The closest I have come to camping in my 40 some years on the planet is a 3 star hotel.

 

It’s redundant to say that camping is not an event or vacation experience I frequently engage in. Ok—the truth is, I never have. So when Subaru invited me as one of several journalists to participate in the Subaru Responsible Recreation Excursion & Camping Event in the Grand Tetons, I declined. I test drive cars, but was not the least bit interested in what the authentic Subaru car owner does for fun, specifically, as it relates to the outdoor activities.

 

After an overnight reflection of my automatic ‘no’, I threw my hat over the wall and changed my answer to a ‘yes’. Immersion, here I come.

 

I packed my 26” upright pullman with all kinds of necessities and the bag was checked with the 3” expandability fully engaged. My wheeled carry on was also stuffed to the max. All for a three day camping event. After all, a girl needs options!

 

Arriving at Jackson airport, I was greeted by two other journalists who nominated me the driver of the Subaru 2010 Outback 3.6R Limited <www.subaru.com> to get us to our campsite. This 30 minute drive included negotiating three wrong turns, and so the picture for the next few days was set.

 

No make up, no power clothes and no conference room quickly put everyone on the same playing field. No false bravado or pretenses with a group as different as the places we were from. What also helps in getting related, is camping out in 18 degree weather, singing kumbaya by the fire pit and desperately hoping someone was awake at 2:13 am to save me from the black bears when walking 100 yards to the bathroom. Snoring, body noises, etc. simply helped make us all equals and if there had been any prima donnas flying in to Jackson, certainly none showed up.

 

If a camera crew happened to be in tow, the 3 days could have been shot and edited as a 21st century unisex reality version of ‘City Slickers’. After all, we were in the heart of the Grand Tetons, the originating ‘dude country’.

 

Driving the 2010 Subaru Outback was a blast. The term ‘off road” was one I quickly understood as I excitedly negotiated the car from 7,000 feet to 11,000 feet up the Jackson Hole ski slopes. Ridiculously affordable with a symmetrical AWD, this wagon hugged the road yet has plenty of clearance to protect the underbelly of the vehicle. Comforts such as NAV system, heated cloth seats and dual-way climate control thwarted any possibility of arguing with my new BFF driving mate, Mike, from Better Homes & Gardens. And, better yet, the car gets 29 miles to the highway gallon. (See upcoming review on the Outback 3.6R Limited in our Her & His Car Review section).

 

I was surprised to discover that Subaru vehicles are on the road 10 years – longer than most manufacturers And, original Subaru owners hold onto their vehicles an average of 7 + years – it is the perfect auto hand-me-down. Simply put, they are long lasting and hearty vehicles.

 

There were many benefits of the trip - from meeting wonderfully fun and remarkable people from all over the States, to stretching my driving capabilities, to jamming to Cat Stevens and Neil Young accompanied by the talented George Doran <visit www.georgedoran.com>.  In short, it was a three day educational event – including travelling with the extraordinary folks from www.LeaveNoTrace.com – an international nonprofit committed to educating us on Outdoor Ethics and how to be responsible in the elements.

 

As I picked up my multiple suitcases to head to the airport for home, I also permanently packed away my pre-conceived ideas of the Subaru Outback. Gone are the notions that this brand is exclusively for the authentic outdoor types or the family with 2.5 children. After my immersion experience in the west, I can now see myself as a true-blue urban Outback driver. And that is that.

 

Drive Your Bargain,

Anne

Car Buying Advocate

www.twitter.com/womendrivers

 

Context is everything.

Pittsburgh, known as a city no stranger to the sports universe, will be showcasing a new context this week. And, not just to the 98.7 million folks who watched the highest viewed Super Bowl, either.

 

This week begs that the number of people in the world watching, reading, texting, blogging, talking, complaining, anticipating, arguing, protecting, training, reporting, orchestrating, transforming, updating, preparing, expecting, filming, cleaning, analyzing, posturing, scheming, debating, protesting, ignoring, questioning, calculating, disagreeing, waiting and shielding this confluence city will be beyond any number ever imaginable in its’ 250 year old history.

 

Renaissance City. Three Rivers City. Six-burgh. City of Champions. Steel Town. These affectionate terms are valid and only tell part of the story. Under a new context (which our nation and others have slowly been discovering), Pittsburgh is continuously defining and expanding itself as a leading medical, robotics, biotech and green community.

 

This week’s G-20 Summit of the top 20 world leaders, including our President Obama, will be hosted by Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. This Summit opens up a conversation about many high ranking political and economic issues impacting the globe in 2009 and beyond. It will also open up conversations about this city.

 

The world is watching Pittsburgh. What will the unresolved standoffs be? What will the resolutions and next steps of the Summit look like? What will the the impact and effect of the protestors be? Will this newly created context stay top of mind when the word ‘Pittsburgh’ is mentioned? One can’t yet say just yet, other than to speculate. But by this time six days from now the watching world will know.

