I asked to rent a compact car for this trip, as I usually do.
This one is slightly different from my usual compact car though.
Lesson learned here: if someone offers you a Dodge Ram to drive, even if it’s an no extra charge, you should check in advance what that actually means. I thought it was a pickup truck. Actually it is a fortress in the shape of a pickup truck. It is the largest thing ever.
This is probably the karmic payback for refusing all the upgrade offers at the rental counter. Rental car people always try extra-hard to encourage me to upgrade; I think they think I don’t realize how compact a compact car is. They’re actually fine, though in Buffalo a very nice woman had me lined up for one of those really small two-seater vehicles. After I turned down the “it’s only about ten dollars a day more” upgrade offer she smiled and said “I took pity on you and upgraded you anyway.”
Well, now I’m upgraded, and the plus side is the Ram definitely drives nicely. The size takes some adjusting, but it’s roomy and smooth and holds its own on the highways.
In speed, that is. I’m pretending it gets 30-40 mpg like the other compact cars I drive.
Today I head west again to Abilene, Kansas, to see Dwight D. Eisenhower’s grave. I’m hoping my enormous truck does not block out the view!
