Cars

Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to explore the western United States on an epic road trip driving a 2017 Explorer Platinum provided by Ford. For nearly three weeks, my wife and I lived out the vehicle and yet I was sad to see the car go at the end of our trip. I've driven a LOT of cars but few of them could have done what the Explorer did for us on the trip.

Like many other parts of the country, California continues to be under water restrictions and while we've had a lot of rain recently that doesn't mean we can start wasting water again. As a result, my car looks terrible. It has dust, pollen, bird stuff, road grime all over, and ironically even beads of wax left over from my last car wash months and months ago. I've avoided regularly washing my car like I once did because frankly it's appalling how much water is wasted that way. While commercial, automatic car washes are far more efficient with water than washing at home with a hose and bucket, it's still a huge waste of water. That's why I was excited to try the new Armor All Ultra Shine Wash Wipes when they asked me to try them out recently.

Virtually every man I know has an appreciation - if not an outright love of cars. While some are simply dull practical machines to get back and forth, many of them are in fact works of mechanical and artistic triumph that deserve to be celebrated. That's one of the reasons why I love the annual Fabulous Fords Forever show. It's more than just an exotic car show, but rather it's a celebration of passion for one of my favorite automotive brands - Ford Motor Company. 

Phoenix in the spring is a pilgrimage destination for all guys (and women) that love baseball. There is simply no better place in the world that you can go to experience the pure joy and excitement of the sport unspoiled by commercialism and the pressures of rankings. For a few weeks, it's just about playing the game and seeing some amazing young talent playing their hearts out along side seasoned veterans serving as their mentors. This is a destination that I try to visit each year, so when the folks at Toyota invited me out to celebrate in the sun with them I excitedly accepted.

A lot of attention has been focused on green technology and this is especially true for consumer vehicles like cars, trucks, and even SUVs. However, you don't often hear of green innovations when it comes to RVs and campervans. However, when you look at the total experience of a family vacation in an RV and then compare it to one that involves driving or flying to a resort, the total impact becomes closer - but there are still things that any RV owner can do to improve upon that!

Joshua Tree National Park is an absolutely stunning natural reserve with wide open spaces, amazing colors, and terrain ranging from sharp cliffs to sandy plains. It's a fantastic place to explore on foot though it can get extremely hot during the summer, so I find it much more enjoyable to use one of the off road trails and explore it's hidden spaces that way. We did this recently with the 2017 Jeep Cherokee Overland 4x4 and were completely impressed with how capable it was.

In the past year I've gotten the bug for off-road driving. Fortunately I've been privileged to be able to borrow some fantastic vehicles from manufacturers including Jeep who have indulged my hobby. However, as I look around at the people I meet on the trails I realize that not everyone is driving the latest and greatest models. In fact, most people have an older model truck, Jeep or SUV that has been lovingly updated to serve their desired purpose. In fact, this makes a lot of sense since who wants to dent some brand new body work? I'm still going to wince a bit if I dent the door or get a crack in the headlight of any vehicle but I'd rather it happen to something that was already a bit worn. So the trick is figuring out where to start and how to get your truck off-road ready so you don't waste time and money in the process.

Recently, we were hosted in Bluffton, SC with Mazda to explore some of what the Lowcountry has to offer. I've personally never worked with Mazda in this capacity, but the experience was definitely one to remember. The Mazda brand is all about lifestyle and how its vehicles can make the perfect companion, whether you're enjoying some back roads or living it up in the city. Because of this, we had the opportunity to experience some very memorable activities in a beautiful setting.

The Toyota history museum in Torrance is closed.

While Detroit may be known as "Motor City", Los Angeles is absolutely a Car Kingdom with the US Headquarters for numerous Asian manufactures including Mazda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, and Honda. Because of this, it shouldn't be surprising that there are some amazing automotive museums in Southern California that chronicle this perspective of automotive history. We recently got invited to visit the Toyota USA Automobile Museum in Torrance and I learned a lot about the impact that Toyota had on the American industry as well as just how integrated Toyota is in the US industry and how it got there.

Torrance California... it's probably not at the top of your list of tourist spots to visit this summer but maybe it should be. Honestly, going into this trip all I cared about was hanging out with my friends for a few days and I knew that at least I'd have a good time with them. After all, what could an industrial town just south of LAX and bordered by some of the most notorious neighborhoods possibly offer me?

