Road Trip 2011 ~ Doug

If you don't already know, this is Lil Doug.

I've had Doug for almost a year now and I love him! Doug is my first convertible, 2 person vehicle. He's fun to drive around town. But "down town", like Portland, makes me nervous. Too.Many.Stupid.Drivers. But, we decided to take Doug on our Road Trip, and I'm glad we did! Not only did $67 last me over 900 miles, we had fun too. And we got a lot more funny looks and questions than we do at home.

Here are a few things we heard:

Gas Station Attendant: I could prob-ly throw you up there in the back of my truck! (he points to his Ford F350 with 4 back tires)
Me: prob-ly
GS Attendant: Do you want me to fill it?
Me: Yes please.

Guy in sleeveless Corona tshirt: Do y'alls feel safe in that?
Me: (isn't "y'all" already pluralized?) Yes, it's made of steel.
Guy in sleeveless Corona tshirt: Where?
Me: Under the plastic here. (I tap on the hood)

Woman holding a baby and a toddler: Wow, I've never seen a car like that so I just had to come look at it. What is it?
Me: It's a Smartcar.
Woman holding a baby and a toddler: Driving that would scar the shit out of me. Do you feel safe?
Me: (now I don't) Yes, it's made of steel on the inside.
Woman holding a baby and a toddler: (laughs) That is funny!


GS Attendant: Do you know that they have a lot of these cars overseas?
Me: Really?
GS Attendant: Yep! They're called Smart Cars.
Me: huh... (What does he think this one is called?)

Friend of guy is sleeveless Corona shirt: It looks like one of them clown cars. Like a bunch of people will start jumping out any minute.
Me: (I smile. Then later I tell Doug that they weren't making fun of him.)

GS Attendant: Can you get 'er up to 60?
Me: Yep. (I smile) I've gone over 70 even.
GS Attendant: Wow, that's just amazing! You should put big wheels on it and jack it up.
Me: ummm...I don't think so...

Waitress: Smartcar huh?
Me: Yes. (that's funny...I thought they were only overseas.)
Waitress: How many miles to you get on that thing?
Me: Around 45 right now
Waitress: Well, I hate to tell you this, but I can get that much in my '82 Volvo.
Me: That's good then. (your Volvo is probably a diesel lady and it's almost 30 years old! And, in my home-town, we have more than 1 stop light.)
Waitress: You can probably park it almost anywhere huh?
Me: Almost.

We often get asked about the battery life, but that's not too unusual. Doug isn't actually electric, so I just tell people that it's a gas powered car. I think we got asked about the battery 100 times on this trip.

I did have one guy tell me that he was proud of me for driving a Smartcar around.

We also got a lot of waves, laughs and smiles. Doug usually makes people smile.