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top thrill dragster, cedar point, ohio

_ cedar point, an amusement park, sits on a peninsula sticking out into lake erie. thus you can only approach it from one angle, and the first thing you see is this wacking great beast of a rollercoaster right in the middle. called the top thrill dragster, it is over 400 feet tall, and the car itself accelerates 0-120 in four seconds. the name 'top thrill' is amply deserved. WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS

_ of course the rapid acceleration has its massive physical affects, so, when coupled with the psychotic fiddling of the hissing, clanking machinery, it becomes a pretty scary ride.

_ watching the riders go 0-120 is enough of a spectator sport for most.

_ yeah, these are 17 seconds you won't forget in a hurry.

_ the type of construction used in the top thrill dragster is unique, and puts it in the ultra-rare class of 'stratocoasters', only two of which are in existence. the other is in new jersey, at the competitor six flags.

_ the limitations of photography are always apparent, but what we most regret being unable to accurately capture is the wooshing sound and wind of the car as it zips past.

_ you can hear the throb of the motor in the video above, but it's really not the same. all sounds other than the fake throttling motor sound are created by the mechanism itself, so when you hear the hiss & clank, that's the hiss and clank of a big engine built to shoot kids into the sky.

_ and shoot them it does. we saw a lot of different reactions, from what we expected: fear, to excitement, and joy, and, quite often, proof of having gone deep into their happy place. this guy's on the couch.

_ we heard all sorts of stories. sometimes, due to weather or wind...

_ ...the launching device doesn't provide enough power to send the car right over the top...

_ ...and so, just short of the top, the car starts to roll backwards, towards the start station...

_ the designers knew about this, and installed a magnetic rig that chases the departing car, intending to slow it down it if starts to 'rollback'.

_ but cedar point superfans wait anxiously for their chance to experience a 'rollback', since this means that once it arrives back at the start station, you can either get off...

_ ...or go for another blast up the hump.

_ on other, even more rare occasions...

_ the car will fly up the ascent...

_ ...slow to a crawl...

_ ...and rest right on top. neither falling back nor going forward.

_ but those are rare occurrences. the rest of us have to find pleasure in the temporary joy of achieving an open-air speed & acceleration that would otherwise be impossible.

_ at least not with this level of comfort.

_ where you can scream for 10 seconds...

_ ...and then eat some funnel cake (with a wobbly hand shaking off the sugar).

Tagged as: cedar point, ohio, video

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maker’s mark, loretto, kentucky

_ bourbon is a unique thing, in fact officially: an act of congress in 1964 recognized it as a 'distinctive product of the united states of america'

_ it literally can't be made anywhere else, and so we came to the home of this true american original, and visited the distillery of one of the more well-known brands: maker's mark. dave here took us up to the limestone lake that is the source of the necessary water, and gave us a tour. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE, if you like, of course.

_ the distillery at maker's has been around for a long while making other (lesser) brands, but bill samuels sr. bought up the 'burk's distillery' in the early 1950's and started to make a smooth whiskey.

_ the buildings are set on picture-perfect grounds.

_ the distillery is so intent on maintaining the old standards, that when it came time to double production, they just made direct copies of the 50 year-old equipment, rivet-for-rivet.

_ though they could probably blow their whole production out, and go for the money, the team at maker's see the value in making their product in exactly the same fashion that has served them well-enough for over 50 years.

Tagged as: kentucky, loretto, maker's mark, video

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colonel littleton, lynnville, tennessee

_ we heard about colonel littleton from a store in nashville called abernathy road. we drove out to his farm/home/factory/warehouse in lynnville tennessee, and had a really, really long chat with him. WATCH THE FULL VIDEO BELOW.

_ though the name of the company is colonel littleton, we were used to marketing gimmicks, and so were somewhat surprised to be met by a genuine colonel littleton. he was the real deal, and one of our very favorite people of the trip.

_ the colonel's been at this for twenty years. he started out in town, then moved out onto the farm. then, they expanded to the three store-fronts in downtown lynnville and kept the offices in the country. now, once again, they're growing. construction crews were at the house putting up a new warehouse.

_ his office was filled with objects, and, as he said, 'ideas come from everywhere'.

_ downtown, workers cut leather into strips for their patented adjustable-length belts...

_ the colonel's workshop/office, on the top floor of the main building, is housed in an old tent.

_ there are little reminders everywhere of america's past...

_ and the workshop is housed in an old bank on the main drag in lynnville.

_ the colonel has lofty goals for his products, he wants them to be heirlooms. but really, after you talk to him for a bit, you come to the realization that all things should be heirlooms. you want to spend your money on something that lasts.

Tagged as: lynnville, tennessee, video

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wildrose kennels, oxford, mississippi

_ first thing in the morning, we left oxford town center and drove a few miles out into the mississippi countryside, to wildrose kennels.

_ operating on his 150 acre farm, the founder mike stewart has perfected the breeding and training of classic british gundogs. these labrador retrievers are the only trademarked breed of dog anywhere. this is his house, nestled on the property.

_ here is the storefront of the wildrose trading company, where they sell all the products that they also use when training and breeding their dogs. classic brands are represented, like filson and beretta.

_ young pups in the central kennel. kinder things, you've never seen.

_ training out of a blind, patrick tosses in a dead fowl training dummy.

_ duke waits patiently.

_ and with one word, patrick sends him out on the retrieve.

_ patrick. we hear a lot of people saying that they 'live the dream', oftentimes it's said kind of sarcastically, but patrick we believe. he started work right out of college, and we can tell he has a deep love for his job (which, even after one morning at the kennels, we can understand). at home, he has quite a few wildrose dogs.

_ blake gave us a tour of the grounds (as seen in the video above), and, like patrick, started work right out of college. he's been here almost five years.

_ marylee. only 15 people work at the main oxford, ms location of wildrose, and they form a great team. we bet it's an awesome place to live, and in our next life, we'll live in oxford, and work at wildrose.

Tagged as: mississippi, oxford, video

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sigma alpha epsilon, pensacola, florida

_ after a 14 hour drive from key west, we crashed the sigma alpha epsilon frat house at the university of west florida. it wasn't on campus, exactly...

_ ...but all the fraternity paraphinelia was on display. we got in real late at night and crashed on the couch in an otherwise empty house. a few hours later, the fraternity brothers started to return home after a night out... check out our video.

_ our host, kyle: shown here looking very casual.

_ it was the summertime, however, school was out of session, so there wasn't so much craziness. only hints of past disorder/debauchery.

_ this particular house has won many awards over the years for the best nationwide chapter of the sigma alpha epsilon frat.

_ we checked out the rec room, with its strange wall of chairs (lots of sitting down? musical chairs? with beer?)

_ and what happened here?

_ a former benefactor, who gifted the fraternity the sigma alpha epsilon ring.

_ most importantly, however, we had to pay dylan back for his 2am wakeup the night before. at 8am we stormed in on him. see you kids, good luck graduating.

Tagged as: 360, florida, pensacola, video

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