Here's some numbers to make you feel absolutely craptastic as you ready yourself to make the trek to LaGuardia or wherever this Thanksgiving eve:

● AAA projects 38.4 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home over Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a 1.4% increase over last year's 37.8 million.
● CNBC's Phil LeBeau's live reports from Chicago's O'Hare airport will increase 7.8% from last year's record number.
● Travelers by car expected to increase 2.1% to 33.2 million.
● Fox News will raise death-by-airplane scare segments by 44% over last year's record 18.
● Air travel will drop 6.7% to 2.3 million.
● 1 in 4 users of turkey fryers will give themselves third degree burns.

So, a fun day to everyone!

Photo Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images News

AAA Predicts Small Increase In Travel Volume During This Holiday Season

AAA estimates that 65.2 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Christmas-New Year�s holiday period, only a 0.7 percent increase from last year�s 64.7 million travelers. However, for those planning to travel during the last holiday season of the year, expect gasoline prices and airfares well above last year�s levels.

�Whether driving or flying, Americans face steep increases in their travel budgets during this Christmas-New Year�s holiday,� said Robert L. Darbelnet, president and CEO of AAA. �Gasoline prices remain at unprecedented levels for this time of year with prices of $3 a gallon or more a common sight across much of the country. Airfares averaging 16 percent more than last Christmas means that bargains may be hard to find for those looking to fly to their destinations.�

Approximately 53 million travelers expect to go by motor vehicle, a 0.9 percent increase from the 52.5 million who drove in 2006. With more than 81 percent of all holiday travelers hitting the roads this holiday season, AAA wants to remind motorists to drive safely and remember to slow down or move over when they see emergency vehicles along the roadside such as law enforcement, fire trucks, ambulances or roadside assistance vehicles such as tow trucks. Most states have laws requiring motorists to change lanes away from emergency vehicles on the roadside or to slow down well below the posted speed limit while passing if they are unable to safely change lanes.

�Slowing down or moving over near accident scenes, or where roadside assistance vehicles are stopped along the shoulder, can help keep emergency responders and motorists safe during the holiday travel season,� said Darbelnet.

AAA expects 8.9 million Americans (13.7 percent of holiday travelers) to travel by airplane, a slight decrease of 0.3 percent from last Christmas holiday. A projected 3.3 million travelers will go by train, bus or other mode of transportation.

According to AAA�s Leisure Travel Index, Americans can expect higher prices for airfares and hotel rates this holiday season. After no change in price from 2005 to 2006, the average price for an airline ticket is up 16 percent for travel during the week of Christmas. Hotel rates for AAA Rated Three Diamond hotels climbed 4 percent when compared to last Christmas. Travelers will experience some relief when renting a car this Christmas as rental rates are 4 percent less than last year.

For those traveling during the week of New Year�s, expect a 9 percent increase in both airfares and hotel rates for AAA Rated Three Diamond hotels over last year�s prices. Car rental rates, however, are down 13 percent.

The majority of holiday travelers (43.2 percent) will travel with two to three people from their household. Nearly 37 percent plan to travel alone or with one other person from their household. About 20 percent of travelers will travel with four or more people from their household.

Not surprisingly, more than 70 percent of households with children under the age of 18 plan to take their children with them during their holiday trips. Just over 29 percent of households with children will travel without them. The region with the greatest percentage of family travelers is the Great Lakes at 81.2 percent; followed by the Midwest at 75.1 percent; the West at 73.1 percent; the Northeast at 66.9 percent; and the Southeast at 63.6 percent.

The Southeast is expected to produce the largest number of automobile travelers with 14 million, followed by the West with13.2 million; Midwest, 10.3 million; the Great Lakes, 8.4 million; and the Northeast, 7.2 million.

