Another Reason Why I Love the Good Ol' U.S. of A.

My wife and I, courtesy of a late May wedding and the bar exam, took a split honeymoon. Shortly after the wedding, we headed to Napa, California, for a long weekend in order to get in at least some post-wedding honeymoon, and with the alternative motive that I miss as few bar review classes as possible.

Last week, upon the conclusion of the bar exam, we took a real honeymoon on the island of St. Barth's, a French possession in the Caribbean.

This post illustrates another reason why I love the United States.

From the start, let me make clear that I try to be as environmentally conscious as I can. Since this post is about cars, let it be known that, except in very temporary circumstance, I have not commuted to work by car in six years. Either I have taken a train, or, as now, I have walked to work. I also drive a car that gets some serious gas mileage.

That being said, I love having the ability to choose a sweet 2005 Ford Mustang to hog the roads all over California, versus a wimpy Smart Car to putt-putt around a teeny French island in the Caribbean. USA!

The picture at the top of this post is the Mustang I rented with my wife in California. Loved it. The car is monstrously oversized, a tribute to earlier Mustang designs. Reminded me a little of the absurdly enormous full-sized 1980 Chevrolet Impala station wagon I used to drive in high school and college. The only thing missing was a manly fog horn to announce my presence as I zipped up and down vineyard lined streets and highways in the valley.

Then take the Smart Car (see photo below), which is basically a front seat on wheels.

This "car", built by Mercedes, carried us all over St. Barth's. If you have ever been to Germany or France, you have probably seen one of these little commuter vehicles zipping around during rush hour. The Smart Car may be fine for the commute, but the hills of St. Barth's kicked this baby's tail more than a few times during our trip. In fact, on one steep hill, we made it only halfway up before the "Dumb Car," as we called it, couldn't take the heat, stopped, and started rolling backwards down the hill.

Somehow, I get the feeling that the Mustang would have gotten the better of the hill, rather than vice versa as with the tiny Smarty.

Advantage: U.S.A. I love this country!