Going Down?
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| M.C. Escher's Relativity (1953) |
David offers us descending phrases that literally go down the grid. Each themer is amusingly clued. Let's take a look.
All Downs:
3. Committee members parachuting from an airplane?: DIVING BOARD. Or BOARD members tanking their company. #Enron
9. Feathers during a no-holds-barred pillow fight?: DROPPING DOWN. Did you know there are no-holds-barred pillow fights?
//I learned about it from Ronny Chieng three weeks ago [The Daily Show]
21. Church steeple in hurricane-strength winds?: TIPPING POINT. Also a book by Malcom Gladwell.
27. Ball carrier on a wet football field?: FALLING BACK. The end of Daylight Saving Time. I think this is also a reference to football.
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| Football Positions - there's at least 3 BACKS on the offense. |
Across:
1. Realm surrounded by the Styx: HADES. Styx is the mythical river between ours and the underworld. Being dipped in it will protect you. Just be sure to dip your son's Achilles heal in too.
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| Thetis dipping Achilles in the River Styx |
Styx was also a popular band so the realm coulda been an 'arena'.
Styx - Renegade
6. Didn't release: HELD. Styx released Renegade in '78. I bought the album Pieces of Eight.
10. Preliminary race: HEAT. Royals would warm their steeds on the track before the final race. Now preliminary races are called heats. [cite]
14. Serving a purpose: UTILE. Useful.
15. Gulf States ruler: EMIR. A crossword staple.
16. Pennsylvania city on I-90: ERIE. ibid.
17. Piercing site: NAVEL. Ouch!
18. Plot-heavy work: MELODRAMA. Nothing mellow about it; just all drama.
20. Table protector: TRIVET. Protects your table or countertop from hot dishes.
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| Pretty |
22. Swift: RAPID. Who else was thinking Jonathan the satirist first? Misty?
23. Moral lapse: SIN. You throw the first stone.
24. Trivial thing: NIT. Sometimes they're picked here at The Corner.
26. Audit firm exec: CPA. Certified Public Accountant. I waited on perps to make sure it wasn't CFO (Chief Financial Officer).
27. Non-magical source of invisibility: FOG. Cute.
30. Sales meeting diagrams: GRAPHS. #DeathByPowerPoint.
33. Enter en masse: INVADE.
35. Udon kin: SOBA. The difference between udon & soba. //The TL;DR - wheat flour (udon) v. buckwheat (soba).
37. "To __ it mildly": PUT. The harsh truth - GLOSSY'd over.
38. Affix with a hammer: NAIL IN. If your only tool is a hammer, every job is a nail.
Pete Seeger
39. MBA field: ECON. Master of Business Administration and Economics.
40. Choosing from a lineup: ID'ING. I'm not sure how to punctuate ID'ING. It's IDentifying the perpetrator from a lineup. A Dragnet staple.
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| Jack Webb & Harry Morgan |
42. Fail to enunciate: SLUR. Elide is a letter to long.
43. Make tidy: NEATEN. Hide the mess; I hear Mom!.
45. Curtain holder: ROD. Yep.
46. News magazine since 1923: TIME. It's TIME they stopped Person of the Year, no?
47. Loose garment: SARONG.
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| Sarong |
48. The 1973 Mets' "Ya Gotta Believe!," e.g.: SLOGAN. With Willie Mays, Tom Seaver, Rusty Staub, Cleon Jones, et.al. managed by Yogi, "Ya Gotta Believe." They lost the World Series to Oakland's A's.
50. Finish: END. Sorry readers, I'm not even close.
51. Tailless simian: APE. I waited on the perps 'cuz I was thinkin' "man."
53. Leatherwork tool: AWL. I call mine a pokie-tool.
 |
| Awww, these are real nice. |
54. Controversial agribusiness letters: GMO. Genetically Modified Organism. While some folks are afraid of 'Franken Foods,' science feeds the world.
57. Treat with disdain: SCORN. Like some folks at me after my above comment? ;-)
59. "I've seen worse": NOT BAD. "I've had worse." [Monty Python - The Black Knight (@3:10)]
61. Words from the weary: I'M SO TIRED. Me on Friday afternoons.
65. Play group reminder: SHARE. #Mine!
From Finding Nemo
66. Midday: NOON.
67. "You've Got Mail" director Ephron: NORA.