 

Drive Your Bargain,

 

Anne, the Car Buying Advocate

www.twitter.com/womendrivers

 

September 12 – 18th is National Child Passenger Safety Week. Spread the word.

Here is a sobering statistic: motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among children ages 2 to 14. It’s indeed a fact that more children die in car crashes each year than to SIDS, cancer, pneumonia, fires and drowning, combined! Amazingly, most of these deaths are completely unnecessary and are due to lack of adequate child car seats and installation.

Our partners at Auto Alliance (www.autoalliance.org) and the NHTSA have provided this quick 3 part visual to fully understand what is required to keep your infants, toddlers and young children safer when on the road. Click here to view http://childcarsafety.adcouncil.org/ 

For specific FAQ’s about what child seat is right, legal and safe for your child, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics and read the 2009 Guide for Child Safety Seats http://www.aap.org/family/Carseatguide.htm  Be informed. It’s the Law and it’s their Life.   

Drive Your Bargain,  

Anne, Car Buying Advocate

www.twitter.com/womendrivers

You know where you were. You know what you were doing and what grades your children were in. Your age and occupation at the time.

I remember my desk and office layout at Atlantic Luggage Company, where I was Senior Marketing Director. I was conversing with George Patterson about a friend's brithday. This particular morning, chatting with George over a cup of tea, was just like any other day. Yet, distinct and to forever be a day impressed in my memory to such degree that the slightest details of the day's events - the CEO calling the employees together, watching TV in the upstairs conference room, the 40 mile drive home and seeing the sky full of fighter jets circling Pittsburgh, clicking back and forth between NBC and BBC, weeping, being in a state of horror and unknown, making all those calls - yes, that is a day I remember vividly. September 11, 2001.

I am all about my 'to-do' lists. Love to make them. Love to re-create them. Spend so much time managing them, shuffling the priority of them. Love when the last item gets a horizontal pen line crossed through it. Love to start new ones. Simply put, punch lists work for me. They are in my Outlook, on loose Post-it notes, in my phone, and on random pages in my various and many journals.  They are scattered by my bed, in the office, in my car. I love how concrete and dynamic my to do lists are. Really, my life is a fluid, on-going space of to-do lists. I am not alone. Call it Dreams, Call it Aspirations, Call it Places Yet to see. Call it Someday. That is the forum of how I operate in life. We all have our version of 'to-do' lists.

I am left with honor and saddness as I remember the lives that were lost that day. None of whom I knew. All of whom I am forever and profoundly related to. Mothers, Fathers, Parents, Children, Lovers, Friends, Colleagues. People. They were simply people going about their own to do list. Just like any other day.

Eight years later some want to move on. Some want to forget. The majority will honor and take pause. Each person has their own frame of reference and point of view on the extraordinary collective loss, grief and shock of that day and its aftermath. Who knows what would have become of the greatness of each of those persons lost? Who knows what vast possibilites each of them had on their to do list? I am left with silence thinking of the untold enormity.

Drive Your Bargain,

Anne, Car Buying Advocate

www.twitter.com/womendrivers

 

 

I have FMD. For years I have suffered with it. I have done my best, asked for support, and still I endured this emotionally taxing syndrome on my own.  After returning home from a family reunion in Canada recently, I was able to come clean, to admit the truth. The simple truth is I have been afflicted with it for years. Ok, decades.

Pills. Medication. Tears. Homeopathic remedies. Prayers. Nothing has worked. 

After meeting my cousin Sara Smith for the first time in northern Ontario, she put my questioning to rest.  After watching me sputter about, she said those three words which put me at ease. I was beyond relieved knowing I wasn’t the only one. “Female Map Disorder? I suffer from this, too,” said Sarah.  

OMG, now I could talk about this to someone. How liberating. I didn’t have to have the shame of being the only one. Heading up a market research company, I quickly initiated and conducted a highly scientific, statistically significant, research poll. The results showed an overwhelming 77.8% of North American women suffer from FMD. This must be reported to the Harvard School of Medicine at once! 

Common symptoms among women who suffer from Female Map Disorder include:

• Challenged by the amount of folds to get a map back in flush, re-fold condition
• Nervousness when driver asks ‘north or south’? and you respond ‘you must mean left or right’
• Anxiousness when having to determine distances between cities, specifically, how to come up with the answer by measuring a couple of inches
• Increased stress levels by listening to the bossy driver who repeats “I can't do everything" when an FMD patient does not provide rapid fire, correct answers (yes, Sara, I totally understand)
• Horror when seeing men sitting at a table or standing by the car reading, studying and talking about directions for more than two minutes
• When combined with PMS, FMD can lead to an exacerbated state
• Though not contagious, it certainly seems to run in the family

To date, medical research has only found two antidotes for FMD:

1. A GPS system that recalibrates, or
2. Map Quest – with line by line directions

Look for FMD support groups coming soon to your city. Cousin Sara, you are a lifesaver!

 

Drive Your Bargain,

 

Anne

www.twitter.com/womendrivers