The Unusual Roadside Oddities of Charlotte North Carolina - Winter 2022 RoadTrip / Retro Dairy Queen
Downtown Charlotte North Carolina
Transcript
0:02
today's adventure brings me to a very
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foggy downtown
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charlotte north carolina has a recording
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of this thursday february 17th
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2022.
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could fatally hear a train off in the
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distance
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i will be just traversing
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around charlotte north carolina proper
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not even too far a little bit on the
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outskirts but
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i'm gonna do a downtown video
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welcome everyone adam the woo here i
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gotta be honest
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i have no real game plan except to
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roam around
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this city also
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tagging along scott on tape
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is back here
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what should we do today good morning
0:43
everyone as of this recording it's
0:45
thursday february 17th we're in
0:47
charlotte
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february 17th my ex-girlfriend's
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birthday i just thought of that she
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moved to australia
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a long time ago because she hates me
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that much so you don't have any ideas no
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i'm inviting you to join that was a
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pretty good imitation of me yeah yeah
1:01
join me
1:03
shall you i got really confused
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piping hot caffeinated beverage
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i have learned over the course of how
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many years i've been doing this
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sometimes
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the best days are unplanned
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just trying to find
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items
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you know a lot of stuff i that i do is
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planned out research heavily researched
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everything organized knowing where i'm
1:27
going to go at the beginning of each day
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and then others are like this just get
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out of the car
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found a parking spot down here and just
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kind of what i think this says chicken
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fish
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and barbecue right there on the side you
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can faintly see it this old sign and it
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looks very interesting
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this relic of the past adjacent to the
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new skyscraper buildings
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off in the distance
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a nice contrast here the older the new
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and over on that corner appears to be
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like some remnants of an old hotel there
2:10
it has the words bus stop and a little
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poem on the side but looks like an old
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hotel
2:14
seems like a little bit of yard work is
2:16
happening behind me here but look at
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this little fox and across the way here
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is what they call the quill pin like
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that where you dip it in the ink is a
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very large quill pin and pulling into
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the station
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the blue line
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there's the public transit through here
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you got the public market
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behind the train
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and there's another stamp here with an
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eyeball on it there's a stamp pad with
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an eyeball and there's also a little
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like typewriter keypad and adam i just
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need to point out that this one here
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this is canada's favorite letter you
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know why why is that canada eh
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and you can hear that air conditioner
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you know maybe a heater you think it's
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ac or
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heater oh it's definitely ac that's ac
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but this is a musical parking garage i
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didn't park here i parked it a lot
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adjacent
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but i'm hearing that if you put your
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hand on that you put your hand on that
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it plays music
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okay
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impressive oh there it goes look at that
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oh it plays music
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okay so it's like a piano
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yeah it's like a keypad for a piano
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it plays the note
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that is cool
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i wonder what this one does go over here
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you got the hand print here
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you didn't have to press it you just got
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close to it
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mind blown do it again
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oh
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that's wild
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good musical parking structure
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it didn't make a sound
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it lit up but it didn't make a sound oh
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there it is it's straight
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there's your sweet spot right there
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with your face
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ah it doesn't work it doesn't work with
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your cheek
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and this great old church building here
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like i'm doing a scaffolding out front
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doing a little bit of work
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across the way got to get across the
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road here before the
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traffic goes through but take a look up
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here a little piece of artwork this
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looks like a like a plant
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not a lot of people down here walking
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around either at the moment it's not
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really a beast
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there's so much someone's behind me
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where do you film it
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in front of fish gerald's see the sign
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right up top there
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is queen charlotte
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queen charlotte here
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a little puppy down here
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another puppy over here on the corner