Trailer
68. Political leader?: SOCIO. Prefix for 'political.' Sociopolitical is combination of of social and political factors.
69. Agrees quietly: NODS. Smile & Wave boys... Smile & wave.
From DreamWorks' Madagascar
70. Took steps: TROD. Cute.
71. Whitehorse's territory: YUKON. Whitehorse is the largest city in the Canada's Yukon Territory.
Down:
1. Looks (for): HUNTS.
2. Classic arcade name: ATARI. So much misspent-youth INSERTing COINS. APM's How I Built This: From Pong to Chuck E. Cheese. [47m]
3. [See: theme]
4. Alt.: ELEV. ALTitude / ELEVation.
5. Gomez of "Only Murders in the Building": SELENA. If you have Hulu, this show is a must-see.
6. Garment edge: HEM.
7. Like a retired prof.: EMER. Emeritus. Like Misty & OMK.
8. Amethyst hue: LILAC. A sweet lady on my paper route had lilac bushes. The smell of those in the Spring -- sugar in your nose.
9. [See: theme]
10. Bunch of buffalo: HERD. I heard that.
11. Pitching stat: ERA. Earned Run Average. This is the number of runs scored against a pitcher per nine innings pitched. i.e (9 x earned runs)/innings pitched. A good pitcher has an ERA below 3. An Ace's ERA is typically less than 2. #Baseball!
12. Objective: AIM. Pitchers AIM for the strike-zone; batters AIM for the fences.
13. Leaves in a bag: TEA. DAB didn't fool me but for 7 seconds.
19. "Outlander" series novelist Gabaldon: DIANA. Perps for the win.
21. [See: theme]
25. Impact sound: THUD. Who can't think of Wile E. Coyote here?
28. Intense dislike: ODIUM. ? Odium (n.) general or widespread hatred or disgust directed at someone as a result of their actions. Oh, OK.
29. Britcom or bromance: GENRE. British Comedies and (male) buddys who are close.
31. Wound up costing: RAN TO. Add the window-etching, under-body rust protection, extended-warranty...
32. Arouses: STIRS.
34. Panoramic view: VISTA. The views around Cinque Terre blew me away.
35. Intuit: SENSE. I feel this clue/answer has something going for it.
36. Setting for much of "Aquaman": OCEAN. He's a fishORman, right?
//Eat your heart out, Ray-O :-)
41. The Big Easy, for short: NOLA. A CSO to "you know who" and one of the best places in America to visit. The Bourbon Orleans hotel is *chef's kiss*.
44. Put on the books: ENACT. Oh, not a loss or gain | red nor black ink, but a law. As if we needed another...
49. Shiny print: GLOSSY. Arlo ran into problems with the 27 8x10 color GLOSSY prints with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.
For being a litterbug.
Eventually, he was on the Group "W" bench. [See: Alice's Restaurant]
52. Mistake: ERROR. C.C.'s for letting me blog another crossword puzzle :-)
//Love to you, C.C. & Boomer.
55. NHL great Lemieux: MARIO. Thank you perps. Read more at Wikipedia.
56. Ancient Greek theater: ODEON. We disdain these 'cuz... Oh, not ODIUM. #Untie!
57. "I Will Wait" band Mumford & __: SONS.
58. Fictional Wolfe: NERO. I've never read the books but the TV show on A&E was good.
60. Second person of old: THOU. Thy was too short.
61. Travel guide listing: INN. One year, for our anniversary, we went leaf-peeping in VT. DW always finds the best places to stay.
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| The INN at Round Barn Farm |
62. Dairy farm noise: MOO. On that same trip, we hit Ben & Jerry's dairy and creamery. They have real cows at the factory! But, the cows were lowing.
63. Landscaping layer: SOD. Also, derogatory UK slang.
64. Pops: DAD. Pop is my 2nd-best friend. DW is #1.
 |
| The Grid |
My Recap:
WO: ODEOm
ESP: ODIUM
Fav: Hard to pick one. It was just a peach to break DOWN the puzzle for y'all.
