The past two days, the high, the HIGH, has been about 258 degrees Kelvin (or 5 Fahrenheit. You might remember from Chemistry class that Absolute Zero = 0 Kelvin = -273 Celsius = -459 Fahrenheit). At night, the temp has reached a balmy -9 F; you can actually see the cold air moving our curtains on the windows. Fortunately, we are inside and usually nestled under our electric blanket.
I don't write this to complain, although I've barely left the house in the last 48 hours. I am mentioning this because of something we've noticed lately.
We were sitting in a bar the other night, looking out the window, drinking a beer, when I noticed that one of the cars parked outside had smoke coming out of its tailpipe. Since the wind was blowing snow all around, we weren't sure if it was exhaust, meaning the car was running, or if it was just an illusion. Kimberly assessed that the car was running, since the snow on the hood of the car was all melted. I thought that was crazy; I know we're in Iowa, but wouldn't someone drive off with the car, a drunk college kid or something?
At least an hour later, a guy from the bar walked right out to the car, stepped in, out it in gear, and drove away. Apparently, he left the car running so that it would be warm inside when he needed to leave. Peculiar.
Over the last couple of days, I've noticed unoccupied cars idling all over the place - the grocery store, outside the coffee shop, the gym.
So I have to wonder: do people here leave their cars running so that they're not cold when they get back in them? And are people really that nice here; I've definitely seen some homeless people around, so why wouldn't they just take a car? Do you need to carry 2 keys with you to keep the car running, but lock the door? Doesn't gas cost a lot? I grew up and went to school in some really cold places, and I'm pretty sure this wasn't common there; or was it and I just didn't notice? Or maybe a lot of people here have automatic starters (a good idea), and I've just happened to walk past all the cars just after they were started?
If anyone has any insight on this, I'd love to hear about it, because I think it's really kind of weird that there are all these cars running with no one inside them here.
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5 comments:
I know some people who did it because their (old, old) car would have problems starting again in the (super wicked) cold. This only applied when it got cold *enough*, so just butt cold they wouldn't have to do it. Stupid cold, they would have to.
I know other people who just left it running to be warm, though. Just like in the summer, leaving it running so the A/C could cool it down. Equally annoying.
yeah, see, these are newish cars (well, trucks mostly). Certainly newer than our little car.
I vote it's the warm inside that counts, not keeping the engine warm.
Are Iowans really so nice that the cars don't get stolen? I remember the police here sending out warnings about people cruising neighborhoods on cold mornings just for the purpose of stealing the car warming up in the driveway or taking the car and child from in front of 7-11.
Some people (including us) have these remote starters on their keychain, and so we can start our car from a distance without a key. If our car is unlocked, and someone should (in the rare case) try to drive off, merely touching the steering wheel turns the car off. Pretty cool, eh?
Minnie mama-
that's cool! I had no idea that the remote starters worked that way.
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