Travel

Fragile X Poker Run

I leave for the Stations Inn tomorrow to participate in the Fragile X Poker run, and am really looking forward to it. I will spend almost three whole days riding the SSR through the mountaintops of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

I will try to post photos when I get back and get the time to upload them.

One highlight I look forward to is riding the 489 curves of the “Striped Snake” near Shady Valley, TN. Last year when I did the ride, I pulled into the 421 Country Store and was amazed at all of the brake dust on my rims.


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Chatty Baby and Mom Kicked Off Plane

This story is unbelievable.  And as the guys on the FARK message board say, “You can’t profile arabs at the airport, and welcome islamofascists on board planes.  But a baby?  No Way!”

 

A baby kept repeating “Bye bye plane” over and over again, and the sky-bitch told the pilot to turn the plane around and eject the baby and its mom.

From WSBTV here:

A Gwinnett County mother says she wants answers and action after she and her baby were kicked off a plane.

Penland thinks her 19-month-old son, Garren, has a bubbly personality. But Penland said when they were aboard a Continental Expressplane, a flight attendant became annoyed by Garren’s personality when he kept saying three words.

“As we started taxiing, he started saying ‘Bye, bye plane,’ said Penland. “At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, ‘It’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.’

In disbelief, Penland asked the woman if she was kidding. It was then, Penland said, the flight attendant went too far.

“She then said, ‘You know, it’s called baby Benadryl. And I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight.’

Penland said when the other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, the flight attendant got angrier and soon announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.

The young mother said she later learned the flight attendant told the pilot that she had threatened her.

The article also goes on to say that the Mom complained that she didn’t pack any bottles or diapers for her short trip, so this shows that Mom is a little clueless too, so I suspect she may have gotten sassy with the sky-bitch, but seriously, this is too much.


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Virginia Number One Wine Destination in World

In the freakin’ world baby! This is according to July’s issue of Travel and Leisure Magazine. Northern Virginia tops the list, followed by New Zealand, Spain, Chile and Italy.

Specifically mentioned was one of my favorites, Breaux.


Hillsborough Winery is among the very best in Virginia, and it is just up the road from Breaux and Windham Wineries.

From Travel and Leisure here:

Barboursville is the highlight of Virginia’s wine scene, but it’s hardly the only worthy destination. Several small wineries near Dulles are hot on its heels. Foremost is Linden Vineyards, which makes a graceful Chardonnay from the estate’s Hardscrabble vineyard. Shocking as it might seem, I actually prefer Jim Law’s 1999 Chardonnay from Hardscrabble to just about any California Chardonnay I’ve had in the past five years. What’s more, it costs $24. Nearly the entire 830-case production is sold out of the wood-beamed tasting room off the winery, which is reason enough to visit.

I plan on visiting a winery this weekend- one of the first trips out with the baby, and we are hoping it goes well.


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More Proof Green Movement is a Religion

My brother sent this along.  For earth worshipers, the green movement is a government-sanctioned religious movement.  And their bible is apparently a copy of Al Gore’s Book, Inconvenient Truth.  In hotels in San Francisco, the Gideon’s Bible is being thrown away and is being replaced by the eco-religionist’s bible.

 

From Bloomberg here:

Visitors to the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa won’t find the Gideon Bible in the nightstand drawer. Instead, on the bureau will be a copy of “An Inconvenient Truth,” former Vice President Al Gore’s book about global warming.

They’ll also find the Gaia equipped with waterless urinals, solar lighting and recycled paper as it marches toward becoming California’s first hotel certified as “green,” or benevolent to the environment.

Wen-I Chang opened the 132-room Gaia in the town of American Canyon last year. He’s building other green hotels in Anderson and Merced and said he hopes to develop at least six more within three years.

Chang said he became an environmentalist in 1999, when he couldn’t get a glass of water at a restaurant in Santa Cruz, California, because of a shortage in the area.

“I started thinking that there are many ways I can save water,” said Chang, 62. “I changed my shower habit from eight minutes to two minutes.”

Then he changed his building habits, after 10 years of developing Holiday Inn and Hilton franchises. Chang said 43 cities have asked him to build green hotels. Some offer incentives to help cover construction costs, which were about 15 percent more for the Gaia. Chang said it’s saving 25 percent on electricity and almost 50 percent on water, which may enable the hotel to turn profitable next month.

Reviews for this hotel are not always favorable.   