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the reason i know it is queen charlotte
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it states here on this information
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placard that was placed here in 1988
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graham weathers was the sculptor queen
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was 1761. oh wow
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she was an easy gentle and agreeable
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woman
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exactly how i describe you
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this is a nice little corridor of wind
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going through here
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nice little breeze
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windy and directly in the middle of this
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courtyard there is no water in the
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fountain
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but this clock here
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pretty cool it sits on these little
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cylinders looks like it's a mountain
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right yeah
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i believe right there in the middle
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those things
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see if we look up
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that would be charlotte's web
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charlotte's web this looks like
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something was made in like the 60s
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70s i can tell you right now
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78
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right on you tell by just touching this
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yeah
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yeah this reminds me of like the inside
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of the mall from romero's dawn
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this is the kind of architecture this
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would be
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i don't know why it gives me those vibes
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you don't see this kind of glass anymore
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you really don't no you don't you see in
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the front of restaurants and like banks
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and stuff from that era it's gotta be
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really expensive
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pretty solid
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there's an assortment of rather large
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books right here
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a stack of them
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starting off kind of laid down and then
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they just all kind of the
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pages flutter up to the heavens
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and another set right
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here frederick douglass
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and a couple signs
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showing how far it is to ogden utah over
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2 000 miles or nash oklahoma not sure
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why they chose those two those two
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specific towns but
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that is titled and some very tall
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concrete fish
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taller than i am
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and there's not just one fish
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but two fish
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they're not just two fish
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there are three
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really large fish
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right here
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and i believe this was
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they used to spit out water they do
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probably
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in the warmer months spring and fall and
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summertime
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and you got the
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the circle of fish here
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life is mostly froth
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and bubble
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two things stand like stone
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kindness in another courage in your own
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1866
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you don't want to get spit on
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him
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no climbing the sculptures no there's a
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set of rules let's show the rules
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do not climb on fish wet sliver you know
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do not like children
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do not taunt happy fun ball there's a
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lot of rules for this little area okay
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i'm also learning something i learned
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something new every day which is part of
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the reason i like going out and doing
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stuff
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still not sure are those petunias i
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think so
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but other than that charlotte where we
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are walking through
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is the center of the known world
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not the unknown world is that what
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they're saying oh
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there's also a charlotte michigan
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oh it's also oh they're all charlotte's
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there's also a charlotte waters
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australia you were mentioning that
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earlier someone that you knew there's an
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iowa there's a texas there's a tennessee
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there's a vermont there's a maine from
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your area charlotte harbor that's kind
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of cheating though
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charlotte harbor yeah
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oh in florida i've never been to
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charlotte harbor 75 miles can we make it
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today i had an aunt
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named charlotte there you go
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hey mister oh here we go yes they knew
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you were here scott that's right
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i know everyone in great canada hang on
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hey god people look like they're having
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fun hey god
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radcliffe's flowers definitely looks
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like an old vintage neon that has been
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repurposed now could this building below
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the neon
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be ratcliff's flower shop
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you never know
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i'm gonna say
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yes adam
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out of the who
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come join me in venice let's go for a
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scooter ride around venice
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german and venice yes look at this thing
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what is it what is this gotta be a black
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color you gotta be a black okay this is
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fascinating
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is it a unicorn
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is it
