Dual Controls

I've always wanted to own a vehicle with dual temperature controls. None that I've ever owned have had that feature. Dual controls work so well in concept, you can personally select your own desired temperature level, and your traveling companion can select what suits him or her.

Traveling Companion (hereby referred to as TC) and I definitely have a different idea of a comfort level of temperature while traveling. 2500 miles under our belts and rubbing our backsides has proven that! I hope he was comfortable, because I sure wasn't! It was like the frozen Arctic tundra in the cab of his truck for most of the time! A blast of frosty air chilled us quickly, even on the hot days, I had to check to mirror to see if icicles had begun to form on my nose! Also, checked for blocks of ice at the end of my legs. My only defense was to grab a sweater or jacket, and hope for the best.

Now, in traveling down life's road, I've encountered more than one situation that dual controls would have worked well. The late Mr. liked it warm. Much too warm for my taste, as I went through about 15 years of "personal summertime" coming in flashes throughout that period. During that time, he needed more and more sun, and sunshiny days to make him happy. He always wore a long sleeve shirt or jacket, and had shivering down to a fine art! I think he was happiest when we traveled to Death Valley and it was 120 degrees! He revelled in it, and I about expired under a hot rock! So dual controls in our vehicles would have been a really great asset for us!

Now, I've passed on to a different season in my life, more toward the "perpetually autumn" or God-forbid, the "winter of discontent". I definitely choose somewhat warmer temps in which to feel comfortable. So this icy blast coming from the vents in TC's truck was not to my liking. TC had control of the trip, it was his vehicle, his itinerary, his plan, and he controlled the dials on the AC. One time when I dared to turn it down/up/make it warmer, he quickly corrected my attempts to warm things up by turning down the dials to "icy tundra". (Is there a picture of a polar bear on that end of the dial? There should be!) When on a rare occasion when I was given the keys, and his eyes closed for 5 minutes giving up control, I sneaked my hand over and turned it up, TWICE! Then I was able to survive the 11 hour drive as we returned home.

I'll talk about control in a later blog, but as for now, I recommend the all auto makers put dual controls in every vehicle. It would do a lot to calm down "road rage", them that like it hot can be happy, and those who need to be very cool will have their day. And in life's road, we all like to be able to have control of the dials.