As many of us get back from our Seasonal excursions to faraway
places, i'm sure we've all seen something unusual in the automotive
sense.

Not to keep harping on Calif., especially since what goes around 
comes around (I'd told Steve J. we're just getting the fluorescent 
pink and green wipers in Bemidji) but they shor' do some strange 
things to cars out there.  Most prominent in my mind is 50 series 
tires.  Those thin rubber bands 17 year olds are putting on lowered 
Toyota pickups.  and Hondas.  and Mazdas.  gawd, they bother me.  I 
just went from a 70 series to an 80 series tire on my Camry to get a 
little *extra* clearance for things like boulders, snow heaps, and 
dead skunks.  i took a small amount of satisfaction in seeing a set 
of 50 series tires with crunched rims sitting on an adjoining 
apartment's stoop on morning.  the resident 17 year old was recalling 
the curb impact story with the pride of a hunter describing his first 
bagged quarry.

also, a mystery was solved.  Chevy El Caminos disappeared from 
Minnesota during the Ice Age.  i'd *thought* they fell victim to rust 
and good taste but i see now they have strategically migrated to 
Calif to continue their breeding rituals.  oh yes, and 50 series 
tires on those too.

but there remains one California mystery unsolved...
How do keep all those plastic reflectors imbedded in the roads from 
being scraped off by the snowplows?

:)