West Fuckin' Virginia!

[Heid the Ba]

I drove through it once. Sadly I won't be there for this. What is not to like about boxing where the only requirement seems to be that you live within a 50 mile radius? A stupid name (or nickname) seems to help as well. My favourite is Eli "the Real Hatfield" Hatfield.

And yes, there is a 400lb male boxer and a 4' tall female one, why do you think it is a freakshow?

Shouty hype videos here.

[Enzo]

Bucky Boyd

Then Bucky Boyd 2. I guess one Bucky Boyd wasn't enough.


West Virginia was the first place I ever saw highway escape routes for trucks. Driving the interstate highways through the mountains, going downhill, if a truck loses its brakes, he is in trouble, so here and there they have lanes turning out to the side running back uphill like an exit ramp, except it goes nowhere but up into some crush barrels. It is just a place that a truck can turn to try and stop.

[Мастер]

Bucky Boyd

Then Bucky Boyd 2. I guess one Bucky Boyd wasn't enough.


West Virginia was the first place I ever saw highway escape routes for trucks. Driving the interstate highways through the mountains, going downhill, if a truck loses its brakes, he is in trouble, so here and there they have lanes turning out to the side running back uphill like an exit ramp, except it goes nowhere but up into some crush barrels. It is just a place that a truck can turn to try and stop.

They've got those in a lot of places in the east.

[tubeswell]

They've still got them on some of the roads on this island too.

https://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&oe=UTF-8&q=great+Barrier+Island&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x6d736d37d999c89b:0x3aecb3dde5b5097b,Great+Barrier+Island&ei=M1UbUf02hYGJB9a3gPAL&ved=0COYBELYD

But they don't go back uphill; they just keep going downhill and off to the side

[Heid the Ba]

I have seen these in places like the Lake District they keep going down but they are deep gravel rather than tarmac.

[Lianachan]

There are two of those that I know well, up in my part of the world. This one on the A9 at Berriedale, and this one about six miles north of it, still on the A9, at Dunbeath.

[Мастер]

Somewhere I saw a demonstration video of something like the coarse gravel being used at the end of airport runways, to stop overruns. I don't know if it ever went into deployment anywhere.

[Heid the Ba]

Formula 1 and MotoGP use it but you have to keep raking the gravel or it compacts.

[Enzo]

Guess i am the only one ignorant of them.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/ru ... ed-feature

[tubeswell]

Guess i am the only one ignorant of them.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/ru ... ed-feature

Wow! Those must be seriously big and fast trucks! (is all I can think of)

[Lance]

Wow! Those must be seriously big and fast trucks! (is all I can think of)

Well duh! This is the U.S. What else would you expect?

[Arneb]

Fast? When nowhere in the country you can drive over 65 mph? Fast?

[Enzo]

Are you kidding? Why right here in Michigan, we can drive 70mph.

[Arneb]

Coulour me impressed.

[Lance]

And South Dakota is 75mph.

[tubeswell]

Wow! Those must be seriously big and fast trucks! (is all I can think of)

Well duh! This is the U.S. What else would you expect?

Heya madmax, where'd you find that picture?

[Enzo]

I know our trains are not as fast as yours either, but on our train trip last summer, I remarked to the wife that we were going well over 100 mph, and she was at first doubtful, as it seemed smooth and steady. Then she notices the 70mph interstate highway parallel the tracks and we were gliding along a whole lot faster than they were.

[Heid the Ba]

Bucky Boyd is back!

I cannot stop laughing at one of the comments on that post: "I work 5 minutes down the road from Welch, WV. Any one of these guys could be mayor".

[Heid the Ba]

It's Number 1! Or Number 50! depending on your point of view.

I'm guessing Detroit drags Michigan down.

[Lianachan]

It's Number 1! Or Number 50! depending on your point of view.

I'm guessing Detroit drags Michigan down.

Quite a spectacular plummet by Wyoming, there.

[MM_Dandy]

What exactly does North Dakota have to feel so good about? I can see what it is about South Dakota; I mean, I live here after all, and that's quite a bit to feel good about right there.

More seriously, though, I wonder if they avoided interviewing people from the Indian Reservations.

[Heid the Ba]

I love the fact that the only three states which don't move up or down are the bottom three. WV, Ky and MIss, we're fucked and we always will be.

[Heid the Ba]

What exactly does North Dakota have to feel so good about? I can see what it is about South Dakota; I mean, I live here after all, and that's quite a bit to feel good about right there.

North Dakota, it's next to a good state!

More seriously, though, I wonder if they avoided interviewing people from the Indian Reservations.

Or their numbers get swamped. I thought the same about Michigan, how does the UP compare to Detroit? Can they even be compared?

[Enzo]

The UP compares to Detroit maybe like Stonehenge compares to Big Ben. Not remotely similar in culture, economy, or anything else.

My college roommate freshman year was from Grandin, NoDak, which he assured me was the birdseed capital of the world. Does SoDak have that? Doesn't 'Pierre so...

[MM_Dandy]

I'll see his birdseed capital and raise: The World's Largest Bird Feeder.

And kudos for the very clever use of "Pierre."