Now it's your turn to do the same.
Cheers, -T
43 comments:
Hi, folks. It’s your “early bird,” Subgenius, here. Ms. Irish Miss once asked me why I got up so early and I explained to her it was a combination of going to bed early and the insomnia that advancing age (I’m 68) has brought me to. Anyway, with that aside, on to the puzzle. I understood the gimmick fairly early, which helped with the solve. And I also note that in this puzzle there were very few proper names; that was a help, too. At any rate, I managed to FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Hand up for thinking of Johnathon Swift, before RAPID filled in. The SE was almost my downfall. Had no idea what Lemieux's name could be, and it took some time for the ball to drop and SHARE to appear. OK, _ARIO, gotta be MARIO. Yay. Thanx, D.A.B. Nice job, Anon-T. (I suspected it was you, but wasn't certain right up to the end.)
FIR, but erased seeks for HUNTS and odium for ODEON (UNTIE!^2). Sorta knew TRIVET and SOCIO, but not DIANA or SONS.
INVADE? Don't believe your Lyin' Eyes, the border is closed.
HERD reminded me of this Roger Miller classic.
Thanks to DAB for another fine challenge. I was a little distracted that one of the four themers didn't connote declination, but that's truly a NIT. And thanks to -T for the fine review. I did think of you at "pop".
Pretty easy for a Thursday.. felt like monday or Tuesday
Took 6 minutes exactly today, which seems "rapid" for me for a Thursday puzzle.
I didn't know the novelist Diane, and was flummoxed whether it was "nail on" or "nail in." Odium made a tad more "sense" than odoum.
Overall, "not bad."
FIW, the cross of 55D and 68A did me in. I guessed Marco for the NHL player. Never heard of Mario Lemieux before, guess I'm not a hockey fan.
DAB's puzzles have never disappointed and neither did this one. Very few proper names, no NITs to pick or abundant A&E fills.
It was a RAPID fill today.
SOCIO- I knew-after it was filled- it took perps to fill it.
SELENA was a WAG from the Gomez clue. Only know of her from puzzles. No Hulu, Netflix, HBO,..etc or care to pay for them. DIANA was the only other unknown.
NOLA- there was an article last Saturday in the WSJ about the origin of the term Big Easy. I live here but had never heard of it until the movie came out. The first printed description was in a 1957 issue of "The Angolite". Never heard of that newspaper? Well it's the paper The Angolite is published and edited by prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
Jinx- you know "you can't roller skate in a buffalo herd". "Dang Me, Dang Me, They oughta take a rope and hang me", - You're the "King of the Road".
Inanehiker, maybe I'm overthinking it - again. If I played the Sesame Street game "one of these things is not like the others" and the list was DIVING, DROPPING, TIPPING and FALLING, I would pick "tipping" because all the others imply succumbing to gravity. To me, something that is TIPPING may or may not succumb. Unless it's a cow.
Hi Y'all! Thanks D.A.B. for your fun "ing" theme puzzle. Thanks, Tony, for winging it.
Last to fill was SOCIO. SOCIOpolitical is a new one on me.
DNK: DIANA, MARIO (not MARco), SONS.
NOLA: my granddaughter moved from New Orleans last weekend to Nashville. Now I can rest easier during hurricanes in the Gulf.
Managed to FIR in 23, helped by getting the theme early and the presence of few proper names, only 5, and I knew 3. Still managed by sheer dopiness to have a slew of W/Os: CHARTS:GRAPHS, KEPT:HELD, ENTER:ENACT, NAILIT:NAILIN. Nice to see ODIUM and ODEON in the same CW. DNK the term sociopolitical, so SOCIO was all perps, and then didn’t look right, but stayed due to perps. Thanx for this entertaining and clever CW, DAB. And thanx for the fun write-up, T. Poor Wile E. Coyote, no matter how hard he tried…..
Musings
-A little DAB will do me very nicely today!
-RAPID Creek gave RAPID City, S.D. its name
-To PUT IT mildly, we are having very odd weather. This week we had a record low temp for that October date and this weekend will see a record high for another one.