 

From the TripAdvisor here:

The overall theme of the hotel I adore. I’m into the green movement.
I booked two rooms for myself and an out of state client. He stayed on the upper floor in an extended king and had no complaints. I stayed in a basic king on the lower floor and was rudely woken up at 6am the next morning from the guest (contractor/worker) that was staying in the room next door. I even wear ear plugs. The walls are not properly insulated for sound. You can hear the telephone ring in the room next door.
Even thought the hotel had only a handful of guest I was irritated that hotel management stuck a bunch of guests side by side in the back of the hotel. We could have been easily separated between empty rooms to insulate us from noise.
While the carpets and room colors are beautiful the construction behind the paint and carpet lacks integrity.

Maybe in a socialist paradise, businessmen don’t have to turn a profit.  But “green” buildings are expensive, inefficient, and ugly.  Probably dangerous too.  Smart businessmen will invest wisely in this country and use affordable, traditional materials in construction.

And why can’t a Gideon Bible live in a so-called “green” hotel?  I think its because eco-religionists and followers of the green movement don’t want to be reminded that the Earth is not the real God.

Also Blogging:
Moonbattery
HotAir


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Flying British Airways Makes You Stiff

I don’t know what it was- The long security lines, the questionable food, the really bad in-flight movies- but something killed the old lady on the flight from Delhi India to London.

And what is an airline to do when a passenger drops dead on a flight? Its not like they can toss her into the cargo hold or store her in one of the lavatories. And its too hard to roll a meal cart over a corpse if it is just left lying in the aisle. One thing is for sure, though- The old woman who died must have been Hindu, because this coach passenger was reincarnated to a first class passenger after her death.

From the AP here:

A first-class passenger on a flight from Delhi to London awoke find the corpse of a woman who had died in the economy cabin being placed in a seat next to him, British Airways said Monday.

The economy section of the flight was full, and the cabin crew needed to move the woman and her grieving family out of that compartment to give them some privacy, the airline said.

The first-class passenger, Paul Trinder, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he was sleeping during a February flight from India and woke up when the crew placed the dead woman in an empty seat near him.

“I didn’t have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill,” the newspaper quoted Trinder as saying. “When I asked what was going on, I was shocked to hear she was dead.”

I could easily imagine a great Monty Python sketch about this. Also, I hear that if you die on a cruise ship, the body gets stuffed in the refrigerator in the galley until the ship gets back to its home port.


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Oh Snap! Don’t Mess With Our Tourists

Even if they are old. You never know if you are up against a former Marine. The late Wagner Segura, a 20-year old Costa Rican professional mugger, learned this lesson the hard way.

From Reuters here:

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) – A group of U.S. tourists, including a former Marine, killed a Costa Rican mugger by breaking his neck after he pulled a gun on them in a Caribbean port, a local police official said on Thursday.

The cruise ship passengers told police they jumped on Wagner Segura, 20, to defend themselves when he pointed a .38 caliber revolver at them near the Caribbean port of Limon on Wednesday, and somehow snapped his neck, regional police director Luis Hernandez said.

Segura died instantly and two other unidentified thieves, one of whom was armed with a knife, fled the scene, Hernandez said.

“One of the tourists was a former Marine and he was probably the one who broke his neck,” Hernandez said. “His neck was completely snapped.”

No charges will be filed against the tourists because police viewed the incident as an act of self-defense. The Americans were passengers aboard the Carnival cruise ship Legend.

Last time I went on a cruise I almost got jumped in Jamaica. I certainly hope that word gets around that American Tourists are not to be trifled with! In one story, I heard that the former Marine was a senior citizen, aged 70.


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Anna Nicole Tainted My HoneyMoon Memories

For the first couple of nights of my Honeymoon, my wife and I stayed in South Florida before we embarked on our cruise.  One of our fondest memories is the night we stayed at the beautiful Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel complex.  We didnt gamble, but we thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor restaurants and nightclubs.

Now the Hard Rock is going to be famous for the next few years as the place of death for Anna Nicole Smith.  The drug-addled woman checked into a plush hotel room at the Hard Rock, started swilling children’s cough medicine, passed out several times, and choked to death on her own vomit.  Niiiiiccce. 

Anna Nicole’s cash is going to be squabbled over for years to come.

Hopefully no one will let her death deter them from visiting the Seminole Hard Rock.  It is a fabulous place for a weekend getaway.  They have outstanding restaurants, a Harley Davidson store, high fashion shopping, a beautiful swimming pool complex, and fun night spots.  If you are looking for an adult getaway to a warm location, check out their site.


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Sandia Labs Training Bomb Sniffing Bees

Yesterday I asked what the hell they do at Sandia Laboratories since they are obviously not paying attention to cyber security. Well, today I got my answer. They are training bees to stick out their tongues when they smell bombs, dynamite and other similar explosive materials.

