Road Trip Oddities From Alabama To Illinois - 500 Mile Drive / Big Fish Movie Set & Superman Town
US Road Trip 2022
Transcript
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welcome everyone adam the woo here has a
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recording of this wednesday april 27
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2022 about 8 30 a.m i am just outside
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millbrook
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alabama
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heading northbound i'm gonna try to
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cover about four or five six hundred
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miles today
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on this road trip
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the town of spectre is right
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there i have not been here in over a
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decade the 2003 film by tim burton took
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place on this island
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dropped three or four dollars i only had
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a 10. i didn't have any change ten
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dollars into an envelope then you call a
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phone number
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and the property owner will grant you
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access
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to get on this island this is where i
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could not bypass doing an update
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on the town from big fish
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and then
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road trips to other states try to make
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it to at least st louis maybe even past
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st louis missouri so
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five six maybe even 700 miles today
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we'll see
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but starting off here join me
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shall you
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as i walk through
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the fake trees that tim burton created
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oh
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so many years ago
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a couple decades or more well two
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decades to you and i
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now when i was here
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10 years ago
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the fake forest was still right here
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they have torn the fake forest down
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made of foam props and trees
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i'm about to go through
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this into this movie set but you can see
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look the foam right down here
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pretty neat this is still is here now
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obviously the shoes that are dangling
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from the wire there
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are a recreation not real
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but everything else these houses
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still remain and there you go it says
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right there
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back when i was here
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years ago there were more buildings
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that decayed and fell down these are the
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ones that are still in okay condition
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this is a camping area you can camp here
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you can fish hence the admission fee
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and at this hour of the day
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no one is here
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on this little thoroughfare into the
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movie set
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except myself
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and obviously when i was here before
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didn't have any of the
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the fencing up and you could go inside
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all the buildings but you could see
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movie magic
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how a facade
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is built
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i am happy that
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these still exist
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just have to imagine
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there was a home there
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another movie set home there
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over there
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the chapel still down at the end
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another building was there torn down
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but a few still stand
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most likely a practical interior on this
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one
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this was not only an exterior facade but
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most likely did some scenes inside of
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here as well
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it's good to be back here after all
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these years
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so peaceful
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oh are those goats i see goats over
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there there
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are goats at the end of the road i'll
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walk over there too
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the sun glistening across my camera lens
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there's a little sign on this that says
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mayor's house
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hello goats
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good to see you
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so good to see you i don't have any food
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for you
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wow there's a whole herd
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of goats
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there's a little a little youngin
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wow they were all hiding behind the
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chapel just a little peek into how
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non-real a lot of these sets can be
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take a look under here
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as far as the interiors go
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not
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a real church building no pews in there
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or a pulpit
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as you can see all the goats have
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congregated over there
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by where others are camping and fishing
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over there in that corner
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this was awesome wanted to start off
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here
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now i'm going to hit the road
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cover a lot of miles
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and yes
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even out here
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on an empty out veritable empty island
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leaf blowers
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they follow me everywhere
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i wonder if those goats have any idea
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they're grazing around where the dark
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forest was
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also got myself a coffee piping hot
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caffeinated beverage and i always try to
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get a case of water
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for the road just to have it in the back
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seat so i picked up one of those too
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going to be a lot of interstates today
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not too many back roads maybe a few
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really want to cover a lot of ground
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cover a lot of miles tonight
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whatever was in that cage
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has escaped
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it's escaped
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this is a very large statue of liberty
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replica
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here towering
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the top of this berm
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this hill
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used to be at a life insurance agency
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in birmingham made it over to birmingham
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or at least on the outskirts
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but years after it was placed on top of
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that building it was moved here
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to this spot it has been here since 1988
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got the flag waving in the breeze next
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to it
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and after it was moved to this spot it
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was then dedicated
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on july 4th
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the next year of 89 and that's when this
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placard
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was also placed here
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i passed through this area years ago
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back when i had my a drone i'd fly my
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drone around crashed crashed it
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right over this wall
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see where it says please do not climb on
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the wall
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so i had launched it up it was like
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flying up there and the blades fell off
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or one of the blades fell off
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and it took a tumble
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right down there
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it's all coming back to me now
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that was a long time ago
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arrive now in coleman alabama
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to the ave maria grotto
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i believe you got to go through this
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gift shop not exit through the gift shop
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but enter through the gift shop
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in order to get into the grotto
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the admission cost was ten dollars
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to get on the property and there's all
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these pieces of work these miniatures
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that are scattered through
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the walkway here
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also i paid the admission
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gave me this little pamphlet
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with some information
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the ave maria grotto
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is located on the grounds of the saint
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bernard abbey
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the abbey was founded in 1891 the grotto
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consists of a landscaped hillside of
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125.
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that's a lot
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small stone and cement structures
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the handiwork
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of creative genius brother joseph
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zodle
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joseph zodle
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you got the church bells ringing in the
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back oh my gosh
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look at the size of this thing over here
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wow okay there's mission san juan
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capistrano
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in california
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how neat is that
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i know exactly where that that is i've
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been there before
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newport rhode island the mysterious
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tower
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there's an old spanish mission in
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san antonio texas
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looks similar to the alamo of the alamos
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right here
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also spoiler alert there's there there
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is no basement at the end
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i passed through here years ago probably
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10 years ago at least
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but it was very hurriedly passing
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through in fact i don't even remember
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much of it
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but i do recall this
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probably the most prominent part of the
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grotto
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highly recommend
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not bypassing this place
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worth the ten dollars to
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come down here and check this out this
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is incredible
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and with this fountain
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water gently pouring down there
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ambiance of the stream of water
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brother joseph right here the creator of
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the ave maria grata
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passed away in 61.
