Dream, dream, drive

Approaching the pumps, my gaze was magnetically drawn to one vehicle in particular. An unexpected rendezvous with the shiny black car?! Headed in opposite directions, imagine the odds that we would both turn up to refuel at the same place at the same time. My Sunday drive was coming to a close; his was just getting underway. The rest of the pumps were occupied by assorted models from Mercedes Benz.

I almost bought one, I thought about buying one.

Surprisingly, not an uncommon comment. [Right. But you bought that Mercedes station wagon, instead.]

Not that there is anything wrong with that. If I needed to haul kids around, a station wagon or a minivan would be just right. If I needed to haul stuff around, a pickup truck would do nicely. If I wanted to drive to the slopes, a small SUV with four wheel drive would be a fine choice.

What kind of mileage do you get?

Another common question. “That depends entirely on how I drive it,” I smile. “Yeah, I guess that's not the point,” he observed. [Hardly.]

From the driver of the very nice Mercedes behind me:

Your car is beautiful.

The Silicon Valley International Auto Show was wrapping up today, and the local section of the newspaper featured an article from the esteemed Mr. Roadshow:
“Why buy a car when you can dream for free?”

I can assure you of this: dreaming is not driving.