This is your Homeland Security dollars at work. Now they want to ship the bees in little boxes to soldiers in Iraq and to TSA employees at airports. The trick is to use the bee to sniff for roadside bombs or for explosives in suitcases. Because, I guess, dogs are not as efficient? Take too long to train? Eat and poo too much? Drool excessively?

From Reuters here:

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said they trained honeybees to stick out their proboscis — the tube they use to feed on nectar — when they smell explosives in anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts similar to those used by suicide bombers.

Researchers in the program, dubbed the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, published their findings on Monday.

“When bees detect the presence of explosives, they simply stick their proboscis out,” research scientist Tim Haarmann told Reuters in a telephone interview. “You don’t have to be an expert in animal behaviour to understand it as there is no ambiguity.”

The findings followed 18 months of research at the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos facility, the nation’s leading nuclear weapons laboratory.

Haarmann said the bees could be carried in hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box, and could be used to sniff out explosives in airports, roadside security checks, or even placed in robot bomb disposal equipment.

He said the next step would be to manufacture the bee boxes and train security guards in their use.

You can defeat the detection capability of a bee with a dose of Raid. Or a good rolled up newspaper. If you swat a bomb sniffing bee, would you get charged with assault on a Federal officer? Along with all of the shenanigans they put you through at an airport, they are now going to sic their pet bee on you too?

Wanna see a real trained bee? Click the picture below.


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Bored? Try Happy Mappy!

This is a cool utility website. You plug in a zipcode or a city and up pops map plots showing the cool things to do around town. Stuck in a backwater village while on travel? Use this to find something around town to occupy your time.

Most of the points of interest have websites attached as well, so even if you are familiar with a park, museum or local watering hole, check out the websites to learn more about it. Thanks to Gadling for the tip.


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Men Have a Compass in Their Head

Supposedly there is a deposit of magnetite that collects in the bone in the skull of humans to assist in the instinct of orientation and direction finding.

According to this article in the Register.

Do humans have a compass in their nose?

Some years ago scientists at CALTECH discovered that humans possess a tiny, shiny crystal of magnetite in the ethmoid bone, located between your eyes, just behind the nose.

Magnetite is a magnetic mineral also possessed by homing pigeons, migratory salmon, dolphins, honeybees, and bats.

It seems that magnetite helps direction finding in animals and helps migratory species migrate successfully by allowing them to draw upon the earth’s magnetic fields. But scientists are not sure how they do this.

In any case, when it comes to humans experts have even suggested that this “compass” was helpful in human evolution as it made migration and hunting easier and magnetite makes the ethmoid bone sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field and helps your sense of direction.

Im fairly certain that men are more attuned to this inbuilt compass than women are. Or at least, we men like to believe that we are more attuned to it. I know a lot of women that have difficulty navigating by map, much less by sunlight, compass or instinct.

In women, I think there is a crystal in the head that engages the motor skills of the tongue and jaws whenever a man tries to hone in on his own internal compass. This innate instinct usually manifests itself in a series of nagging questions and statements, such as:

  • Are you sure you know where we are going?
  • You are going to get us lost.
  • You have no idea where we are do you?
  • None of this looks familiar to me.
  • That strange homeless fellow over there looks nice. Ask him how to get back to the interstate.
  • Are we going on safari? Where are you taking us?


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Williamsburg Pottery History

The Daily Press in Southern Virginia is great at writing historical pieces about Virginia. One of those stories came out today about the Williamsburg Pottery in James City County. The pottery is one of those places that I go to frequently on the trip back from visiting my parents in Hampton Roads. In fact, most of the things in my house came from the pottery, including frames, artwork, curios and knick-knacks, and of course pottery and plants.

James E. Maloney's Williamsburg Pottery grew from a roadside stand into a multimillion-dollar business.

From the Daily Press here:

JAMES CITY — Thanks in large part to James E. Maloney, the Williamsburg area draws hordes of outlet shoppers each year – not just history buffs and roller-coaster fans.

Maloney, who died in July 2005, established the Williamsburg Pottery in 1938. It started as a roadside pottery stand off Route 60 and grew into a complex of no-frills stores selling thousands of products, from silverware to Christmas decorations.

The Pottery presaged the outlet mall. It has also helped bring other discount retailers to the Lightfoot area of James City County, such as Prime Outlets with its 90 vendors.

About 1930, Maloney began to learn about pottery from Paul Griesenauer, who ran Jamestown Colony Pottery. By 1938, he was married and spending about $150 on a half acre off Route 60, where he built his stand, kiln and workshop with living quarters in the back.

