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With the Halloween Holiday upon us, here is a little tale about two fellows who innocently crossed the path of a ghostly hitchhiker many years ago in Alabama. The two businessmen were on a business trip and traveling cross country. They were beginning to tire from their long excursion and decided to pull into the next town, find a motel, and spend the evening and get a fresh start in the morning. Looking on the map to find the nearest town, the image of a lone woman walking alone on the highway caught their headlights. Slowing down, the men rolled down their window and asked the woman if she was okay and needed a ride.

The woman was very cheerful and happy and told them that she had been trying to reach her daughters house for some time, but nobody had stopped to give her a ride. Not even thinking to ask if she had car troubles, or what had brought her out there in the first place, the two men politely asked if she would like them to bring her as far as the next town. She was so happy at their offer, she immediately got into the car and started to tell the men all about her daughter and two grandchildren. She told them their names, the school her grandchildren went to, her daughters job and husband. The men were very eager to please the old woman who had been on such a long journey and listened intently.

As the road grew dark, the two men began to talk about business affairs and the woman became quiet. Several minutes of pure dark passed as the men continued their conversation through a long stretch of deserted road. Eventually, a glowing light appeared in the distance as promise of the next town. The men were very happy and the passenger turned to see how their passenger was doing, but she was gone. They immediately stopped the car and turned back to look along the highway.

The two men thought the worst and wondered if she had fallen out during the dark spell of road. They looked all along the highway and finally ended at the spot where they had first spotted the woman. They could still see her tiny foot prints in the dirt where they had first picked her up, but the woman was nowhere to be found. They returned to the next town and decided to visit her daughter to tell her what had happened.

The next morning they went to the address the old woman had gave them and sure enough she was there. They told her their story and she began to cry. They men were shocked by her reaction and assured her that she would be okay when they find her again. The woman took a picture from her fireplace and asked the men if this was the woman they saw. They both agreed and then asked the woman when was the last time she had seen her. She slowly sat down in a chair and looked up at the two men, “February, three years ago when we buried her.”

Have a Happy Halloween!

Winter driving 1Originally uploaded by Harry Azhar

Here are a few more ideas to help prepare yourself for old man winter:

• Get a fresh set of windshield wipers. They are cheap, easy to put on, and about one of the most crucial components on a vehicle during a bad winter storm. You aren’t going to get very far in a winter storm if you can’t see and chances are if you have an old pair of wipers that are starting to deteriorate, the winter months is when they are going to fail. They will rip, warp, and sometimes break clean off, leaving a deep scratch in your windshield that will definitely remind you next winter to take this advice.

• This next bit may be a bit hard to stomach with the cost of gas these days, but the winter is a time when you should have a near full tank of gas at all times.

  • One, it is always a good idea to have a plentiful reservoir in the case of an emergency or really bad storm.

  • Two, it minimizes condensation in the fuel system that could lead to a frozen gas line.

  • Three, it allows added weight on the rear tires that could aid in snowy condition driving, especially with a rear wheel drive vehicle.

• Check those tires through each major change of the temperatures outside for the next several months. For every 5 degrees Celsius the temperature drops, the pressure in a tire will drop by one pound per square foot. So, if you’re going from 90 degree weather to 0… that can certainly add up to some serious dire deflation!

• Have a “good” look at your battery. Sometimes a failing battery will seem fine through the summer months and the minute a really cold day hits, you will be stranded at the office, gas station, grocery store, post office… and by the time you realize you need a new battery, you will be a human Popsicle!

• You should have these items in your vehicle during the winter months to cover most any situation:

  • Windshield scraper and snow brush

  • Lightweight shovel

  • Bag of sand, traction mat,etc.

  • Properly inflated spare tire

  • Wheel wrench and jack

  • First aid kit

  • Flashlight

  • Flares

  • Battery jumper cables and/or emergency jump starter battery

  • Cell phone

  • Blankets

  • Nutrition Bars

  • Water

*Photo courtesy of Telstar Logistics

Speed shops have the saying: “Speed Costs Money… How Fast Do You Want To Go!”

The big question has always been how to improve performance and gas mileage with the least amount of money. Well, this is like asking Pamela Anderson to model swim wear with the least amount of… well, you get the point!

With todays advanced technology in vehicles, performance enhancement has become slightly less complicated than it used to be—at least the basics of it.

While there is really no substitute for money, there is a basic low cost recipe that has been tried and tested for just about every make and model of automobile. Each of these Big Five performance ingredients involve very little mechanical knowledge to install and promise the possibility of both performance and improved gas mileage.

The BIG Five:

• Free flowing Filter or CAI(Cold Air Induction) set-up $200- This item will take the place of the stock air filter box. Its purpose is to allow more air into the engine to be burned.

  • Popular Brands- Ingen, K&N, AEM

• Free Flowing Muffler $200- This will open exhaust flow to compliment the increased air intake flow from your filter and/or CAI. There will be a slight sound increase with these, but there is always something you must give up to gain elsewhere in the world of automobiles.

  • Popular brands- Borla, Magnaflow, Flowmaster

• Reduction Pulleys $150- These will Slow down engine accessories, allowing the engine to use its horsepower to the road rather than its accessories (alternator, water pump, etc).

• Performance Tuning Software $300- This will take advantage of all the other upgrades you have made by re-mapping the engine software for improved performance.

  • Popular Devices- Superchips, SCT Livewire, DiabloSport Predator

• High Performance Ignition $100- This will allow more power to reach your plugs, burning the fuel more efficiently and also allowing the possibility to open the spark plug gaps to .60 for improved combustion potential.

  • Popular Devices- Accell, Mallory, Screamin Demon

These are the basics ingredients for a nice street performer. All and all you could be looking at performance gains of 20 to 80 horsepower and improvements in gas mileage in the range of 3 to 8 mpg. Not bad for a few simple “bolt-on” upgrades that should cost around $1,000.