General

I was involved with Scouting from a very early age. I was, at first, a Cub Scout, then a Webelos, and finally a Boy Scout.

The weekend before Memorial Day, in my first year as a Boy Scout, my troop and I spent the entire weekend placing flags on the graves of all of the veterans in two of the townships in Fountain County, Indiana – mostly around my hometown of Covington, Indiana. There were hundreds of them – including my paternal grandfather, James “Jay” Strawser, who served in the Second World War.

It was this experience, and many others like it growing up, that have instilled in me, a deep recognition of the sacrifice that our veterans have made.

This picture in today’s Boston Globe reminded me of those many days spent in the late spring sun, planting flags and remembering those that came before us:

Two weeks ago, while making my normal morning commute into Boston on MA Route 24 in a bit of rain, I managed to rear end a Ford F-150 Truck. The resulting crash, while at a very low speed, caused around $3000 in damage to my 1999 Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid. Yup, you got it. Hybrid.

Gas prices here in Massachusetts are at $2.20 / gallon right now. A quick review of the financials on the Civic showed that I’d get a $1500 tax credit for buying the car and would save around $2100 annually on gas. that’s a pretty easy sell for me – even if the car was more expensive than I’ve been paying for cars over the last ten years.

The Prius was nowhere to be found – turns out that there’s only three for sale in the state right now – none close to me and not a one in the color or option combination that I’d be interested in.

My local Honda dealer in Raynham, Massachusetts, Silko Honda, called me a few hours after my initial inquiry via Honda’s Website and we made arrangements for me to meet with a salesperson. Once there, I don’t mess around. I hit my questions, went on a test drive, and bought the car.

I brought her home on Sunday:

So far I’ve driven 31 miles around town and averaged 44.6 miles per gallon. Not a bad start to my new life as a Honda Civic Hybrid owner.