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This Eleuthera
island golf cart sports Nascar stickers and
a racing number as well as freakin’
fast flames.
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Lookout! It’s a bird. It’s a plane.
No, it’s a golf cart… with flames!
Lookout! Here comes another
one! And another!
When
you’re on an island like Eleuthera that’s really a set of islands (or the
shorter Long Island), there’s a lot more stop and go than “highway miles.” Heck, there aren’t many miles, period; skinny
Eleuthera is just a little over 100 miles long. Speeds of 55+ mph are not only unlikely, in Eleuthera, the speed
limit is purportedly no more than 40 miles an hour highway and 15 in towns.
On land, a true go-fast-vehicle is
just for show.
Plus,
nearly everything on the island is shipped in. Small (and light) is big. Golf carts weigh 500-600 pounds. Gross
vehicle weight of a small car can be as low as 1,270 pounds – still at
least twice the weight of an average golf cart. With a smaller
and lighter footprint, it must cost less to ship a golf cart versus a car.
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The parking
lot at Spanish Wells supermarket.
Okay not all golf carts here have flames.
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Another
incentive? Gas is expensive, about
$5-$6 per gallon. At
worst, golf cart get 20 mpg.
While some golf
cart manufacturers claim 75-80 mpg, golf cart users say 35-45 mpg is more
typical. Then of course, there
is electric….
Given
the frequency of rusted auto heaps on roadsides and in dumps, it didn’t
surprise us when locals we talked to said most cars and trucks don’t fare well
in this salty environment. A few
years life is typical.
The
funniest wreck we saw was the Long Island truck across the street from an
automotive repair shop…. With weeds growing through its engine! A few weeks later when we passed by, it
was gone. Can’t imagine its
presence inspired potential customers.
My
Facebook friends came up with these clever potential captions for it….
- Beth Mack The grass is always greener on the other side!
- Jill Hofmann Container Gardening Bahamian Way!
- Jeff Stong The latest version of the clean air act has had a big impact on auto manufacturers.
- Bruce Starcher closed loop system ... weeds to bio ethanol to power the car - can go forever!
- Daniel West Dateline April, 2014: GM announces new "green" auto propulsion system, with exhaust that smells like fresh cut grass and floral overtones. Keep on truckin'!
- Donna Rawlings Sole I was built in a car plant you've never heard of....They bitched me down so bad I had to go green.Dad, remember that GMC you gave me, well we found it...When I parked there it was snowing
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This
“green” truck was parked across the street
from a Long Island service station.
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- Nancy Stillwell Yoes For some reason my truck won't start.
- Judy Andermatt Adeni If it were in Colorado maybe the need for weed overcomes the need for speed...
- Aj Schricker A weed is just a flower in the wrong place.
- Patty Titcomb greenest energy i've seen yet!
- Brian Rose Flower Power! The classics are the best...
Thus,
golf carts are far more common here than cars.
If
I lived here, I'd traverse these flats in an electric golf cart, and thank my
luck stars for it every time I passed a gas station. No flames, though.
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