-TIME’s Man Of The Year have included Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939 and 1942), Nikita Khrushchev (1957) and Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)
-Eight of us have a NOON tee on this beautiful autumn day
-Whitehorse has a population of 25,000 and has two McDonalds
-FORE!
I HERD you could be HELD in HADES HEAT if You SIN.....anyway I DNF, 😒...couldn't complete the SE corner ... liked the tumbling vertical theme though.
Inkovers: charts/GRAPHS,
NOLA..Anyone watching the new version of "Interview With the Vampire"? Excellent. NOTBAD...(not "NOT so BAD). I also have enjoyed "Only Murders in the Building" SELENA Gomez with 2 relative unknowns, Steve Martin and Martin Short 😀
I "intensely dislike" the Oresteia: "_____ at the _____ ...ODIUM, ODEUM?"
They're faking, it's just ____ ...ENACT.
Opposite of an automatic weapon....SLOGAN
Wearing this "loose garmenrmt": It's _____ but it feels so right! ....SARONG
Have a great day.
Husker, I've read that about 3/4 of the entire population of the Yukon live in Whitehorse. Saying the Yukon is sparsely populated is an understatement.
Good Morning:
Like Inanehiker, I also enjoy seeing down themers and these worked quite nicely, IMO. This was a very easy Thursday as I don’t think there was even one unknown. I did stumble on Kept/Held and Nail To/In but they were quickly corrected. I liked the Emer/Emir crossing and the Odium/Odeon duos, and I particularly liked the top row visual of Hades/Held/Heat.
Thanks, David, for a smooth and satisfying solve and thanks, Anon T, for the cheerful commentary and links. You’ve settled into your blogging duties quite well and, like our other Sherpas, you have your own unique voice. The reminder of the beautiful fragrance of lilacs evokes many pleasant memories and seeing Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan together is always a treat.
Not too happy about the Yankees loss last night, but as Yogi would say, “It ain’t over till it’s over!”
Have a great day.
Having twice ridden a motorcycle across the Yukon (up and back) including a stop in Whitehorse, I'd certainly have to agree with that understatement.
DNK: SELEBA, DIANA,MARIO, or SONS. Otherwise pretty easy Thurs. Glad there was less paper names.
Nothing to complain about. This was a fun puzzle. The only slow down was the SE, but I finally worked it out. I too had ENTER instead of ENACT for a while.
DH has always been a fan of Roger Miller’s songs.
Once I changed ENTER to ENACT (44D), the SW corner came together. SE corner was a challenge, but got it done with one WO (C to K in YUKON). First thought in reading 60D was that it would be EVE, but alas, not enough letters. Had to rely on the perps to get me to THOU.
Today's puzzle was a joy to work (TY, DAB!!) after yesterday's DNF debacle. Curious how one can be on a wavelength with some constructors, and not others.
Enjoyed the puzzle, as I virtually always do. I understand Jinx' quibble with tipping, which doesn't seem as direct as the other themers, but actually, if you tip over, you do end up lower down than before, right?
I gather there are few other Outlander fans here, but I have always enjoyed not only the books, but also the tv series based on them.
Trivia that's uninteresting to all non fans: Diana Gabaldon has been involved with the tv version as a consultant and sometimes writer, and even had a (very) small role in an early episode.
WJS
(What Jinx Said)
One of these things "is not" like the other, but I liked the clue, so I'm ok with it...
me, trying to do this puzzle...
Someth8ng funny (strange but true) that this puzzle rem8nds me of.
Case in point: I ride a bicycle for exercise, but I have trouble getting on and off a Mens bike, so I just drop the bike and walk/step over it. The only problem is whenever I stop to rest, people always come out of their houses and ask me if I need an ambulance...
Delightful Thursday puzzle, many thanks, David. And always enjoy your commentary, Anon T--thanks for that too.
I was excited when I saw EMER because that's me, an EMERita/Emeritus, prof./professor. Later on I corrected I'M SO TIRED for myself, because as an EMERITA, I'm not TIRED, I'm RE-TIRED. But enough about me, I don't want to get any SCORN for being self-centered, or create any MELODRAMA. Better to make my time on the blog UTILE and NEATEN up my comments. But I actually like it when others SHARE their information--so hopefully that's NOT BAD.
