Reporter's Notebook: Anything Helps

A few days after I came back from Chicago, I wanted to sort out a few things before all heck got crazy. In other words. My busy season at the magazine is under way and I am trying to keep ahead of the curve by not blowing deadlines for these major issues. 

First off, I was very excited about getting back on the road – or, up in the air – and doing more automotive media endeavors after my last round in the healthcare vacuum. Perhaps a bit too excited. I will blame the complete lack of sleep before flying down to Chicago and the increased anxiety I had prior to arriving at the event’s venue In Aurora. 

Prior to driving any 2023 Toyota Prius or Crown, I got a lot of happy welcomes and hugs. You often don’t get that in this business. It is competitive, but you also build relationships with your fellow media and industry colleagues to make things easier to manage. We do keep it professional, but we’re also human beings that care about each other. 

That was a welcomed surprise. I did not expect that kind of welcome at that event. 

I will say that I cannot wait until the Prius and Crown start showing up for us to work with. To get a full week with them to truly put these two important pieces of the Toyotas lineup through its paces right in our backyard. 

Sometime after I was done with the Toyota Prius/Crown event, I jumped back on Interstate 88 to Oak Brook. Oakbrook Mall housed the only Lucid showroom for hundreds of miles. 

I know that George did a video from their showroom in Scottdale, Arizona, but I wanted to check them out myself. To feed the old journalistic curiosity.

First off, they took over the old Tesla space at Oakbrook Mall. They did a good job with their own environment. The person I talked to at the Lucid store was all too eager to get me behind the wheel of one of their Airs. I checked my phone for time and figured “why not.”

The demo they had was the Lucid Air Grand Touring, all liveried up with their branding. This specific model has 819 horsepower and can return up to 516 miles of range. And, pricing starts at just $138,000. 

Just a quick rundown of my thoughts on the Lucid Air: It’s spacious, luxurious, easy to drive, quick, quiet, and well thought out. It drove very well overall with a firm-but-solid ride and great one-pedal driving. You might say that it was worthy of the accolades it has achieved since its debut. 

I’m glad I got that out of the way. It’s one of those vehicles that you can talk about and would look like a fool by not experiencing it. Now, I can speak one how much the Lucid Air could be a catalyst for future electric vehicles. 

Of course, I always have in the back of my mind that, sometimes, imposter syndrome is a real thing. It’s a professional Achilles Heel that puts you on high alert from the random online trolls that want to crap on your work. 

How do you fight these things? By putting in the work – plain and simple. 

Let me talk about another piece of mobility you may have seen on this website – the rollator. For those of you who might not up on your mobility devices for the disabled, a rollator is a fancier walker. It has a built-in seat with a small storage bag. What this does is to assist those who need a walker, but also need to have a seat when they need to recover lost energy. 

How did I get one? The physical therapists at the transitional care unit I was recovering from my last round of surgeries figured I would use one. So, I got one – through Home Depot of all places. It was very affordable and has not completely failed me yet. 

Considering that I am still dealing with the spinal cord issue at my neck, I have to monitor my activity and the point where I could experience some dizziness. In the case that I do, I could easily use the rollator to sit down – especially when I am attending car shows. That came into play a few times at some shows already. 

I know that I might seem too young to use a rollator, but if you’re dealing all of the health issues I’m going through right now – anything helps! 

Heck, even the electric scooters I used at the Chicago and Twin Cities Auto Shows helped!

At this point, anything helps. 

All photos by Randy Stern