Non pneumatic wheels are very hard on paved roads so the sand trucks may actually cause less wear on the paving than the buggies do, besides, most owners of over the road trucks would be elated if their road use taxes were only $50/year.
Road use cost is destined to become an issue if electric cars start becoming a major part of the road traffic since they run on untaxed energy. Somebody has to pay for the roads and their maintenance.
Interesting. Itâs nice to know a few new things around here.
Isnât the road tax part of the taxes on fuel? If so at least the trucks pay something. The buggies would be be causing wear and tear.the roads for free if they werenât taxed separately.
1 Like
And here in NH they are proposing a tax on Electric cars.
My state has a $50 fee for registering electric vehicles and hybrids with chargers.
I know some Amish people. One man I know is a wheelwright. He makes buggy wheels. His wife and daughters also cook baked goods, make preserves and butter, and make Amish crafts. They sell them in the parking lot of a local shopping center.
On the Amish beards. Married men have them. Unmarried men do not.
Each parish has its own rules on what is permitted and what is not, Usually the bishop for the parish makes the decision. In most parishes, gasoline or diesel engines are permitted for doing work (farming, woodworking, etc.) Some businesses are allowed to have trucks for delivery and in some parishes, tractors are allowed for farming.
Utility connections are forbidden except telephones in phone shacks. Often they have voice mail. Photography, movies, and recorded sound are prohibited. Some parishes forbid fine arts as âgraven imagesâ. Windmills animal treadmills, and water wheels (and in some cases solar power) are used for pumping water from wells and for operating equipment. Battery powered devices (lights and clocks) are often allowed. Most other lighting is from candles or gas lamps.
They have no church buildings. Services rotate weekly from house to house (often held in barns). Pew wagons are used to move the equipment. Some communities have school buildings, while others rotate the location of the school from house to house as they do the churches.
The Amish use back roads whenever they can. In my area they often have to use the main highway because they need to cross the river. They usually stay on the shoulder where there is a paved one. In my state, animal drawn vehicles, ridden animals, and farm implements have to follow the same traffic rules that cars and bicycles must follow.
One of my trips through Amish country I stopped and watched 5 Amish men with 5 different horse teams plowing a farm bigger then any Farm Iâve seen here in NH or MA (some are several hundred Acres). It was amazing to watch. I was back in that area at the end of the summer and picked up a bushel of corn from the Farm I saw plowing earlier that year. Some of the best corn I ever had.
I have a friend whoâs a farmer in NH and I know how hard he worksâŠand heâs not Amish and uses tractors and every other powered farm equipment. Boggles the mind how much work it takes doing it without equipment, or how great the corn is without using chemicals.
In my town, there is an Amish market that is open only on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The meats, cheeses, baked goods, and produce that are offered for sale are not necessarily cheap, but they are definitely of high quality.
This market is about 120 miles from the nearest Amish settlements, so obviously the vendors donât arrive in horse-drawn buggies. The vendors all drive black vehicles, and because chrome bumpers are essentially a thing of the past, it is actually fairly easy for âBlack Bumper Amishâ to buy vehicles and not have to paint-over any chrome.
Iâm troubled by the titleâs use of âourâ roads. Seems to imply the roads belong the âusâ more than they do to the Amish. âAmish on the roadwaysâ sounds better to me.
2 Likes
The corn just depends on the variety they are planting. A friend used to sell seed corn and he had about 40 acres of sweet corn that he would plant and the kids would sell for college money. The best corn you ever tasted but he kept the variety a secret.
Around here though, 2000 acres is more the norm with 200 acres being more of a hobby farm. Yeah but weâre talking huge tractors and equipment to do the job.
As they say, itâs a free country! That applies to legal transportation as well.
Iâm reminded of a recent graduate who lived in the East and took a job with the government in the West.
The policy read that he could travel by method of his own choice and get compensated travel expenses while getting there.
The lad was very athletic and saw this as a golden opportunity to cycle from East to West at government expense! He arrived a few moths later than anticipated but they paid all his travel expenses!!! He had a great summer.
Might want to follow your own advice 
3 Likes
I can only give you one âlikeâ for your comment, but I would give you more if it was allowed.
2 Likes
My aunt lived in a part of Wisconsin that has Amish. They would occasionally come by to use the phone or ask for a ride to town for medical needs. They brought her baked goods as the return favor. In that area the roads have enough shoulder that you usually donât have to wait too long to pass.
We have a magazine (Our Wisconsin) that has a monthly article written by an Amish farmer. He does a good job of describing his way of life. He does have a generator he uses when he milks the cows. That is about his only concession. They run a local farm bakery as an income source.
I figure that after the apocalypse and the electricity fails they will be the people who save us. I wonât feel bad if they chose to not save those who ran them off the road.
1 Like
Apocalypse, âthe complete final destruction of the world, especially as described in the biblical book of Revelation.â
So no Amish there to help. I imagine in a time of need they would help someone who ran them off the road as would I.
Absoulutely right!
I didnât mean to imply that, however I understand it sounds that way. The Amish have every right to use the roads, just as bicycles ect.
1 Like
Its not my offensive reference about the amish, its what some people around here call them. Not me.
The people that tend to call them that are the jacked up pickup driving types.
Ducking our head in the sand wont help matters.
Nor will repeating and posting offensive comments about any ethnic or religious group.
3 Likes
I think if people are being jerks to an ethnic group it should be pointed out. Not necessarily here because itâs a car site, but I have no problem with acknowledging what some (ignorant bigoted moron) people do.
1 Like
I just learned that some African Americans refer to white people as âwipipoâ or âwypipo.â Itâs apparently sometimes a slur and sometimes neutral why does everybody get their undies up into a bunch? Honkee whatever, I care not. As long as everybody treats others with respect on the roadway is all I care about. I was thinking about that yesterday as I was riding my bike to work, maybe there is some whacko thinking a guy on a bike is a prime target for destruction, I really stopped to think I am at the mercy of every driver that passes me by, and that actually scares me a little, remembering Dennis Hopper getting shot in Easy Rider.
Do you mean bicycle, as in something a child would ride?
Or do you mean a hog, as in Harley?