Have a good day, everybody, and a good weekend coming up.
My first pass through the puzzle left a lot of white space, but David's helpful perps saved the day as I kept at it. Thanks for my FIR today, David.
I had similar WOs as others have mentioned: enter/ENACT, cfo/CPA, and I started putting in K for kept but quickly saw it was HELD instead. Early on I entered Life for the magazine, not registering the news part. Oh sure, TIME fits better. With the perps, SELENA replaced Serena. All in all, not too bad.
Thanks, AnonT, for the excellent review today. When I got to the description of an AWL being a "pokie tool," my suspicion that you were the blogger was confirmed.
Enjoy the day!
AnonT Thanks for explaining mysterious SOCIO along with your other illustrations. Learning moment about NO HOLDS BARRED PILLOW FIGHTS. I would rather watch that than boxing.
I am deathly allergic to DOWN. But enjoyed the DOWN theme. Had BIT before NIT. FIR.
Here is a VISTA of us leading a hike with the OCEAN covered in FOG behind us.
We have so many spectacular VISTAs here, it is difficult to choose. I am very grateful every day.
From Yesterday:
CrossEyedDave, Lucina, sumdaze, AnonT Thank you for your kind and thoughtful comments and questions about my LEMUR video.
CrossEyedDave Good question about why it was OK to give water but not food. They want to keep the LEMURs in their natural state as much as possible. But human caused climate change is contributing to a severe drought. They decided that since humans are causing the LEMURs to need water it is OK if humans give them water.
We were there during the very brief dry season. But that dry season may get much longer.
Hola!
Thank you DAB and Tony! Nice job on the commentary. You're a natural.
I actually solved this puzzle at 6 A.M. as often happens, then returned to bed. I like the consistent theme of FALLING DOWN answers.
DIANA Gabaldon lives here in Scottsdale and has been featured in the Arizona Republic. One of my mother's friends who lived in Flagstaff was a neighbor of the Gabaldon family. She wanted to introduce me to their widowed father at one time. She thought we would make a good match but it never happened.
Every time I went to Hawaii I would buy a SARONG to wear at the beach and a few weeks ago while cleaning out a drawer I gave them to my granddaughter. She is tickled to wear them.
Two CSO's today: EMER TO Misty and Keith.
Another one to Big Easy at NOLA.
Will Canadian Eh! take a CSO at YUKON? I was impressed to learn yesterday that she had traversed across Canada. That is something I always thought would be fun and interesting.
Have a terrific Thursday, everyone! Mani-pedi day today.
Picard, I saw on TV yesterday that the captain of the boat involved in the Santa Cruz fire has been indicted by a a grand jury. Hope this one sticks.
Jinx Thank you very much for the update on the boat disaster at Santa Cruz Island. I found many hits when I Googled this, but I had not heard that news. Here is one story:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/captain-indicted-new-charge-boat-fire-killed-34-southern-california-co-rcna52899
There were many contributing factors to the disaster. And many ways to prevent future disasters. But I agree that the top factor that would have made a difference was having a crew member awake and watching the boat during the night. That could be done in multiple shifts so no one has to stay up all night.
No mani-pedi today. I just learned that the salon is being remodeled and my nail tech is in Florida visiting his parents. I'll have talons by the time it's ready!
Thank you for the kind CSO, Lucina. And I'm sure your granddaughter will cherish your SARONGS.
A Bywaters PZL, hosted by Anon T...
A pleasant, relatively EZ Thursday challenge, with solving helped by the "ING" theme.
A truly nice cartoon clip showing the Coyote's fall from grace!
The expression on Wile E.'s face reminds me of an important lesson in staging Comedy.
As long as the villain retains his anger, or even ups the hatred-ante, we can laugh at him--no matter what horrendous pain we subject him to.
But be careful NOT to let us see his sadness, sorrow, or a sincere pleading for mercy.
That's when comedy goes out the window, and audience empathy kicks in.
Pity allows no room for laughter.
~ OMK
____________
DR: One diagonal, near side.
Its anagram (13 of 15) refers to an NFL infraction, such as "Roughing the Kicker" or maybe doing something else than kicking the *#@! ball.
