inevitable demise of our car-centric and unsustainable lifestyle (along with the end of the 3000-mile Caesar Salad).

Here’s the promo.

Hat tip to Mark DeWeirdt for the idea.

Old Habits

This exchange with my wife occurred earlier today. She took first shift with our kids during swim team time trials at the neighborhood pool:

Phone rings:

Wife: First, I had lens envy (referring to the zoom lens I gave her for our recent 14th wedding anniversary. She's major a photo freak), now I have coffee envy (referring to the cups of Starbucks and Caribou being consumed by the other parents). Just swing by Starbucks and pick me up a decaf of the day.

Me: Got it. See you soon.

Fast forward 10 minutes to a message on the answering machine (I was outside with the dog):

Wife: Duh! You don’t have a car. Forget the coffee.

Sad thing is it didn't occur to me either until I heard the message. Six weeks without a second car and we’re still adjusting.

Staycations

After oil blasted to an all-time high and posted the biggest one-day gain ever recorded, even the idea of driving my remaining car is giving me agida.

So I perused Technorati for ideas on family fun and saving gas. I found this from Miami Herald columnist and blogger Sharon Harvey Rosenberg: The Frugal Duchess: Latest Trend: 'Staycations' -- Ideas for Stay-at-Home Summer Trips. Some of the ideas are local to Florida, but most apply to any family trying to have fun and not exposing the kiddies to colorful metaphors while parked at the pump.

Dig the 535-foot Slip 'N Slide...

Oil Enters Orbit

If you’ve been wondering why oil pricing is on a tear, you'll find the contributing factors here.

In a nutshell, our economy is hurting our economy.

Bummer, Hummer

General Motors announced today that it plans to shutter four of its truck/SUV manufacturing plants. It’s a practical, if not rushed, move for a car company that is seeing Americans quickly turn European and Asian in their desire to drive smaller cars. GM also announced that in the process it may unload its Hummer brand. Good riddance.

For the true off-road enthusiast, ok, maybe this truck had some utility. But in my neck of the woods, where there are many more acres of subdivisions and corn fields than forest, motoring with this lumbering leviathan is equivalent of drivable bling. Chrome wheels, chrome bumpers, funky paint jobs and, heaven forbid, nary a speck of mud.

So, let’s start the countdown and say so-long to one pure show boat.

H3, H2, H1. Buh-bye.

R.I.P. Hedley Lamarr

This is way off topic, but I'm taking this opportunity to acknowledge the passing of comedic actor Harvey Korman.

Most obituaries are focusing on his contributions to "The Carol Burnett Show", but I'll remember him singularly for his performance in "Blazing Saddles."

Here's one of the many trademark scenes with him.

Wuss

So we decided to give up on of our cars for five months. A big deal? Not so much. In fact, I kind of feel like a wuss compared to the intrepid Brian LaFave of Sheboygan Wisconsin.

On May 11, Mr. LaFave, 31, parked his pickup truck in an attempt to live gas free for one month. He now commutes to work by bike – a nine mile round trip. He calls his boycott “a personal stand against the oil companies.” He'll accept rides from friends if they happen to be passing near his home. And to top it off, he’s donating his savings to an African food program.

Way to go, Mr. LaFave.

Garage Snail

One of the weirder suburban rituals is the annual garage sale. Here in my subdivision, the homeowners association encourages those households with hand-me-down clothes, worn garden and lawn equipment, outdated computer gear and other worthless chachka to participate on one day in mid-Spring.

While walking my dog, the endless parade of mini-vans and SUVs slowly trolling the streets for bargains took on an even greater level of odd. With so much whining and gnashing of teeth over the price of gas, why on earth would people spend time burning gas to buy someone else’s used stuff? I guess they figure that finding bargains will offset the price of something new. To me, the effort and the expense is all junk.

Can We Still Be Friends?

The grim reality of rising oil prices is turning our love affair with cars into a never-ending nightmare date. But there are a number of ways Americans are coping. Take 10 minutes and look at the MSN Money article, “Could you get by with just one car?” It’s a comprehensive read with startling statistics and video sidebars about our car centric culture; what it costs us; and how we can at least like our cars, if only one of them.

Thanks to Greg Godsell of Velocity Automotive Journal for the idea.

Tally Ho!

It’s been one month since we handed back our leased mini van. It’s time to calculate what we've saved in the first month of our five month experiment in one-car suburban living.

• Car payment: $660. This is an approximation based one of the many auto finance calculators on the Web. I arrived at this figure assuming the purchase of a 2008 Toyota RAV 4 Limited (the vehicle we almost bought) for $26,500 minus $1,000 down payment based on six percent interest with 48 month financing. By the way, I would never actually string out a car payment that long.

