<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_8FX19ncyFB4/Ro5wUY7DRdI/AAAAAAAABiw/OBIevcZAunw/s1600-h/expedition.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5084124524937692626" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_8FX19ncyFB4/Ro5wUY7DRdI/AAAAAAAABiw/OBIevcZAunw/s320/expedition.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">For a short while this weekend</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, a bright red Ford Expedition was parked in the driveway next to my silver Toyota Prius. It didn't go by unnoticed, especially in our liberal, tree-hugging neighborhood. Jason's line became "We're trying a new kind of carbon offsetting, to make up for driving a Prius for so long." Mine was "We like irony."</span>

The real story is this: Jason's car, which comfortably seats all three girls in the back seat, was unexpectedly spending the weekend at the dealership, waiting for a brake part. We had plans for a Sunday daytrip up to Michigan, where we were meeting my parents and my aunt and cousin, who are visiting from New Zealand. It was pretty clear that we weren’t going to manage five people, a big cooler and all kinds of beach gear in the Prius for a six-hour drive, so we called a car rental company Saturday morning.

The only vehicle they had left that gave us any more room than the Prius was a Ford Expedition. With somewhat guilty consciences (weighing the gas guzzling problem against the fact that we don't drive an SUV on a daily basis), we went with it. In the rental car lot it seemed somewhat average-sized. Only after we arrived home and parked the two vehicles side by side in the driveway did we realize what we had done.

Let me put in this perspective. A Ford Expedition has a V8, 300 horsepower engine (that's 365 pound-feet of torque, if you're curious). It's capable of towing over 9,000 pounds of <span style="font-style: italic;">something</span>, which is the equivalent of three Priuses and an average sized cow. It's nearly two feet taller than my little 4-cylinder, 44 horsepower "scooter" (our affectionate name for the Prius).

To make matters worse, it was bright red. As we know when it comes to fashion sense, dressing a very large woman in a bright red dress does <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> make her look smaller. Frankly, it was embarrassing.

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My Prius, in contrast, is the automotive equivalent of a sensible shoe. It's not much to look at but it sure makes you feel good when it's all said and done. It goes without saying that the environmental connotations of driving an Expedition were big on our list of reasons to be embarrassed. We take some pride in our 40 mpg vehicle, so to be driving a beast that guzzles nearly four times the amount of fuel to travel the same distance seems excessive, like wearing stilettos to the park.

But we're not <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> exemplary when it comes to our use of natural resources. We don't ride bicycles to the grocery store or collect rainwater to later use on the garden. We're a two-car family, and Jason's isn't exactly an economy car. We freely air condition our house when we begin feeling uncomfortably warm, and we don't enforce military showers (although we've considered it...at least for the girls). So we really can't say we're environmentally above driving a 300 horsepower thug.

I think what made us so uncomfortable in the Expedition was the sheer, overarching excess the vehicle represents. Everything about it is bigger and stronger than it needs to be.

Before we even left the house, it encouraged packing sprawl: We had so much space we were tempted to bring all manner of things we didn't need just for a day trip to the beach. <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">At the gas station, it took over $80 to fill it up (that's a 28 gallon tank).</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Once on the road, the Expedition took on a certain "get out of my way" attitude that really doesn't match our personalities. I felt somehow apologetic the whole time. And Jason was seated so far away from me, that it was difficult to comfortably hold hands. I guess a man driving something that big typically doesn't want to hold hands. </span>

The girls, however, were thrilled. We knew they would be. Riding in an SUV, for them, is the equivalent of getting to watch movies all day or drink as much pop as they want. And, I must admit, we made it to the dunes with less complaining than we generally hear from the back. Three skinny girls were spread out over enough space for six adults, so I should hope they were comfortable.

But the experience, unfortunately, urged them do what excess tends to urge one to do: Want more. Next time, they want to rent a really big SUV—with a DVD player.