I mean anything in the general category of a...
"PUNT VIOLATION"!
FIR. Thanks to DAB for another fun puzzle. I enjoyed the vertical themers.
I started IDING AnnonT at the first #. Thanks for your entertaining write-up!
I used to live in a very old neighborhood in Colorado with several LILAC hedges. I was told that back in the day, they had outhouses and the LILACs were planted around them to help with the odor when "things" started to thaw in the Spring.
Thank you, Lucina!
I wonder how many more Emeriti may be lurking on the Corner--or among regular visitors...?
We tend to be a shy lot. I believe only familiarity has made Misty and myself known.
~ OMK
Delightful DAB puzzle! And Anon-T, great write-up.
Hand raised for trying ENTER before ENACT, but was saved by the perps. Not only are the theme entries wonderful, but the fill is a joy too, what with MELODRAMA, I'M SO TIRED and more.
Picard, liked your lemur watering video. Wasn't sure that was you in a plain blue shirt instead of your usual bright colors. I went to a zoo with my son's family once & wanted to see the lemurs. However, they were clustered in the upper tiers of their large dark cage looking upset. There was lots of food on the floor and a large number of mice running around down there. My daughter-in-law & I both shuddered at all those mice and quickly moved on. They badly needed some companion cats to get rid of those rodents.
OMK You can add Tante Nique to the emeriti list lurking on the Corner.
I liked this puzzle and had many of the same experiences solving it that you folks did. KEPT became HELD and MUUMUU became SARONG. Coincidentally, LW and I first heard of "Only Murders in the Building" because our son and his new wife recently sent us a selfie of them in front of The Belnord building, which was used for exterior shots of the Arconia, while they were vacationing in New York City.
Picard, thanks for posting pics and videos of you at various locations and engaged in such various adventures/activities. Always delightful.
Good wishes to you all.
P.S. Here are a couple of links to the latest news about our research into hopefully being able to predict earthquakes some day.
Link 1 Watch the video with news reporter Robert Handa and also scroll down to the bottom of the page to watch the interview with news anchor Raj Mathai.
Link 2 The photo is of the sensor equipment that I designed.
Jayce. I checked out the links you posted. Sounds like your sensor will really 'shake up' the geology community. Way cool!
A friendly Hello to Lurker Tante Nique @4:30!
Welcome to you!
Is it emeritus or (judging by the familial French appellation) emerita? Or non-binary?
And would you care to credit a particular campus?
~ OMK
Thank you, sumdaze.
OMK: UT. Austin degree and career at McNeese state university in Lake Charles, LA Retired 12 years. Loved my work and love retirement.
Puzzling thoughts:
Good job to both DAB and -T
See you all tomorrow with a fun puzzle
Glad to read y'all enjoyed the expo. I'll be back in the peanut gallery for a while as MManatee is returning for his regular stint.
Picard - The VISTAs in CA are amazing - if! you can see 'em through the FOG :-)
//I mostly been to the SFO and 100mi surrounding area - cold as HADES up there.
Jayce - your work is way so cool. Thanks for sharing the articles.
//sumdaze - LOL comment re: Jayce's work.
Tante Nique - The Corner will add you to the EMER list.
//UT, eh? I must despise you once a year. #BoomerSooner!
That's two 'Stros wins in the books. Of to NYC. Sorry, IM, but this is Baseball :-)
Cheers, -T
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, David and AnonT (I knew it was you with all the music links!).
I’m late to the party after having company today. I did this CW late in the day, and still managed to FIR in good time. I saw the Diving theme.
WEES by now. But this Canadian must chime in about YUKON. It reminded me of Yukon's most famous son, Canadian author and broadcaster Pierre Berton. And Robert Service’s poems. “There are strange things done in the midnight sun”.
MalMan- twice across the Yukon on a motorcycle must be good fodder for many stories!
Picard- lovely VISTA photo
Lucina- we travelled coast to coast, Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, but not to the territories. Too long stretches of road for young kids (although they were good travellers). We did get into the US on one trip with that camper- Yellowstone Park.
Jace- I’ll have to come back to read your link when I am not so TIRED. I do remember you giving us some information previously.
Good evening all.
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