Every so often, our family runs into logistical challenges that strongly resemble the word problems we had in high school algebra…
We have three vehicles here at the Castle: a 1998 Honda Accord, a 2001 Ford F-150 Super Crew and a 1979 F150 that gets 13 MPG!
The Lord’s wife had to catch a plane this morning in order to go visit friends and family in California. The airport is 35 minutes north and west of our apartment.
The Lord’s son wanted to make the 9 hour drive to Franklin, Tennessee visit his older sister before he leaves for college in a few weeks.
The Lord’s youngest daughter needed to be at the airport at 5:45 P.M. to catch her flight to visit friends and family in California.
The Lord had to go to work in Blue Springs, MO as usual. Work is 30+ miles northeast of our apartment and 30+ miles southeast of the airport.
The Lord doesn’t want to drive the old truck to work because of the gas mileage and he doesn’t want to pay to park all of his cars at the airport all week.
Solve for x.
Answer: Load the Lord, his wife and his son into the Honda. Drop the wife off at the airport. Lord then drives to work. Son will then drive the remaining 8 1/2 hours to Tennessee in the Honda, which means that he will be getting good mileage in a reliable vehicle which gives the Lord of the Castle warm fuzzies all over!
In the evening, have Lord’s youngest daughter pick him up at work in the Super Crew. Lord will then drop her off at the airport to catch her plane. Lord will pay for exactly zero days of parking at the airport which makes him happy.
Lord will then drive the Super Crew to work all week. While the Lord will not be thrilled with the mileage he will get this week, he we quickly appreciate that he is getting better mileage than if he drove Wild Bill. He also will realize that he is driving in much more comfort and style!
An additional benefit is that he will have spent time with each member of his family…
before they deserted him for more entertaining venues!
