I’ve already told here how Covid has prevented me from using my Corolla. Anyone else have Covid related car stories? There apparently are some pretty good ones out there. Like this one, how one American driver may be getting a $569,000 fine b/c he stopped to take some photos while driving in Canada.
Here’s an interview with the CEO of Global Foundries. He says COVID-19 is so bad in Southeast Asia that semiconductor manufacturers can’t run their plants. Toyota will shut down 14 factories in Japan in September in reaction to the chip shortage. That’s 40% of Toyota’s manufacturing capacity. He expects car prices to remain high if you can find any at all until COVID-19 is controlled.
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I would say that American who was arrested is not very bright. The story states that he had already been fined and warned about this before.
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As to George’s question, Covid has not affected my driving. But things operate differently in the SouthEast. Only one 2 week shut down early last year. We did take precautions, no indoor restaurants or bars. Wore masks when shopping. This year, due to scheduling conflicts, unable to make our vacation trip to north Georgia. Last year, before vaccines, not a mask to be seen in north Georgia. So we exercised even more precautions.
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Story says “ironically” he has to appear in court in November. What makes it ironic? That he has to go back to Canada?
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Auto related pandemic issues… Well, the battery charger got more use. Even though my wife and I are retired, my car museum volunteer gig was shut down and we stayed home more. That caused the batteries in all 3 cars to get a bit low. Solved the one that sits outside permanently with a 10 watt dashboard solar panel. The other 2 are now being driven enough to keep them up.
I had issues getting all the brake parts for my truck - much of that comes out of China - so maybe logistics delays affected that.
Those seem to be about all I can point to.
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As a kid we used to go to Canada quite often and I was always impressed with the place. It is really sad to see how far they have fallen and no longer recognizable from their former free self. And the worst part is they don’t even realize what they have done. “They” act like it is perfectly normal.
My Brother’s lived in Bellingham Wa for many years and before covid would cross the border taking his family on ski vacations or just to shop at the Ikea in Vancouver, the border’s open now as long as you meet certain criteria, so no problem to stop at those sites but this must have been when they were seriously restricting travel.
My parents would love to pay a per-mile hybrid tax on the Prius because it’s only been driven 1/3 of the annual average. Except for very occasional travel they’ve stuck to their 4 acre property for the duration. Of course right after they visited family a few weeks ago my Dad started showing symptoms and tested positive, the good news is that he’s back to his normal self (jokingly says it’s the best diet he’s ever been on) and his case was one of the mild ones.
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Glad your dad is OK.
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The gondola ride where he was arrested is 4 miles from the highway and he had to pass though town to reach the park. If he claimed to be looking for gasoline, no one would believe him.
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I understand the whole deal with rules are rules, but then there are silly rules. There was a time when it was not a problem to drive four miles from the highway or go through town, It wasn’t that long ago either. Like I said many times already, think about any government telling you you can’t drive through town?
There is a part of Minnesota that you can’t get to except by going through Canada. These people were cut off. Couldn’t get to the USA and couldn’t get to Canada. They were not allowed. During the winter though, some guys got together and formed an ice road over the lake to provide access in and out. They did it as long as they could until a truck finally broke through. They just loosened their restrictions a little now but they simple went bonkers and it wasn’t following the science. A government that would do this is in decline, plain and simple.
This occurred a year ago when lock down rules were strict. Travel of US citizens was allowed, tourism was not. Get caught on a dead end road in a park, pay the consequents.
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My elderly pickup spent a week in the ICU with Covid after a neighbor’s Prius coughed on it.
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The US citizen in question had already been fined for a similar act. That’s why he is liable for greater penalties. I am amazed that anyone would go outside the US and break the rules, any rules. That puts them in someone else’s control, and it seems to me that’s just crazy. Want to make a statement? Wait until you go home and might have some control over the situation.
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There is a series to tell the stories of people like that… It is called Locked Up Abroad!
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Testing the limits at the laundromat in Nice, France.
Rented a cabin in Blue Ridge, GA a couple of weeks ago. Hiked some trails, visited Helen, GA. First time I’d been to that area. I don’t recall seeing very many masks along the route. I haven’t worn one myself in quite a while. You really just don’t see them much around this area any more, aside from a few elderly folks.
I’ll keep it car related. 1950 something Chevy I saw along one of the trails. I’m curious how it got halfway down the mountain.
I suspect it started at the top🤪
Car related—glad I was able to lock out the upper gears in my truck on those roads.
Tubing the Chattahoochee River in Helen, GA was a lot different than tubing the Apple River in Somerset WI.
We did that tubing run. In the rain lol. I lost my $200 sunglasses in that river. Luckily I didn’t buy them. I found them on a mountain bike trail near Oxford, MS so that eased the pain of the loss.
Pretty cool area, though.
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