Maloney and his first wife, Gloria, sold any pottery with flaws at a discount, and then began selling other people’s “factory seconds” as well. The Pottery eventually got into international import buying. By 1980, annual gross revenue had reached about $20 million, and rose to an estimated $60 million or more by 1990.

The Pottery’s founder was 93 when he died last year. In the early 1990s, he attributed his long life to staying active.

If you visit Colonial Williamsburg, take a few hours to stop by the Pottery. The old round kiln house is still there, and there are acres of shopping available.


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Floating Down the Shenandoah River

My lovely bride and I took a trip out past Luray Virginia on Saturday morning for a camping trip. We stayed at the Shenandoah Outfitter’s campground and were fortunate enough to get there with enough time to take a great canoe trip for three miles down the Shenandoah River.

The weather started out with rain, and the whole trip was looking iffy all the way down to Luray. But as noon neared, the clouds were burning off and we arrived at the campgrounds in a pleasant sunlight. As we are not avid outdoorsmen, we chose to go on the shorter of the river trips, and it turned out that it was just the right amount of time on the river- about two hours or so.

I have never canoed on a mountain river. I grew up in Southern Virginia, so all of the rivers I was used to are murky brown, stinky swamp mud bottoms, and full of jellyfish. But I knew how to use a kayak and a canoe. What surprised me about the Shenandoah was the clarity of the water and the fact that the river bottom is almost solid rock everywhere. You can easily see the fish swimming around, and wildlife was plentiful.

We encountered a few rapids. Those didnt always go well. We should have paid closer attention to the maps that the canoe rental place provides. I’m pretty sure it shows you the best spots to go over the rapids. Two or three times we got stuck on some shallows in the rapids and had to brute force our canoe downstream. Luckily the water was low and the rapids pretty mild. No one got wet. Im just glad that those canoes are fiberglass and flexible. Had they been made out of wood we’d have sunk.

I think the next time we go we will get kayaks.


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Foiled Terrorist Attack

The Brits are on the job. They have discovered a plot to blow up several transatlantic airplanes in midflight. Were these plotters those dastardly saffron-robed buddhists again? Nope. Members and followers of the Religion of Peace.

Security at Dulles.

From the AP here:

British authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage, averting what police described as “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.” Home Secretary John Reid said British police and government were confident the main suspects had been arrested.

Huge crowds formed at security barriers at London’s Heathrow airport as officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby formula.

Officials raised security to its highest level in Britain _ suggesting a terrorist attack might be imminent _ and banned hand-carried luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights.

The extreme measures at one of the major international aviation hubs sent ripple effects throughout the world. Heathrow airport was closed to most flights from Europe.

The U.S. government responded by raising its threat alert to its highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States amid fears the plot had not been completely crushed. The alert for all flights coming or going from the United States was also raised slightly.

In Washington, two U.S. counterterrorism officials said the terrorists had targeted United, American and Continental airlines. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Police arrested 21 people in London, its suburbs and in Birmingham as part of a major covert counterterrorism operation that had lasted several months, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said. Searches continued in a number of locations.

Police are confident they have disrupted a plot against aircraft which was “intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” he said.

The US has raised the threat level at airports much higher as well. There is currently a ban on liquids for carry on, and all carry on luggage is being searched. Only baby formula is allowed on domestic flights right now. All hair gels, lotions and other grooming supplies must be stored in checked luggage.

There are rumors that all electronic devices may be banned soon. This would include laptops, ipods, cellphones and PDA’s.

The security lines at US airports are currently very long. It is time to take some serious steps to protect American citizens, and stop useless searching of carry on luggage. Its time to begin intelligent profiling of airline passengers. The Israelis do a great job screening passengers, so I think we should adopt their tactics. Yes, some racial and ethnic profiling may be included in “intelligent profiling” but other indicators of terror suspects would include nervousness and other behavioral patterns.

I just know its going to be a huge pain to fly anywhere. I may just decide to FedEx my luggage somewhere a day before my flight and meet up with it at my hotel room.

Michelle Malkin has more detailed coverage here.


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Mozely Rose Rocks

I had the very happy coincidence of being able to see Mozely Rose on the last night of our vacation in Ocracoke at the Sargasso Deepwater Grill. Mozely Rose is a four piece Southern Rock band that hails from Richmond, Virginia. The band is fronted by two guitarists and vocalists, Alan Crist and Matt Nicholls, and this duo is supported by the excellent Neal Townsend on bass and Seth Penick on drums.