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is it what exactly now let's see the
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gentleman walking past you can just see
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the size
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of this thing
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it's crazy right
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i don't know what this is i'm not seeing
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any there's like mirrors all around it
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you know how chicago has that big bean
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maybe this is charlotte's version
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it's not a big bean
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but look at it overlooking that church
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there
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the steeple and the newer skyscraper
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okay i have found a term
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for what we do for a career
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right here that's it creative loafing
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we're creative loafers now people will
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always ask what do you do i go
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i take a camera and i point out the
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obvious and i state the obvious
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for the apartment we're gonna get
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together
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let's start looking it up we're not
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getting an apartment together but we
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both do
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he missed that this this is a good like
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that guy's back
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aren't you on youtube when's the last
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time you saw a cab
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the number seven
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and this building over off on the
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distance does not look like it's active
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anymore but on the roof
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some weather equipment
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oh the weather devices up there on top
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of that roof oh i thought that was
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really something you're right
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like antennas
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my first thought would be antennas but i
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believe it's used to track weather of
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some sort all right heading over to the
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next spot but
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i was not expecting to see a time
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machine delorean
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right here on the side of this brick
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wall
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you're gonna paint a mural why not do it
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with some style
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look at this
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this just came out of nowhere
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it's calling you the city wanted you
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here
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look at that
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that is awesome
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wasn't expecting that
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oh yeah here's another relic the
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charlotte coca-cola bottling company
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very nice
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like that mural now pulling into here
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i tell the story and see with my own
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eyes
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where a gentleman that was
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crushed by an elephant
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no no it's not barefoot horton
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best name ever
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and actually you got here
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bright h barefoot so the last name is
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barefoot oh so it's barefoot barefoot
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horton that's two last names put
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together so it's their family plot
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barefoot and okay have found the spot
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with the skyline off in the distance
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it's a very interesting story a sad
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story not only for the animal trainer
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but also
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for the elephant as well
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you know when an elephant's in that
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situation it probably is not going to be
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happy
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you know who
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what an elephant is thinking
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but this has been placed here in memory
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of john king back in was it 1880 yeah
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and the outcome of the elephant
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almost as sad
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as the person he crushed at the
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elephant's name was chief chief he was
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put down
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and then
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wheeled around the city
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and paraded paraded around the city
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after he was put down and then
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eaton served to guests in cincinnati
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at a hotel
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where is the memorial to the elephant i
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guess this would be inside a lot of
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people's bellies
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right something that you would see take
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place in 1880
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probably wouldn't happen to that no i
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don't know if they would parade an
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elephant definitely not that could have
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been accidental could have been on
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purpose
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probably had a little bit of you know
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issue with being
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trained like that right back in the
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training practice it was a little
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different lots a lot crueler i'm sure
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but this is in memory of john king and
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this is in memory of chief and now
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walking well drove a little bit got out
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of the car
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a couple miles from where we just were
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this very busy intersection
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of providence
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and see across street
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road queens road and providence
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which has a lot of traffic lights
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traffic signals roundabouts
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it's a very busy
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intersection
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you need someone to direct traffic you
15:09
know what we need is someone to direct
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traffic someone like
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the gentleman across the road who has a
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sculpture in honor of him