• Gas: $100. Now remember, my wife and I work out of the house, so our gas consumption compared to most suburbanites is going to be relatively low. A normal fill-up of our ’98 Subaru Outback would last about two weeks without business-related travel.

So, I’m pegging our savings at $760. Nothing to sneeze at.

But what about other costs, such as insurance? The nice folks at State Farm Insurance pro-rated our premium, yielding a $100 credit. They said they’ll happily apply the amount to our next car. Gosh, how thoughtful. For repairs, we’ll apply routine maintenance, such as oil changes and such, based on a three-month or 3,000-mile interval. As of this post, no cost has been incurred.

So it’s so far so good concerning economics. But rough terrain is ahead. Our two kids get out of school on June 5. That’s when the real fun begins.

Tied Down

Two weeks with only one car and I felt the pinch of limited mobility. Heck, I couldn't even escape by bike.

My son and I were home-bound on this cold and drizzly Saturday. My wife and daughter went to Brookfield Zoo. For some reason, the rain bypassed them, but Naperville stayed under what seemed like a Joe Btfsplk rain cloud.

Saturday chores kept me busy; video games, TV and a lame attempt to clean his room occupied the 10-year-old's time. The lack of enclosed transportation walled off any outside errands or entertainment. We were stuck with a near endless number of to-do's that don't get done. For example, I finally got around to assembling a radio-controlled race car my son received for Christmas... in 2006. My defense? I don't really have one, except to say that having two cars got us away from the house a lot more often.

Cutting Back on Everything But...

The Reed family has completed one week without two cars. No clear observations yet on how this is impacting our ability to get around. The kids are in school until early June and my wife and I have had no real conflicts on who needs to use the car and when.

But one thing is clear. With a looming recession and stratospheric gas prices drivers aren't cutting back.

Are you altering your gas consumption habits?

Last Day

The drop off...


The hand off...



The send off.

Relatives Weigh In

My wife's aunt read my previous posts and reached a conclusion about our experiment.

"I think it's funny," she told my wife. I asked my wife why. She said her aunt thinks this will not be a test of living with one car, but rather a test of our marriage.

What do you think?

No Fail-safe for Running Late

It’s T-minus seven days and counting. One week from today my family reduces its mobility utility by half. Our leased minivan returns to the dealer, leaving us with a 10-year-old Subaru Outback wagon as our only means of transport.

It just hit me today. We’re on a collision course with our first major single-car test. I realize the second car was our safety valve. It was our fallback; our fail-safe solution from getting up too late, scheduling too much or not planning well enough. If we had to arrive on time someplace nearby, or if someone wasn’t quite ready, we’d casually suggest, “Hey, how about you meet us over there (school, church, movie, dinner, etc)?

Those days are gone. A new layer of complexity is added to how we’ll plan and execute our days, nights and weekends for the next five months.

The Experiment

I’m going to get rid of one of my two cars. Honda is forcing me to.

The lease on my 2004 Odyssey EX is up on April 19, 2008 and, sadly, my family and I must part with it. It’s been a great vehicle. Reliable, comfortable and safe.

So, why am I not replacing it? The reasons are simple.

First, my wife and I work out of the house. Not a bad situation if you can get it. We measure our daily commutes in feet, not miles. I’m a public relations consultant; she’s a project manager. I do have to go see clients, but I spend most of my time serving them from home. My wife on the other hand doesn’t need to go to an office at all. As for kids, we have a ten-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. No tussle for keys there.

The second prevailing factor is proximity to an Avis rental office. It is literally a half mile away from our house as the crow flies. If I need a car, I can get one for about $45 a day. Even if I rented one once a week, the total is still far less than the $500+ I’d be shelling out monthly for a new car that, with the exception of grocery shopping, would just sit in my garage. Add the price of insurance and the liquid gold cars run on and you are talking significant savings.

So, without a commute and easy access to wheels, buying a new car right now just doesn’t seem to make a whole heck of a lot of sense.

And finally, we just weren’t that thrilled with our new car options. We’re attempting to downsize in the face of high gas prices that are here to stay. More on what models we looked at and why we balked in a later post.

So, here’s the experiment. We are going to see if we can hold out without a second car until September 19, 2008. I chose this date hoping a 2009 model will better fulfill our purchasing criteria. I’ll regularly report on how we’re adapting, including the highs and lows on family harmony and patience, as well as a running tally of what we’re saving.

Will we cave early to our perceived need for unencumbered mobility? Will we buy new, or buy a cheap beater? Being the suburbanites we are and the community where we live (Naperville, IL), I’m anticipating some bumps along the way.