While traveling through Madisonville, TN recently, I thought this business placement was rather ironic.
Interesting to see "The Democrat" newspaper right next door to the local Republican Party headquarters. I've never read The Democrat, but if it's like the rest of the mainstream media, it's probably one of the few newspapers that have named themselves appropriately.
-Colonel Steve
Last fall, Lady Colonel and I traveled up to Maine and back on vacation. Before we left, we were warned of the dreaded black flies in Maine. We didn't run in to them much last year, but they seem to be plentiful up there.
The biggest reasons they are so proliferate are due to environmentalists. Now that streams are so much cleaner (that's a good thing), the fly's reproduction rate is way up. But Maine, unlike Pennsylvania, is not doing anything to stop that reproduction (that's not such a good thing).
Maine's standard license plate has the word "Vacationland" emblazened on it. May not be for much longer if those flies proliferate more.
(HT: Gina Cobb)
-Colonel Steve
This past April, Americans drove 1.4 BILLION miles less than April a year ago. No surprise there. I know I have been consistently watching the miles I've been driving, even with a car that gets 25+ miles to the gallon. With gas prices here jumping today to $4.19 a gallon for regular, I hate filling up.
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters worries a little with this drop in driving.
Peters expressed concern that the cutbacks have resulted in the collection of fewer taxes on gasoline. Such taxes are funneled to the federal Highway Trust Fund, which gets 18.4 cents per gallon from gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon from diesel fuel.
"History shows that we're going to continue to see congested roads while gas tax revenues decline even further," she said.
Economy lesson to liberals: When costs go up, demand goes down. Raising the taxes won't make up for the loss. It'll cause a bigger loss in that highway trust fund. Want more money in that trust fund? Drill for more oil, or open more refineries, or do something to ease the economic pressures on oil.
-Colonel Steve
From a link off of Patrick Ruffini's site, I see that Google now has a traffic prediction map for about 30 metropolitin areas. Louisville is one of them. Check it out off their maps page.
-Colonel Steve
I love how humorous some of the boilerplate, fill-in-the-blank advertising occasionally comes across with some humorous suggestions. Take the kayak.com email I received today. They suggested some great flight deals from "your hometown" to Warsaw, New Orleans, Paris, Halifax, and....Lexington, KY.
I just had to see what kind of deals I could get to that far away Lexington location. A whole $304. With a stop in Chicago's O'hare. 7 hours to Lexington, 9 hours returning.
Yeah, right!
-Colonel Steve
As you travel this Christmas, you might want to note the most expensive states to pick up a speeding ticket. The top 5 most expensive are Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and New Hampshire. "All hit up speeders for a maximum of $500 or more for a first offense. Judges in Carolina and Georgia, not to mention 16 other states, have the discretion to add jail time."
Ouch. Not the best way to spend the holidays.
-Colonel Steve
I wish I had a nickel for every time this happened. The bridge on Third Street, behind the Speed School of Engineering at U of L, seems to attract high profile semis. While going to school there in the early eighties, we were hearing on a regular basis some trailer crashing or scratching it's way under this railroad overpass.
You'd think the word would be out by now.
-Colonel Steve
Hugh Hewitt posted last night on the very interesting website roadsideamerica.com. This site got me thinking about some research I've been meaning to do since seeing the animated movie Cars awhile back.
Ron at Route 66 News is as sure as I am that the movie's Cozy Cone Motel was influenced by the several Wigwam Motels that dotted the Route 66 landscape. The thought of the Cozy Cone brought back childhood memories of the still in business Wigwam Village in Cave City, KY. After a little more historical digging, I discovered that the Wigwam Village concept was started by a Kentuckian named Frank Redford. His first one was built in the Cave City's nearby town of Horse Cave. The 2nd was the Cave City Village.
Frank went on to build one in California and license the idea to other developers. It seems the only 3 still active are Cave City, one in Arizona, and the California one.
-Colonel Steve
If you find yourself traveling in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, or Wisconsin, you might want to look up a Stoney Creek Hospitality Corp. hotel. They have taken CNN off their TV channels offered due to the Anderson Cooper 360 October 18th showing of a sniper killing a U.S. serviceman.
Guests have shown their support, with 3 to 1 in favor of Stoney Creek's move.
-Colonel Steve
I'll be out of town over the next few days. Like trips before, no telling how much posting I'll be doing.
I sure couldn't pass up comments on the upcoming Cardinal-Wildcat football game! I think Sunday night will be seeing a fourth Louisville win in a row. How much? Admittedly, I can't say I've personally got much info to go on outside of a home field advantage, winning the last 3 seasons, winning 6 of the last 7 meetings, and coming in ranked 13th in the country.
GO CARDS!!!!
UPDATE: OK, maybe this isn't another reason for a Cardinal win tomorrow. The Annual Red Cross blood drive for August in the River Valley Region pits UofL fans against UK fans. For the sixth year in a row, UofL came out ahead 2,795-2,647.
Thanks to everyone who participated.
-Colonel Steve
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