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hugh
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and as the story goes
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he was a local resident
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not he was not an official
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traffic guide nor did he work
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for anyone other than just out of the
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kindness of his own heart
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mcmahon mcmahon away passed away in 89
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from friends and neighbors
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this was placed here back in 1999 for
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two decades for 20 years
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he would have his towel there
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his pointer finger
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telling everyone
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which way to go
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and in honor of hugh there it is
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there is a
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placard to himself
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somebody's got to take it over right
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that's me let's go
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now you stop
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you go
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do i look like i have all day i don't
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have all day
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i don't you stop
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there's no one you're telling that
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buzzword
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turn left goodbye
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that's it providence and queens
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i like how you're channeling hugh love
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you
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that's awesome yeah is that cool
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pretty cool story i've been to some
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other towns and other cities where
16:52
you'll also hear residents that do this
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so it's pretty neat
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to hear locals from the area back then
16:58
when you tried doing this today like if
17:00
you stood up there like where you were
17:02
for a few more minutes the authorities
17:04
would show up and say sir you need to
17:05
move along i tell them to move along
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because i'm the traffic guy i'm the new
17:08
hue maybe one day you'll have a little
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marker here
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for
17:12
for five minutes scott on tape directed
17:15
track stood right here letting everyone
17:17
but this point
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look at this place here is very this is
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quite
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crazy
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helicopter going by
17:31
driving around the outskirts again i'm
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going to follow this road once the light
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changes
17:35
head over to a couple more spots
17:43
you're still directing traffic
17:43
up the light it's green
17:44
okay going forward
17:46
thank you traffic
17:48
scott now it is not unusual to see a dq
17:51
dairy queen sign you know from the 80s
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this probably looks from the 80s but
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this is not the unique item
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that i want to show the very unique item
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just so happens to be
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this very retro
18:04
very retro dq here with the eskimo up on
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top
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the cold weather not bothering her at
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all she's got the hoodie on and also all
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bundled up has a donut
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a bite out of the donut as well as an
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ice cream cone
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soft serve there
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take a look
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at this
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beauty
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in the chocolate chip cookie dough
18:36
lizard but with chili on top because i
18:38
need protein a chocolate chip cookie
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dough with blizzard with a with a
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blizzard on top yeah but with the chili
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fruit
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that's disgusting you need protein adam
18:47
you need protein
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this is awesome
18:58
it's like something out about me the 50s
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i'd say probably the 50s
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maybe the 60s i'll tell you the
19:03
gentleman in there looks like he's
19:04
probably been around he's been working
19:06
on there for a while well i think he
19:07
looks like the orange
19:08
it looks like they had a drive-through
19:10
over on this side so if you look over
19:11
here you can see
19:13
probably had a drive-through around the
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corner at one time or another
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as the tile work out front
19:25
got sundays the neon says sundays has
19:25
milk shakes on the other side
19:28
and the 1980s dq logo there on the side
19:30
of this building and they also have
19:32
orange julius here so i went ahead in a
19:34
blizzard cup i went with orange julia
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just like an orange drink yeah went
19:38
ahead and got that from this dq and to
19:40
be completely honest i just try to sip
19:42
of this not a blizzard it isn't orange
19:44
julius
19:45
this thing is so tasty what is this
20:00
we i think we have them in canada i
20:00
haven't mentioned that so
20:02
good is it
20:04
like uh it's like an orange drink oh so
20:07
it's not real orange juice it's like a
20:08
sweet and sweet orange i don't know the
20:10
ingredients but it's tasty when i think
20:11
of orange drink i think of andy griffith
20:13
who did stand up back in the day the
20:15
thing on lp we got this big orange drink
20:19
you know andy griffith comedy no that's
20:22
why i'm not i'm speechless
20:23
with a stand-up comic i don't know if it
20:24
was stand-up but he did a comedy routine
20:27
on vinyl
20:28
my dad used to have it he did a routine
20:30
about big orange drink
20:37
let's get two straws
20:37
i'm gonna get a brain freeze because
20:38
this thing
20:39
is cold
20:42
and look how i need to have one of those
20:43
you know what i need to put my eskimo
20:46
i'm gonna be an eskimo
20:49
look at the lineup now
20:50
we got here just in time
20:56
and the last spot of the day
20:56
is located in a parking lot adjacent to
20:58
this building
21:00
and i haven't walked over here yet but
21:02
parked at the bottom of the hill walked
21:04
up these stairs
21:05
and i would imagine that this
21:08
is what i'm looking for right here
21:16
it is
21:16
the birthplace
21:18
of dr billy graham
21:27
born on november 7th 1918
21:27
world renowned evangelist author and
21:29
educator
21:30
preacher of the gospel
21:33
born right here in fact president
21:35
richard nixon
21:37
flew down here
21:38
or over here
21:40
and dedicated this marker on the 15th
21:42
day of october back in 1971
21:52
and the building that stood here is gone
21:52
but there is a little marker
22:14
there's a nixon quote there billy graham
22:14
is one of the giants of our time truly a
22:16
man of god
22:17
the force of his spirit
22:20
as a noble
22:21
ennobled
22:23
as a noble millions
22:26
and this in other lands i salute him
22:27
with deep affection and profound respect
22:38
and this is a very random tree
22:38
with some clouds behind it going by a
22:41
good enough place
22:43
for an outro as traffic goes by i think
22:44
there's a bird nest there in the far
22:46
corner i'm gonna go out on a limb
22:48
because this these are some limbs
22:50
let's say that is a bird nest
22:52
up top there up there's a plane going by
22:55
too
22:56
well that's gonna do it for today
23:02
i'm only in north carolina
23:02
a very short tenure more
23:06
i'll still be here tomorrow
23:08
so stay tuned for that but then after
23:10
that shortly after that within a day or
23:12
two after i'll be start heading
23:15
back to my home in celebration florida
23:17
this road trip
23:19
it's almost over still a few more days
23:25
i don't know why i'm showing this tree
23:25
hey mister
23:27
why are you looking at that tree
23:34
there's a bird's nest on either side
23:34
that's something that's
23:36
i think that's so eh
23:39
you get it
23:40
how are you doing
23:44
no kidding are you on the youtube
23:46
no kidding
23:52
the vlog
23:52
is over