Thanks for clicking on to my brand-new blog!
As a Herald employee, I spent more than 20 years reviewing and writing about cars for the paper’s weekly automotive section. Now, as a free-lance blogger for The Herald, I’ll still be reviewing and writing about cars, but this online venue will be way more fun. None of the space and time restrictions of a weekly print product, or the hideous deadlines. And the freedom to attend more automotive events locally as well as around the country, and tell you what went on. I actually prayed for something like this to happen for me, and it did. Which can only mean one thing: God’s a car guy!
So, let’s get started. Here’s my first post, written at the time of a recent trip on Oct. 8:
Left home at 5 a.m. today, headed for Sea-Tac and flights to Louisville, Ky., where Buick is giving members of the automotive media the opportunity to take first drives of the new 2013 Enclave and 2013 Verano Turbo.
Uneventful drive to the airport except for two drivers — one on Highway 522, the other on I-405 — weaving in the lane in front of me. Not aimlessly drifting like drunk drivers, but zigzagging like Dario Franchitti keeping his tires warm under the yellow flag. Don’t know what sort of distraction prevented them from keeping their car in a straight line (probably turbo texting), but I flashed my bright lights at both drivers to snap them out of it.
My connecting flight from Minneapolis to Louisville was marred by the presence of a really big guy dressed in ranching attire and with unfortunate skin — a cross between Hoss Cartwright and Tommy Lee Jones — sitting next to me in the aisle seat on a CRJ900. He slept like a post-op patient from the time he sat down until it was time to deplane, his left arm draped over the middle armrest (which, by the way, was technically mine as much as it was his), effectively dividing our row 60/40 or even 70/30 instead of 50/50. The worst part was when his leg came over into my airspace. Good thing it was only a 95-minute flight, because I spent the rest of it facing the window in the fetal position.
At the hotel in Louisville, designers from Buick gave a presentation and walk-around of the 2013 Enclave. The luxury crossover is the company’s volume seller, and for the newest version, Buick wanted to build on what Enclave customers say they like best about the vehicle: styling, ride comfort, and quality of materials.
More about the 2013 Enclave in the next post.
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