In the recent past the Chicago Auto Show was ironically considered a “truck show” show by the world’s vehicle manufacturers. These automakers chose the show to introduce important pickup and SUV vehicles to the media and the nation’s largest public auto show audience. Well, for the recently concluded 2016 Chicago Auto Show trucks took the show back. This year there were numerous production truck intros and special vehicles on display at the show. Here are the ones you need to know about.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Escort Radar + Laser Detectors for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Honestly this was a lot of fun and I was afraid for a few moments that I was going to end up paying the San Diego police department for the pleasure of reviewing the product instead of making some money myself. However, I'm happy to share that this is an awesome device that while you should never speed - is a good thing to have in your car to help make you more aware of what's going on around you.

At some point in your driving career, you will exceed the speed limit and most of us will get a ticket at least once in our lives. That doesn't make you a bad person, but there are ways you can help prevent that. One is to be more diligent about your speed and the posted limits. The other way is to employ a device such as a radar detector that helps to alert you when you might be in trouble.

I'm lucky - not a month goes by where I don't get a chance to hop in an awesome new car and take it for a spin. While many of my friends get jealous when I talk about jetting off to Aspen or some other exotic locale, the reality is that you can have a similar experience even closer to home by visiting your local auto show and checking out the Kia Ride & Drive.

NASCAR is an great American past-time that allows fans an up close and personal view of their favorite cars, drivers, teams and the owners!  Recently I was invited to a weekend with Crown Royal and NASCAR at the Jeff Kyle Brickyard 400 and had a once in lifetime experience with 11 other bloggers.  Our weekend started with a fun filled evening at the fabulous Georgia Reese's in downtown Indianapolis for whiskey tasting and a delicious dinner.  Our tasting of the Crown Royal blends and dinner was hosted by Master of Whiskey, Stephen Wilson.  This small quaint event was the meet and greet with the Crown Royal PR staff, and us bloggers.  While we were chatting and enjoying the ambiance, we learned about the uniqueness of the Crown Royal blends and how they differ from Irish whiskeys and American whiskeys.  

Anyone can "drive somewhere" but to make an absolutely awesome road trip, you've got to combine a few things: friends, vehicle, and setting. It simply isn't enough to just strap in to a car and drive somewhere. The folks at Ford totally get this and developed an incredible route from Vancouver, British Columbia down to Albuquerque, New Mexico to showcase the stunningly awesome 2016 Ford Explorer. For the third part, "friends"... well they invited a bunch of bloggers and other media people to drive the route along with them.

I’ve seen it all before: You just got a new car, but it isn’t exactly the souped-up muscle machine of your dreams. Instead of waiting 40 years and saving up for that fantastic beast, you have decided to mod out the dinky model you can afford today. There’s just one problem: You don’t know anything about modding.

Are you getting ready for fall by dusting off that rake and raising the mower blade to mulch leaves? While you are getting ready for fall chores don't forget to check your tires too. After a long summer driving on hot dusty roads, you need to make sure that they are ready for the ice and snow that's coming soon.

It's tough being a guy with a family, in the past you could have that two-seat coupe and be the envy of the guys at the office, but now you have kids, a wife, mortgage and you gotta be practical. (Or at least that's what your wife keeps telling you!)

For far too long, "practical" meant being boring and conservative while sacrificing "style" and "vroom" for "safety" and "space for the kids". As you know, I love Kia and I am a Kia owner myself, so I was really excited to check out the 2015 Optima prior to our trip next month for the launch of the 2016 version.

This weekend while watching NASCAR it's hard to miss the overt commercialism of the sport. As you watch cars fly by with logos on almost every square inch of space where a camera just might pan to during the race it's sort of crazy. That's true for the World Challenge Racing League that Kia competes in too, but instead of blasting Kia logos and oil companies, Kia and the team owners Kinetic Racing decided to do something special and focus on promoting two very important and awesome charities - B.R.A.K.E.S. and DonorsChoose.org. Sure, there's a Kia logo on the side, but in press materials and on the track, these cars are referred to as the No. 36 DonorsChoose.org Optima turbo and the No. 38 B.R.A.K.E.S. Optima turbo.

That says something about the company when they lead by promoting two amazing charities rather than focusing just on their own brand, and I found that refreshing.