Adventures in the Beehive State (And a history of Utah's Interstate 70)

"We have to turn back," he said. Asa was right. We pulled off at a rest stop, the only speck of human development for at least twenty miles. But this wasn't like any rest stop I had ever stopped at before. This one overlooked a magnificent valley, and a highway--the one we'd been on-- that zig-zagged...

Every New Car You can Still Buy with a Manual in 2015

A thought occurred to me the other day. It's a recurring thought, in the minds of nearly every car enthusiast. Is the manual transmission as we know it going away? I'm not talking about dual clutch transmissions, or that deplorable "auto-shift manual" nonsense, but true manual cars. Three pedals. We hear over and over again that this idea is dead, at least here in America. The market has spoken:...

Cheyenne, Land of Thurman's Folly

"This is the old family homestead, out near Laramie," he said as he pointed to a black and white picture of a barn, the date "1921" in the eaves. I don't like calling Thurman my grandpa. It's not because I feel he's done me any sort of wrong, he's just been too old and sick during most of my childhood...

An Air-ride That Can Land You Flat on the Ground

Magic Body Control. It sounds like a cheap gimmick, a feature that gets tacked on to an overpriced mattress. And in a way, it is. That mattress, it turns out, is a 2015 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and that Magic Body Control is an $8000 optional extra.  That's a pricey mattress. I was puzzled...