I’d use the term mountains loosely when describing Athens, Ohio.

That said, it is pretty with some great natural rock formations at Hocking Hills.

More like duba-you instead of dubya in normal conversation.

I’d say no or not easily. As you can see from the photo, she’s just about at her maximum reach to the step.

Believe it or not, it came from the factory with a lower step. This one was added after the fact for appearance but is about three inches higher. It was actually her idea. She hated the look of the original and I agreed.

https://lemmy.world/comment/13771196

The truck is my primary vehicle. Here’s a summary of its use:

• Towing: We own a 12,000lb camper that we’re using as a primary residence while we build a house. This alone justifies the expense of the truck given how affordable a camper / truck is monthly vs rent now. I also own a 6,000lb mini-excavator and rent other heavy equipment. I estimate about eight uses for this purpose in the last year. Once the house is done, the truck and the camper will be used for a few long distance road trips before we sell the camper.
• Payload Capacity: You’d be surprised how quickly 80lb bags of concrete mix or stacks of lumber add up, quickly exceeding the rated capacity of a smaller truck. I estimate a dozen uses of hauling in the bed that exceeded 1,200lb or more in the last year.
• Commuting: I work remotely in a desk job most days so it sits in the driveway for the majority of the week. I estimate 50 trips into the office within the past year.
• Leisure: We occasionally drive it for errands or weekend activities, but it’s often more practical to take my girlfriend’s Mazda. I estimate two dozen uses for this purpose in the last year.

So that’s about ~74 trips where a truck is not needed and about ~20 trips where it has been invaluable. In my personal opinion, the sheer convenience of ownership outweighs alternatives such as renting when a need arises.

Planning activities around truck rentals would significantly delay / impact progress on my home and frankly, it would add a large amount of stress / reduce motivation to complete work. The nearest rental place is thirty minutes away and they don’t offer trucks with fifth wheel hitch compatibility. It would be another hurdle in an already complicated process.

You seem like a rational person. I never said anyone involved would change their opinions. However, I did offer to answer questions and allow some insight into why people might make a choice none of you seem to comprehend.

I fully expected an echo-chamber that would jump to judge and condemn my choice. You’ve all mostly proven me right. What you’ve failed to do is ask why I purchased the truck, what my motivations were, and what the alternatives could be for my use case. I’ve already done that assessment clearly and stand by my choice. But if you hope to transition society away from these vehicles, you have to understand the needs and discuss solutions. It’s much easier to just hate things and throw stones but that’s what children do.

The attitude of this community is no better than a rabid Trump community. You ostracize those who are willing to talk to you with no real agenda but providing context and insight. I’d expect nothing less from a fringe social media of basement dwelling weirdos, but I mostly like it here and share in the goal of decentralized / open source social media. Truck owners are a much larger group in the real world than your little corner of Lemmy. Try having a conversation next time. Proudly voted blue by the way.

Trust me, I get it. There was a brief period of overlap where I owned a condo in a downtown area with this truck. Most of my movement within the city was walking so I’d often encounter vehicles with a complete disregard for the safety of pedestrians.

In my personal opinion, it’s typically the attitude of the driver that impacts my safety in a crosswalk more than the type vehicle. I’ve almost been run over by tuned civics racing between lights, clueless tourists in a Prius gawking at buildings, city busses, and the occasional truck driver who has never driven downtown before. Like any type of vehicle, I believe awareness of your surroundings and limitations of the vehicle is key to ensuring your safety and the safety of others.

Ha. Was there a question in there somewhere?

I always find it helps to engage with people and understand their situation before being a judgmental asshat. You might find it difficult to sway people to your point of view with that attitude.

Ford calls it Glacier Gray Metallic.

I drive one of these trucks and occasionally a ‘fuckcars’ post pops up in my feed like this one. Here’s my F-350 with standard size girlfriend for scale. Ask me anything.

It’s called “The Handmaids Tale”.

They made it in book and TV show form. Minus the birth problems which kick off the societal change in that story, we’re quickly headed for it.

Annoyingly, many vehicles sold in the U.S. don’t have a tow rating except for large SUV’s and trucks. It makes it difficult to know if you can safely tow a trailer with your small crossover.

I owned a Honda HR-V a few years ago. In Europe, it was rated for around 1,500 lbs. In the U.S., they just slap “not recommended for towing” on it and tell you to buy something larger.

Europe licenses trucks and trailers differently than in the U.S. An American one-ton pickup can tow at a combined weight of up to 26,000lbs in most states on a standard Class D license. The same license you need to operate a Honda Civic. This weight would require a commercial license in Europe, raising the bar for entry.

The lengths of trucks and trailers is also regulated more heavily due to smaller European streets. A vehicle rated to tow a 26,000lb load in Europe would need to be much shorter in length to abide by these regulations. This is why you only see “cab-over” style “lorries” in Europe.

What follows is my opinion on some additional factors:

It’s more affordable for Europeans to hire a professional driver for heavy loads owing to the short distances between destinations. It’s also less likely that your average European owns land or has a need to haul a heavy load to maintain said property.

See ODOT’s website for photo and route.

https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/traffic-advisories/district-9/superload

You nailed it. I’m the target audience for this and that is exactly how I use my laptop. Now if only framework would add a touchscreen option and I’d buy it tomorrow.

Probably miniaturized versions of CIWS / C-RAM or laser systems.

Figured a picture would be appropriate…

I always loved construction equipment as a kid. I had a full set of die-cast Cat construction machines and would play with them in a sandbox my dad built.

Three months ago I bought a Kubota U27-4 mini-excavator. Needless to say, my inner 8 year old is thrilled.

I saw one that required you to decline every single company that was purchasing marketing data from the site. It was like 300 companies long where you had to click the slider to turn them each off individually.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to discern which setting of the slider is on or off. They use nonstandard colors or don’t explain in text which setting signifies each option.