Friday, November 07, 2008
A Hybrid Awakening . . . (Listen)
The guy in the pickup truck eyes my new hybrid car, then me, probably because I’ve got a grin on my face that makes no sense in this economy. We’re both parked at a toll road rest area and I know what’s coming next. He slams his door and strolls over like a cowboy checking out a strange horse.
Where should I start? Something secular he’ll understand, like 60 m.p.g on a trip to Minnesota where I arrive 500 miles later with gas still in the tank. Or how the gas engine doesn’t even run while sitting at a light, pulling away from a stop, or cruising at low speeds. Speed up, the engine kicks on and a big illuminated mileage display on the dash reads 50 m.p.g. Step on the gas to pass a car and the display drops to 25 m.p.g. Back off the gas and it leaps up to 60 m.p.g. Coasting or heading down a hill and it flies up to 100 m.p.g. even on the highway! After a while you start to get it: slower and gentler driving means nearly free travel. But drive like your hair is on fire and the hybrid’s mileage display mocks you like a dope slap on the back of the head. I could tell cowboy about all this.
But I can’t tell him about the spiritual awakening. How it changes everything, the ignorance about your driving behavior, illusions about your lifestyle, awareness of your surroundings. For example I no longer complain while slowing down for highway construction zones because now 45 miles per hour means 70 miles per gallon.
Cowboy walks wide around my car now. I want to shake him up with the same questions bursting through my thick American psyche: Why wasn’t I shown how to save fuel before? Why don’t other cars offer this simple feedback device? Why did Japanese companies offer hybrids first? And why do ads for locomotive-sized pickups and sedans still sing off-key about power, luxury, and performance?
Cowboy is peering in my driver’s window. He won’t get the big spiritual metaphor. That in the hybrid transportation paradigm even the wind becomes a serious factor. The wind. This hybrid taught me the direction of the prevailing winds between South Bend and Chicago because mileage drops in a headwind. In most cars you’re totally unaware of conditions on the other side of the windshield. You just push your foot down harder to keep the car at 70. So what? 10-20 mpg is what, Cowboy. Driving to Chicago at 70 in a northwest headwind is like ripping up a good 20 dollar bill. But with a hybrid’s feedback system driving is more like sailing than it’s like the usual sit-and-steer: wind speed, terrain, even temperature all relate instantly to mileage. So you’re interacting with nature again, in a car! You wake up, notice the wind, the yoga breath of the planet, and next thing you know you’re thinking about the whole connection between self and change and resistance in life and…
Cowboy saunters up and nods at the car. “Hybrid?"ť he says.
My heart leaps in my chest. Yep, I reply.
“Kinda mileage you get?”
Oh, ‘bout 60, I say.
“That right?”
Yep, I say.
Cowboy walks around to the front end and makes a face at the small hood. “Got any power?"ť
Power enough, I say.
He thinks about that, then shrugs. “Well,” he says, “truck’s paid off. No sense sellin’ her now.” And cowboy roars off in a cloud of blue exhaust, his bumper swinging from a loop of fence wire.
And that’s how close one more guy came this week to almost having a spiritual awakening.
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A random pick from more than 460 Michiana Chronicles -- refresh the browser to see another set:
April Lidinsky -- More essays by April
Joe Chaney -- More essays by Joe
Ken Smith -- More essays by Ken
Jeanette Saddler Taylor -- More essays by Jeanette
Heather Curlee Novak -- More essays by Heather
David James -- More essays by David
Elizabeth Van Jacob -- More essays by Elizabeth
Jeff Nixa -- A Hybrid Awakening / More essays by Jeff
Louise Collins -- More essays by Louise
Jonathan Nashel -- More essays by Jonathan
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About the series
Michiana Chronicles is a series of radio essays by Jonathan Nashel, Louise Collins, Joe Chaney, Jeanette Saddler Taylor, Jeff Nixa, April Lidinsky, Ken Smith, Heather Curlee Novak, David James, and Elizabeth Van Jacob.
Michiana is the region of north-central Indiana and southern Michigan roughly centered on South Bend, Indiana.
Michiana Chronicles airs on Fridays at 7:35 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on WVPE (88.1 FM), the home of public radio in Elkhart / South Bend, Indiana.
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Mandala -- I remember that year as the spring when my dad roared down the driveway at our home near Emory University in Atlanta in a new Austin Healey, a roadster, the proper name for a British rag-top sports car. This one was red with all the trimmings and served as waterproof glue for the closest period of bonding between a father and son. I say “waterproof” because the top on that car was a tight fit from the start, and had maybe fifty snaps to secure it around the cockpit; and of course after a couple times getting wet it shrunk, so there it stayed, behind the back seat squab—British for the seat’s backrest—for seven years, molding in peace. When it rained we got wet, so we cultivated raincoats and laughing. I didn’t mind a bit. By David James.
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