Author Archives: Shawn E. Bell

2004 Jeep Gladiator Concept

If ever there was a perfect vehicle in the perfect color at the perfect time, the Jeep Gladiator was it.  The Comanche was out of production, Jeep was juuuuuust introducing the 2004 1/2 Wrangler Unlimited, and the Jeep public was primed and ready for a pickup truck.

Enter Dodge and Ram trucks, who said only THEY could make trucks under the Chrysler umbrella.  Let me tell you right here and now so that we’re all on the same page: Ram makes great trucks.  Really like the Laramie Long Horn.  But … well, because they killed this truck, I’m not a big fan of the division.  I’ll walk to another dealership to buy a Ford King Ranch because this rig didn’t go into production.  Thanks, Ram.

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2004 Retro Ford Bronco Concept

Yes, I’d almost forgotten about this baby.  I’m not as big a fan of the old Ford Bronco as I am of the newer one.  Maybe it’s because the original Bronco was before my (off-roading) time.  Back in the day, I was a big Ford fan, but my fandom was limited to Mustangs and Cobras.  If it was blue and came with stripes, or Wimbledon White with two blue stripes … or, heck, even black with gold stripes and said GT350H on it I was in love.

But, looking back, Ford has always seemed to understand where the company came from.  Even today, they support old Mustang and 1940 coupe body repops.

The original Bronco was a neat vehicle, and this model stays true to it’s retro origin.  It’s a beautiful rig … although I’d want to see it in Guards blue with a white top.  Maybe one of those new Coyote V8s under the hood mated to a manual transmission.  Well … maybe.  They did bring back the Mustang fastback!

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Growing pains mark parks partnerships

Jay Gamel, reporting for the Kenwood Press, writes that uncertainty, objectives and habits all play a part in daily operations:

California’s state park system is under scrutiny by an independent commission tasked to revamp the entire system by 2015. As part of this process, the Parks Forward Commission has held 10 public workshops throughout the state, taking testimony from private and public sectors, seeking to find sources of sustainable funding, expand park availability to all Californians, and examine the role of private partners in the future of park operations.

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Ocotillo Wells Public Workshops in December

More than 85,000 acres of magnificent desert are open for off-highway exploration and recreation within the boundaries of Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area.  Ocotillo Wells SVRA is operated by California State Parks. To the south and east large tracts of BLM land (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management) are also open to off-highway vehicles. The western boundary and part of the northern boundary of Ocotillo connect with the half-million acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is closed to off-highway recreation, but open to exploration by highway-legal vehicles along established primitive roads.

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Helicon Books eBook Quality Assurance Service Offers Writers EPUB Review and Report Ahead of Publishing

A free tool from Helicon Books, the online EPUB validation, aims to save writers time and money when publishing eBooks by offering them a full review and report of critical errors in their document ensuring a smoother process to market, including quality assurance against iBooks and Kobo specific guidelines.

Helicon Books’ EPUB Quality Assurance (QA) service for eBooks offers writers and publishers a new validation service to ensure that all books are error free ahead of publishing, thus saving any potential costs and complaints from readers.

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