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there's one of his miniatures there at
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his feet
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got his hands at his waist
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and this is his handiwork
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all right here spectacular
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all up on the hillside all these
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miniatures
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joseph and just continuing on there's
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even more miniatures
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like mount ararat ozark
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great wall of china
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is
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very tall
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but the lizard condo
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much taller
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are there lizards in there that's where
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the condos that's the cond that's not
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that's where the lizards live
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in their home it's a
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condo i think there's a lizard right
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there
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well worth
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ten dollar admission
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just saying
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looks like traffic going
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southbound it's pretty backed up
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northbound seems good
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traffic cleared up
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southbound look at that over there that
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rest stop
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i think i'm just about at the tennessee
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state line also it's just right up here
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standing here at the shady lawn travel
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center
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it's a big chicken
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what are you doing chicken
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looks like ready for a meal
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has a fork
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and a knife
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just see the magnitude of it as this
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vehicle goes by
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for the newer volkswagens there
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got the chicken paws down here
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four people have wrote their names on it
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play stickers
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all right now it's northbound now i'm in
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a fun traffic jam
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been creeping along very slowly
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for a while
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slow going
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i have a feeling that car right there
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wants to go much faster
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than it is
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drove a little further over to
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clarksville tennessee
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the montgomery county
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courthouse which a tornado struck here
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in 99 severely damaging the courthouse
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and it was redesigned the exterior was
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but still stands
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to this day even though
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the tornado caused quite a bit of damage
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but i'm noticing down here is a
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sculpture sitting on a bench
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curious to see who this represents
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wow look at that building
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that's some incredible architecture
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the leaf chronicles
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there is a historic theater here called
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the roxy
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the roxy theater
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and as fantastic as that is
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take a look
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at this
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this is awesome
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sergeant carter carter gunnery sergeant
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carter
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that face
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if you're familiar with the andy
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griffith show
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government pyle usmc
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frank sutton was his name the actor
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who played sergeant carter sergeant
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vince carter
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gomer pyle usmc
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this was placed here a few years ago
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he passed away in the same year i was
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born 1974.
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this is
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this is nice this is awesome
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i did not realize this existed until
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today
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you can almost just picture jim
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neighbors right there him yelling at him
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of course jim neighbors probably
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standing in the road there
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he's got a little spiderweb there on his
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back of his hat
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what a great character what a great
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character reading a little bit more here
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on the base
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says that frank was born here in
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clarksville
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this boyhood home still stands at 416
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south second street
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i'm gonna have to go by there give it
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give it a little thumbs up
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the shadow
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sir yes sir
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i don't know if i could have a
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handle a drill sergeant
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right in my face
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i'm handling this because he's not real
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and according to the address it looks
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like it's this gray house
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right here kind of on a busy road now
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but back then it probably wasn't too
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busy and over on this building is a
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starry night inspired mural
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with the courthouse and all that
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well done
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all right almost on empty so fueling up
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again
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379 and take a look over there
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a relic
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it's such a relic it doesn't even want
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to focus
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pay no attention to the pay phone
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one thing's for sure traffic on the
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interstates today has not been real kind
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in either direction i'm flowing pretty
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good now also i've crossed over to the
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kentucky state line
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we'll be in kentucky long but i am now
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in kentucky for a little while
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normally i don't take the interstates
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and the freeways normally i'm more of a
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back road kind of guy but really trying
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to cover a lot of ground over the next
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few days
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got somewhere to be at a certain time
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so got a long way to go
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i'm trying to do about five
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five or six hundred miles per day
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to get where i gotta be by when i need
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to be there
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shouldn't be too much further before i
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cross over into illinois
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going through a lot of states today
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covering some ground
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when you see a big boy
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dressed
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as superman
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you know you're in one place
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only one place
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you see a bob's or a freshest
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big boy
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and a cutout
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of clark kent's
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alter ego
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metropolis illinois and if you look the
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opposite direction you'll see a really
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tall superman at the end
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all the way down there the end of the
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road
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it's already 15 minutes till 7 pm
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the store is closed
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all the daily planet stuff out front
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a little museum walk through gift shop
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and whatnot and of course every time i
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see a phone booth of this
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stature i always think of that movie of
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course the 70s film with chris reeves is
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my favorite
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richard donner directed
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and the donner version of two i love as
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well
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i had to stop off here i love it too
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much
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yeah the sun is definitely going over
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the horizon
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7 25 p.m i've been driving for almost 12
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hours
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i think this bike's ever gone down any
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sweet slides look at this thing
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the tire is as tall as the roof line of
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the building behind it
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to get up on the seat you would need a
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tall ladder
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look at the sun setting back there
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about about 20 minutes from my hotel
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that i booked and that's gonna do it for
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just typed in the coordinates i went
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475 miles from montgomery alabama
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to here in marion illinois
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so add on probably another
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25 30 40 for just veering off a little
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bit
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about 500 miles in 12 hours left today
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about 8 a.m arrived at 8 p.m
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just stopping to get out and film
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a long day i'm pretty tired
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i'll see you in the next video the vlog
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is over