Women Drivers

[zero]

No insults to lady drivers here. Just reached a "milestone" in our household. My "teenybopper" wife had her 50th birthday yesterday. We celebrated by taking the Toyota Minicruiser to MacDonalds 25 miles away for dinner and parking behind a Walmart to eat, The real milestone was she drove the Toyota for the first time. Up to now she was kind of scared of it. She can drive fine and has even had to use our 1969 Dodge Power Wagon which drives and rides like a tank. RVs though had always made her nervous. We are getting ready to move half our belongings 800 miles and I have to drive a 26 foot truck and trailer I rented. So she has to tag along and drive the Toyota by herself. Yesterday was her first "practice." Ends up she really likes it. Probably the easiest RV in the world to drive.

I mentioned earlier that I met two Toyota owners a few days ago near my property in NY. That lady - "Michelle" said she's been driving their 21 foot Coachman with the 22RE, 70 MPH in OD all over New York and Vermont. She must really be putting the pedal to the metal. I'd be hesitant to try it in mine.

By the way - the dinner behind Walmart was my wife's idea. So I can't take all he blame. It's actually a beautiful place and all you see is hay fields, cows, corn, and mountains. Hard to believe you're behind a Walmart when parked there.

[linda s]

Glad to hear your wife is taking to the Toyota. Yeah they are very easy to drive. Fun even. I don't think I know who that Michelle is but I'm sure we'll hear about the problems she's having with her motorhome soon.

Linda S

[Bob C]

My wife does not mind driving the ToyHouse but in her words-"I can't drive and watch the scenery at the same time." When she drives, she is 100% focused on driving. She does not "multitask" even a little bit. She does say that the RV is about the same as driving the Chevy Astro that I had years back and does not hate driving when she has to.

I just let her enjoy the trip and take hundreds of "out the window" photos. Thank God for digital cameras.

[zero]

Glad to hear your wife is taking to the Toyota. Yeah they are very easy to drive. Fun even. I don't think I know who that Michelle is but I'm sure we'll hear about the problems she's having with her motorhome soon.

Linda S

I don't know her either. Just met them and they live in southern Vermont and Binghamton NY. Mike and Michelle. The Coachman RV came from Binghamton and they've had it less than a year. I told her that the trans might not last very long the way she'd driving it - but time will tell. I asked her what her fuel mileage was at those speeds and she said she didn't know. Here's them and their dog. Hope they are not in any sort of "witness protection" program.

[darrel]

Dito with my wife. She takes more photos out the window than I would. At least that way I can later enjoy the road trip more when I look at the pictures. The pictures turn out very good, thank you honey.

[fred heath]

Go for "Denny's" next time. Make it really "special".

[WME]

We were coming back from Vegas one summer, doing Toy speeds. I was getting a bit sleepy so I let Momma drive, when I woke up and went forward, we were doing 75 in 3rd. She said that was the speed limit so it was OK.

The next buy was an SR-5 instrument panel so she could drive by the tach.

[Derek up North]

I always give a tip. "Don't play the ponies."

[chefdave]

Never jump off a moving bus and always eat your icecream before it melts

[Derek up North]

Never jump off a moving bus ...

That used to be a way of lift on the double deckers in London before they added the sissy doors to the platforms!

[zero]

The "tip" thing makes me think of my mother. She was a French citizen but grew up and died in the USA. When she was in her 70s - she and some widowed friends took a cruise ship to northern France, i.e. Paris. Ends up tipping is legally required there. She and her pals tried to leave a Parisian restaurant with no tip and the owner called in the "gendarmes." They were forced to ante up or maybe get put into the Bastille?

By the way, the Dennys we have here is not as good as our MacDonalds. At least not in our opinion.

Hey Erik - you do know why elephant circumcisers get big tips - right?

[zero]

Tipping legally required in Paris restaurants? The government made it a legal requirement to add 15% to everyone's bill so they could make sure they got their hands on it to tax the income instead of having the employees pocket it without claiming it. Therefore you can not get arrested for not tipping unless you walked out without paying the bill altogether.

So is it a tip if you have no choice to pay it even if the service was lousy? Of course not, it is just another service charge that is partially part of the taxes on the meal. They can call it whatever they want but it is like calling processed Alaskan Pollock by the name of Krab so it can be sold as a substitute for crab meat. It is simply not the real thing, it is not tipping for good service. They can still do that tipping for good service of course but you won't get arrested for not doing it.

In my mom's case - the gendarmes certainly were called into the restaurant for not leaving any tip. That is unless she made the whole story up or somehow misunderstood. I doubt the latter since she was fluent in "Parisian" French, southern French, and Catalan. Service charges are added to the bill now throughout Paris -but perhaps not when she was there? She was there late 70s, early 80s. Also regardless of what the official written laws were at the time -that does not stop people from making up their own and trying to enforce - just as many do here today in the USA. Especially aganst non-natives. I have never been to northern France nor will I ever be in the future. Zero interest. I could claim my French citizenship easily if I wanted, but most of my family came from farm country in southern France, near Toulouse. On second thought I take that "easy" part back. France made it harder recently for people born in the USA but with a French-born parent. I now would have to prove I know a lot about modern French culture and pass a test. I suspect I'd fail on restaurant etiquette. Not sure if part of the new test if being properly arrogant like a true northern Frenchman.

Part of modern France is in North American and is just off the coast of Canada. My brother was in the process of getting French citizenship and was going to move his business to an island of France by Canada hoping to save some taxes. He died before his got to find out. Ste. Pierre et Miquelon.

[zero]

I'm aware of the mandated charges in much of Europe - but since when did a written law totally prevent or induce behavior? We had the converse in the USA. It used to be illegal to tip in many states . . especially California. Yet many people did it anyway, and the laws were finally given up. There used to be a "Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving" in our country as well as the "Anti-Tipping Society of America." My mom would of been a proud member of both had she been old enough -but all the state anti-tipping laws in the USA were repealed the year she was born. In my perfect world, tipping would not be illegal, nor mandated, nor expected. All the European thing did is add a surcharge that all must pay, and in some places, tipping above and beyond that mandate is expected. And yes, I have not been there. I still have many close relatives living in France though that still talk to me. Not quite the same but this reminds me of the many times I've heard President Obummer say he wants the rich to "share" more of their wealth. Hmmm. Doesn't the word "share" imply doing so voluntarily?