All-American Road Trip

I think I’ve tortured everybody enough with my various dream road trips whether in France, Italy or Western Europe in general.  There’s only been one in the U.S., but even that involved furrin cars and -women.

So am I going to quit?  Hell, no!

Today’s trip is going to be All-American, in that the choice of car and female companion will feature no foreign entanglements* of any kind.

The trip?

Actually, you have a choice there too:  U.S. 1 (and 1A where available) along the East Coast, from Miami – Bar Harbor ME:

…and U.S. 101 (the Pacific Coast Highway/PCH) along the West Coast from San Diego to Seattle:

The East Coast trip is nearly 400 miles longer, and if you wish, you could skirt NYFC (or add to your pain by doing a loop around Long Island).

You can do the trip north – south or vice-versa (please specify which), and at a time of year which suits you (do tell).  The only hard and fast rule is to avoid interstate highways wherever possible.  The goal is to keep the shoreline on the side of the car as much as you can.  You may go through any of the cities you wish, but you can also skirt those which would make you homicidal with rage (NYFC, LA, Boston etc.) while trying to deal with the traffic and congestion.

As always with these scenarios, assume you’ll have trouble-free motoring en route, and a (shall we say) willing partner of the female persuasion in the passenger seat, and she will be as pictured.  Also assume that you are of an age which would do the driving and overnight stops, so to speak, justice.

Now the fun part:  the cars and companions. I’ve tried to avoid listing any of the cars and the women in earlier posts, which has made it quite difficult.  Here we go, and remember:  no substitutions.

1. 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz and Angie Harmon

2. 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk and Candace Cameron

3. 1957 Corvette and Katherine Lanasa

4. 1957 Chevy Bel-Air and Mary-Louise Parker

5. 1957 Ford T-Bird and Téa Leoni

6. 1954 Kaiser-Darrin Roadster and Marg Helgenberger

7. 1956 Chrysler Imperial and Daisy Fuentes

(*I know, Daisy was born in Cuba.  Shuddup or she’ll be replaced with Whoopi Goldberg.)

Let’s go a little earlier, car-wise:

8. 1935 Auburn 851 Speedster and Nancy Wilson

9. 1936 Cord 810 and Eva Amurri

10. 1932 Duesenberg SJ and Dana Delaney

11. 1940 Packard Super-8 and Lynn Russell

12. 1933 Lincoln KB Victoria and Lisa Edelstein

That’s my delicious dozen.  If you’re unfamiliar with any of the options, you know where to look (duckduckgo).

Oh wait!  A wild card!

13. 1958 Chevy Apache and

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Feelin’ The Noize

I was never a huge fan of loud Brit rockers Slade — I didn’t mind the loud, but it was really simple music, while I was getting into Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Genesis (to name but some).

Still, in those pre-metal days, there were times when you just needed to kick out and jump around, and few were better at kicking-out-and-jumping-around music than the Boys From The Black Country.

“What’s that, honky?  How could they be White boys in Black Country?”

Shuddup and watch this (very) sympathetic treatment of Slade in their heyday, back when they were huge.

And yes, in retrospect, their songs were excellent.

Sadly, it seems as though Noddy has throat cancer, and hasn’t that long to go.  Raw suckage, that is.

Rat, Smelling Of A

Why is Nikki Haley still running, despite thumping defeats?

I smell skulduggery.  Run with me on this one.

What if the Socialists find some way to “legally” exclude Trump from running — say, with the collusion of the Supreme Court, even?

Would DeSantis have time to get his campaign up and running again?  And if not, would Haley end up being the default Republican choice as the only “officially declared” candidate?

And if we go Full Tinfoil Hat (as Kevin Downey has done at PJM):  is the fix already in, and she knows it?

Ten years ago, I would have laughed myself off the stage for even thinking this nonsense.  But after seeing “80 Million Votes” Biden’s little game in 2020, I’m not ruling anything out anymore.

News Roundup

Now, as for the less-important stuff…


...I’ll take “both” for $400, Alex, but it’s 80% “evil”, and 20% “clueless”.  And in related news:


...gonna sell  give them hi-tech equipment to guard against U.S. missile attacks, no doubt.
#SameAsIran


...nice idea.  Now how about amending it to read “any U.S. citizen” — you know, as per the Constitution — instead of just “journalists”?


...so every time we call attention to or ridicule some government fuckery, we’re “weaponizing” it?
#GuiltyAsCharged

In the Lawn Ordure Dept.:


...keyword:  no, not Alabama;  France.


...nice to see that “PhD” still isn’t a job requirement for criminals.


...never mind moaning about 20 years being “excessive”, asshole;  after what you did to that girl, you should have been executed.
#OnlyInBritain

Hot from the Dept. of Education:


...asks the question, then closes comments.
#TypicalLeftist

In Global Warming Climate Cooling Change© News:


...you mean those fires weren’t because of Global Warming Climate Cooling Change©?
#SuppressThisNews

In the Sex Wars Chronicles:


...isn’t this the generation that doesn’t want to see sex scenes in movies?  Somebody’s lying their asses off.


...rookie mistake.  No man should ever do one of those quizzes because they’ve all been designed by women to catch men out.

And now for some INSIGNIFICA:

And in ShowBiz News:


…but that’s not the story.  This is:


...wait:  you mean… Claire’s available now???

 

 

Well, if that’s not ending the news on a hopeful note…


Reminder:  it’s Open Mic in Comments.  Play nicely.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Griffin & Howe 98 (.250 Savage)

Just as we’ve looked at expensive and indulgent cars in the Sotheby’s catalogue before, here’s the gunny equivalent at Collector’s (right-click to embiggen):

I know, at $7,950, the price is nosebleed-high, just like those half-million-dollar cars we saw.

However, a rifle of this quality cannot be simply dismissed as a pricey gee-gaw.  It’s been created by a master gunsmith for Griffin & Howe, from the world’s best action (Mauser 98).  If your .30-30 lever gun is a Toyota, this rifle is a Bentley R1;  if your field shotgun is a Beretta, this is a Holland.

The comparison cannot be made just by logic.

Are there other guns that could do the job as well as this one?  Certainly.  Would those guns evoke the same feelings of pride and wonder when opening the case?  Not even close.

And by the way, I happen to love the venerable Savage .250-3000 cartridge for its outstanding speed, flat trajectory and devastating effect upon arrival.  Yeah, it’s spendy.

Don’t care, just as I don’t care about the fuel consumption of a 1956 Mercedes 300 SC.

Want.  Both.