The greatest number of air travelers will also originate from the Southeast with 2.7 million, followed by the West with 2.5 million; the Northeast, 1.8 million; Midwest, 1 million; and the Great Lakes with 909,000. [Source: AAA]

Time: Give yourself plenty of extra time for getting to your destination. Speed limits are for perfect, dry conditions. On winter's icy roadways, half the speed limit may be suicide.

Vision: Take the time to clear all windows of snow, ice or fog before starting out. Also clear any snow off the hood - it comes loose when driving.

Lights: Even though you can see, drive with low-beam headlights in snow, fog or just winter murk. Keep all lenses free of dirt by wiping them periodically. Dirty headlights can cut visibility by 50 percent or more. Don't forget the directional lights, taillights and rotating lights.

Tires: Be sure your tires have adequate tread for traction in snow and to reduce the risk of hydroplaning in rain or puddles on the road. You may hear that putting extra weight in the trunk or truck bed gives better traction. Traction might be helped a little but at the expense of steering control and longer stopping distance. Likewise, you may hear that reducing tire pressure is another way of increasing traction. Reducing air pressure will not give you more traction and your tires could become seriously underinflated, affecting steering. Keep in mind that every time the outside temperature drops 10 degrees, the tire air pressure goes down about one pound per square inch. Remember too that underinflated tires are the major cause of tire failure.

Ice/Freezing Rain: At 30 degrees ice is twice as slippery as it is at 0 degrees. It also forms first and lasts longer on bridges and in the shade. If you hit an unexpected patch, don't try to brake, accelerate or downshift. Let up on your accelerator and let your vehicle "roll" through the slippery area. When freezing rain is occurring resulting in icing conditions, please pull over to the side of the road until the road has been treated with sand and salt.

Skidding: If you go into a skid, act quickly by taking your foot off the accelerator. Keep your foot off the brake and steer in the direction the rear of the vehicle is skidding. In other works, if you want your vehicle to go right, turn right. If you want it to go left, turn left. Hold the steering wheel firmly, but don't make large turns. Use a light touch to correct the swerve.

Braking: Your owner's manual will usually recommend the braking technique most effective for your car. For front and rear wheel drive vehicles with disc or drum brakes the National Safety council recommends the following procedure: Squeeze your brakes with a slow, steady pressure until just before they lock. When you feel them start to lock, ease off until your wheels are rolling; then squeeze again.

Following Distance: Maintain at least three times the normal following distance on snow or ice. If you are being followed too closely, maintain an extra distance behind the vehicle ahead so that you can slow down or brake gradually. Be prepared to adjust speed and /or stop to avoid colliding with the vehicle in front of you. Plan ahead when approaching intersections to that braking can be done smoothly.

Stay on the Beaten Path: Stay in line when traveling to or from a snow zone. Don't blaze your own trail, especially going downhill - you'll only manage to create a worse situation. You'll even clog the only open space emergency snow vehicles can travel.

Walking on Ice or Snow: After being in a warm vehicle, the soles of shoes or boots are warm enough to melt snow or ice, creating a film of water between the sole and the snow or ice surface. Be especially cautious for the first five minutes after leaving the vehicle. When walking on snow or ice, use short steps and keep your hands out of your pockets. These factors will help you maintain your balance. If you do fall, tuck your arms close to your body and roll with the fall.

Stay Clear of Plows and Sanders: Watch out for these vehicles as you round corners, curbs, etc. They do not travel at a high speed; therefore, you'll tend to come up on them quickly. Slow down. Plows and sanders will pull over periodically to let traffic pass. It's risky to pass on the left of a snowplow because of blowing snow. Never pass on the right. Flying rock can damage your car if you pass a sander. The best advice is to stay three car lengths behind plows and sanders. [CONN DOT]

An (non) independent adjudicating authority that exists in the form of only one of the guys that exists in the form of Jalopnik.com has declared that "King of the Road" by Roger Miller is the website's (Inter)national anthem. Yes, we will stop with the parentheses now. And while Airstream is the official trailer of the hipster elite, we're officially bucking that shit as of its appropriation by Ford at the Detroit Auto Show. Make no mistake, we love us some polished aluminum, but the recreational vehicle that truly captured our childhood heart was the Wilderness travel trailer.

