Saturday, 09 June, 2001

Stretch SUVs in Washington D.C.

I flew to Washington, D.C. this afternoon to visit a client on Monday and Tuesday.  I flew today because the difference in fare between flying Saturday and flying Sunday was over $600.  That more than pays for an extra night in the hotel, and other expenses.  I'm staying at the Crowne Plaza on 14th and K streets--five or six blocks northeast of The White House.  The hotel apparently isn't very busy on the weekends.  Tonight's rate is $129.  The rate for Sunday and Monday jumps to over $200!  For that I  get a regular old hotel room with nothing special:  a double bed, desk, chair, credenza, and TV with HBO and the OnCommand movie system.  Location, location, location.

I walked a couple of blocks up the street this evening to have dinner and a beer at a local pub, the hotel's restaurant being altogether too stuffy for me.  On my way back I saw something that stopped me in my tracks:  a stretch SUV.  Imagine a glossy black Lexus RX300 with 8 or 10 doors.   No cheap Cadillac limousine for these folks, no siree.  As if we dion't have enough what with everybody trying to get a bigger SUV than his neighbor, now the competition has moved into the limo market.  Unfortunately I just saw the monster coming zipping down L Street and didn't get a real close look.  I don't actually know the make, just that a quick glance reminded me of the Lexus.  In any case, it certainly wasn't as tall as a Ford Excursion or a Chevy Suburban.

Figuring I might be able to find something on the web of infinite oddities, I looked up "limousine SUV" on Google.  The first interesting link was to Craftsmen Limousine, who will stretch your imagination, your SUV, and likely your wallet.  Some of the photos in their image gallery are very frightening.