It’s been a crazier week than normal here in The Garage. I took a 3 day business road trip to Connecticut and back, while Gary Faules and the rest of Team California’s Best are on the road trip of a lifetime to La Carrera Panamerica. I was pleased as punch to arrive home yesterday afternoon to find my advance copy of The Driver had arrived, complete with a personal note from Herr Roy. I’m already 4 chapters in, so you can expect to hear more on that topic soon. For now, it’s time to strap in and take a hot lap around the auto blogs for another week. It’s late in the day, so crack open a cold one and join me, won’t you?

Let’s start this week’s CoW with some splash for a good cause. On November 11, GM is hosting a night of stars and cars in Dubai with proceeds going to the Dubai Autism Center charity. As one of the most opulent places on the planet, you can be sure that GM is going to pull out all the stops on this one. I’d love to go, but I believe GM is already sending me to Santa Monica on the 12th. Hmmm..let me think a minute. I suppose I could be convinced to switch venues and join Ask Patty for the trip! Look out Jody, I’ll take the seat next to you!

Having just completed 2 9 hour solo road trips in 3 days, I fully understand the need to keep the brain occupied. Fortunately for me, I’m happy with a couple dozen cd’s and some incredible New England fall scenery. The kids on the other hand may not be so taken by the colours. Almost every family that has traveled has their favorite travel game. Over at Travelhacker, CoW newcomer Satish has put together an incredible list of no fewer than 27 road trip games to keep the kids minds working. Of course Slug Bug is more commonly called Punch Buggy (insert applicable colour here) and a gentle tap just doesn’t cut it.

I can see it now. Son A yells Punch buggy blue! and gently taps Son B on the shoulder. Riiiggghhhtt! Let the bruising commence!
Oh yeah…that goes double when Dad’s and teenage sons are playing.

Over at DrivingEnthusiast, Jeff has been working hard on updating the Evo end of of the site. He has been busy adding hundreds of images of Mitsubishi’s flagship, from version I to the upcoming X. Not only images, but Jeff has been building an incredible collection of sales lit and the like. If you are into everything Evo, you need to visit.

Another newcomer to the CoW this week is Green Rising, who followed a tip from a friend that Toyota was a big bad hypocrite and is fighting some new upcoming CAFE legislation. As regular readers know, I pretty much glaze over with legal speak, but the gist I’m getting here is that Toyota is acting responsibly and the greenies don’t think they are. Really, I DON’T CARE!!!! They build fuel efficient cars and they build some great trucks, that must offset each other. End of story. Or is it? Maybe I’ll have to get Mike Strong on this one & see what he comes up with!

It’s ironic that my trip through the CoW submissions randomly brought me back to Ask Patty. While many folks think they have the moral high ground because they bought a hybrid, often they are just poor misguided souls living with under performing cars that don’t have a hope in hell of being recycled! When is a Dodge Durango more efficient than a Prius? Ask Patty!

More how to’s from the Pansy Patrol this week. This time the boys are dealing with the rusty red monster and Mazda parking brake bits. These dudes know their stuff. Read and learn.

That’s it for me. I’m tired, full of home made Indian food and dreading getting up at 5:30 tomorrow. Keep the great submissions coming, as always, next Saturday by Midnight for inclusion. Readers, don’t forget to visit our bloggers and head back next Sunday!