Mozely Rose puts a jam-band and blues flavor on many southern rock classics, and they also have their own original songs as well. They played an amazing cover of Jimmy Hendrix’s Foxy Lady in which both guitarists and the bassist took turns on solo. They followed this up with a dead on cover of a moe. song, “OK, Alright.” They did justice to Skynard’s “Gimme Three Steps,” and they brought the house down with the Allman Brothers’ “Blue Skies.”

The band is polished and professional, and their sound on a live stage is outstanding. This is not a band that simply plays covers, but a band that has put their own feeling, heart and flavor on the music that they love. They showed as much passion for the Hendrix cover as they did their own song, “Low Down and Dirty.” If you want to go see a great live performance by a young energetic band that sounds like a cross between 38 Special and moe., then you should check out the band’s website calendar here. They play from Baltimore to North Carolina, and the travel time is definitely worth it.


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Well Behaved Women…

Rarely Make History. There are plenty of t-shirts on Ocracoke that have this moniker on them. Most of it is in reference to Pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Yeah, these were real blood thirsty pirates who stole ships and treasure. And since Ocracoke was the famous hiding place of Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard the Pirate, there is lots of pirate lore floating around the island.

Anne Bonny was a ballsy broad. As a little girl, Anne Cormac stabbed a slave girl in the stomach and ran away and married a small-time pirate named James Bonny. She eventually found her way to a pirate hub in the Bahamas where she met Calico Jack Rackham, a more notorious pirate. I suppose she wanted to trade up, and began an affair with Cap’n Jack. Rackham tried to buy Anne from Bonny, but Bonny complained to the Bahamian Governor, who had Anne Bonny publicly flogged and returned to her husband.

But Anne Bonney ran away with Jack Rackham, and the two stole a ship, recruited a crew, and began a long series of piracy together. The crew accepted the fact that she was a woman, and she was usually the most sober person aboard ship, so she fought better than most men. She was finally captured along with Rackham in Jamaica. Cap’n Jack wanted to see Anne Bonny one last time before he was hanged, and Anne Bonny told him, “I’m sorry to see you there, but if you had fought like a man, you wouldnt have to hang like a dog.”

Then Anne Bonny disappeared from history. Maybe she left the pirating career behind, or perhaps she died in prison. But she was a very cool woman who lived in a very cool time in American History.

My wife got the Tshirt.


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Biking Ocracoke

I spent the day touring the island of Ocracoke by bicycle, which is the best way to get around in the village. The town is small enough to do a lap around it in about ten minutes, so despite the record breaking heat, it really was not too hot except when I was forced to keep up with my wife, who, having been off of a bicycle for many years, found it irresistible to go as fast as a race horse.

The Island Ragpicker, one of the best curio shoppes on the Island of Ocracoke

The town is full of artists that fell in love with the island as a tourist and gave up their suburban and urban lives to make a go of it with a specialty or curio shop. Most of the shops these artists founded are absolutely splendid, and a few are a bit overpriced.

The restaurants are mostly average with a few exceptions. Howards Pub is a must for any visitor to the island, and they have the best burger on the island. Nothing beats the Flying Melon for brunch. And the best dish on the island is the Filet Oscar at the Sargasso Deepwater Grill. This filet is piled high with succulent crab meat, and while pricey, the taste is the best on the Outer Banks.


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Ocracoke Island

Ocracoke is consistently ranked in the top ten beaches in America. Tonight I was able to take a sunset walk on a beach that is over 100 yards wide from the dunes to the water. The only people on the whole beach from horizon to horizon? Just me and my lovely wife.

We were surrounded by wildlife. There were ghost crabs scuttling around and digging their burrows, sandpipers tooling across the damp sand on blurred legs with their heads down, digging up sand fleas, and monstrous low flying pelicans. We didnt see any dolphins swimming tonight, but the week is still young.

There were also several sections of the beach that were posted as offlimits because of sea turtle eggs in the area.


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Beach Vacation

Blogging will be a little light this week since I am on vacation and it may be difficult or impossible to find a wireless access point. I am in the North Carolina Outer Banks for a week, to include a stopover on Ocracoke Island. One week of Sun, Pirate Lore and relaxation is just what I need.

One thing I have learned is that when travelling, it is imperative to carry a cooler full of ice with you. Then you stock the cooler with sodas and sandwich fixins. It is awesome to pull over anywhere you want and have an icy Diet Coke or a cold cut sandwich without having to pull off at an unknown exit to hunt for a convenience store. I have seen how some car manufacturers are beginning to include coolers built into the bottom or trunks of the minivans and trucks for tailgaiting. Its a great idea, as tailgaiting is becoming one of those Great American Pastimes.


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