When our folks picked up a 16-foot '76 model for 900 clams (in cash) back when we were but a small boy in an unironic white-foam-and-orange-Mr. Mesh GNB Batteries cap, we were ecstatic. In fact, Mum Johnson remarked recently upon the decision to sell the current family trailer that she never liked it as much as the old Wilderness. Mark our words, Wilderness is the new Airstream. Plus, eight hours pushing broom might not buy you a '70s 16-footer of your own these days, but we're betting 40 would, easily. 40 hours of blogging? Possibly, but unlikely. – Davey G. Johnson

Wilderness

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Westfalia! [Internal]

Ben Lovejoy is a man who is mightily obsessed with the N rburgring — so much so that he tromped about through the Eifel to find a way to get his car onto the now-disused S dschleife. He's also assembled a fan site filled to the rim with Brim, featuring facts, tips on travel, insurance, car hire et. al. and an engaging history of the course and the personalities that made it famous by Robert Blinkhorn. It kind of makes us wanna go drink and pogo. Total geil! – Davey G. Johnson

Ben Lovejoy's Nurburgring Nordschleife website

Related:
Nurburgring '67: A Grand Prix Practice Session [Internal]

Patron saint of San Pedro Mike Watt noted back in 1995, "The kids of today should defend themselves against the Seventies," which, as a 19-year-old, we took as gospel. A decade later, Watt said to us, "Peter Frampton sang 'Do you feel like I do?' No, I don't. You're wearing a kimono!" And while defending oneself against Peter Frampton and Mustang IIs seems like a very good idea, the '70s also gave us some great stuff like the Lamborghini Countach, the Ramones, the Ferrari 308, the Modern Lovers, the DAF/Volvo 66, the Escort RS1800, The Rockford Files, the Sex Pistols, the raddest Funny Cars ever, the Commodores and Smokey and the Bandit. However, the '70s have always been overshadowed by the '60s, what with its Beatles, cultural tumult, spaz-inducing-in-men-in-denim-shirts-and-polos musclecars and all. This nearly-30-year-old bit from Time debunks the "It was all better before you were born" myth while rather solidly reinforcing it. Is it reality? Or just someone else's sentimentality? – Davey G. Johnson

A Hippie Bus From Coast to Coast [Time]

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Hoon of the Day: VW Hippie Bus Can Jump! [Internal]

There was nothing for Terence in Belfast. The Pound was so old it was a pity. Okay, there was the Trident in Bangor, and then he'd walk back to the city. So he left Ulster and came to New York, and now he's taking 80 days to drive around the US in a Mini, along the way visiting the smallest town in every state. Currently, is in Jalopnik's former Texas outpost, the great city of Austin. Kiss the Pedernales for us, Terence. Only 40 days to get back to New York!

Small-Town U.S.A.

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This World is Big, And So Are We: Trans-Americas Journey [Internal]

We've been fascinated by the Salton Sea ever since we first saw it on a map as a little kid. What was this odd lake out in the vast wastes of Southeastern California? But we've never been. When the Hot Snakes released Automatic Midnight in 1999, featuring the track "Salton City," with its haunting "Give us a kiss!" meme, throbbing organ bassline, and inscrutable but entirely evocative lyrics, we got hooked again. We also rather like that Val Kilmer film where Vincent D'Onofrio has no nose. But we've never been there. We're haunted by the place, however, and a pilgrimage must be made in appropriate vehicle. And this vehicle feels entirely appropriate. The problem is, it's so damn busted and rusted, we don't know what it is. So what is it? Give us a kiss! – Davey G. Johnson

Salton Sea [Wikipedia]

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Shut Up! Sit Down! The Corvette Mako Shark [Internal]

When Ray and Austin crashed the parade in Indy and ended up in a car with Karen Catchpole and her husband Eric Mohl, the masterminds behind Transamericas Journey, for some reason, it didn't click. And then in some sort of delayed reaction, we hear from the mighty Lew last night, saying "Karen Catchpole!" And it still didn't click. And then he added context clues and we were like, "Oh, duh. That Karen Catchpole!"

The Karen Catchpole who wrote for the incredibly ruling Sassy! (Lew worked on the equally-ruling "Sassy for boys" concept, Dirt, which everyone lucky enough to catch during its brief run laments as ahead of its time.) Needless to say, people like Lew and Karen had a big impact on us and the women we've loved during our formative years. And now she and Eric are off on a three-year, 70,000-mile journey all over North, South and Central America in a Chevy Silverado. And as Karen said to us in an e-mail this evening, "Despite the fact that I'm on the road for three years driving through North, Central and South America and that — in and of itself — assumes that the world is BIG, I am sometimes very glad (and tickled) when it turns out to be this small." We entirely concur.

Support these people. Write them and convince them why they should come to your town and see weird things. Buy them odd regional foods only sold in the southeastern corner of your county. Show them the strange and odd facts about and strange-ass artifacts of your town. We're totally taking them to the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. And to the apartment where Watt and Boon wrote the first Minutemen record. And maybe, if we're lucky, we can repeat the dork maneuver we made a week ago where we drove past George Hurley's house cranking Double Nickels on the Dime while George was outside talking to his neighbor.

Trans-Americas Journey [Internal]

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I Am Indy: The Parade's The Thing, Part II — Ray's A Maniac, Maniac, In The Car [Internal]

Apropos to yesterday's post on hotels offering guests the use of a test car, there's an even sweeter deal for guests with more comprehensive trust funds. Those planning a stay at one of Ritz-Carlton's luxury hotels from Boston to Coconut Grove to Half Moon Bay can choose a package including the use of a complimentary Mercedes-Benz. It's dubbed The Mercedes-Benz Key to Luxury package, and includes a deluxe guest room on The Ritz-Carlton Club Level (i.e., no synthetic fibers permitted); the use of a new Mercedes-Benz with unlimited mileage; a full tank of gas each morning, and overnight valet parking. Among the cars available (varies by location) are the C230, CLK500, CLS500, E55 AMG, E500, G500, ML500, S500 and SLK350. [Thanks to Scott and Lam for the tip.]

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Aussie Hotel Testdrive: Audi TT Offered with Room Rate [internal]

First it was Beverly Hills' Mosaic Hotel offering a Mini Cooper test drive (for a fee); now its the Crowne Plaza Parramatta in Sydney, providing an Audi TT or (Audi A-series) with the room rate (average price $262 American per night). As Hotel Chatter reports, test drives are consumers' favorite try-out activity, which means carmakers may be missing an opportunity to self-promote among the traveling classes. Why stop with specialty cars? How about an SUV in Orlando or an Impala at the Motel 6? Oh wait, car companies own car-rental agencies, on whom they pawn off their overstock. Never mind.

Sydney Hotel Offering Audi TT Test Drives [Hotel Chatter]

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LA Hotel Offers Mini Cooper Deal [internal]

Two Italian men have arrived in China, after a three-month trek in a Fiat the size of an Anoplophora glabripennis. The average Asian Longhorned beetle, however, would have had far fewer miles on it than the 1973 Fiat 500 R did before the two began their trip from Turin, Italy to Bejing. Along the way, the two were nearly done in by unrest in Kyrgyzstan, the harsh plains of Siberia and submarine-grade close-quarters insanity. But holy hell, they made it.

Danilo Elia and Fabrizio Bonserio have reached Beijing [Italiaspeed]

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Fiat 500 Updated with Interactive Doo Dads; Fiat May Roll Out New, Nostalgic Cinquecento [internal]