Road Trips

The Ducks' credibility is soaring, with six wins in eight games and a three-game home sweep of Minnesota, the Kings and once-unbeaten San Jose Sharks in their immediate rear view. "We have to enjoy this now," defenseman Sheldon Souray said after slapping in Monday night's winning goal against the Sharks. "It might not come as smoothly down the road. " "Down the road" starts Wednesday in Colorado, the beginning of a six-game trip in 11 days that includes stops at St. Louis (Saturday)

We were someplace outside San Antonio, crossing the high plains of West Texas in a rented RV the size of a city bus, when the winter storm took hold. On the radio, a forgotten Buck Owens rendition of "Truck Drivin' Man" filled the darkness. Then the news flash: Snow and high winds had closed Interstate 10, not far down the road. We had a deadline, so we kept moving. As we gassed up in Sonora, the first flakes began to fall - scouts for an oncoming army. Soon a blizzard blew horizontally, blanketing the highway.

One of Lincoln's two Super Bowl commercials airing on Sunday involves Jimmy Fallon, Rev. Run of Run-DMC, viewer-generated tweets, Emmitt Smith and Wil Wheaton. One does not. And that's the good one. The first ad is the result of a much-publicized campaign the automaker undertook in collaboration with comedian and late-night host Fallon. Dubbed SteerTheScript, Fallon's Twitter followers were asked to submit stories from their most memorable road trips. More than 6,000 tweets were submitted, Lincoln said.

LeBron James sprawled his body on the Staples Center court, endangering a physique that no Lloyd's of London policy could adequately protect. He was a twisting mass of sinewy muscle, reaching low to grab the ball away from Kobe Bryant on a long rebound. The Miami Heat star dove to the floor in that fourth-quarter moment Thursday and spun toward the Lakers' three-point line. Rising quickly, James absorbed contact from a quickly closing Bryant and started a fast break that ended with the best player on this planet or any other finding Ray Allen for an open three-pointer that gave Miami the lead.

Time is a key element in Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road. " "We know time," the protagonist Dean Moriarty (based on Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady) mutters throughout the book, an invocation and a prayer. That's important for a couple of reasons: It signals the novel's hunger for new experience, for a way out of the conformist pieties of post-World War II America, and also Kerouac's desire to stare down the mortality that he feared. In some sense, this is the key to all his writing, the idea that by mythologizing his life and that of his friends he was somehow placing them all outside of time.

From inside the rocket-shaped time capsule of a silver 1949 Hudson Super Six, West Hollywood looked astonishingly modern to Brazilian director Walter Salles. Salles, who has devoted the last eight years to adapting Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" for the screen, rode past men holding hands on Santa Monica Boulevard, past the green neon signs of shops selling medicinal marijuana, past a Starbucks - and another Starbucks - and another Starbucks. It was a streetscape that would have been unimaginable in Kerouac's time - both in the freedoms of the passersby and the homogeneity of the businesses.

If you have family coming for the holidays or just want a different ride, Simply Hybrid has a December deal that takes 30% off rentals of its hybrids and energy-efficient cars. The company will even deliver the cars to airports, hotels or other locations for free. The deal: Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf and even a plug-in Prius are some of the selections in the compact category. The website provides the models available but doesn't list prices or take reservations; you have to call to get a quote and make a booking.

PULLMAN, Wash. - UCLA played Saturday without running back Damien Thigpen, who was sidelined because of a mild sprain in his left knee. He made the trip but did not suit up against Washington State. It left the Bruins without their top kickoff returner and one of the offense's big-play threats. Thigpen averages 26.9 yards on kickoff returns. He is the team's third-leading rusher, with 249 yards, and averages 5.1 yards per carry. He also has 17 receptions for 216 yards. Thigpen has gained 20 or more yards on 17 plays this season, most among UCLA players.

Kristen Stewart is only weeks away from leaving behind the world of vampires and werewolves. But with the final "Twilight" film set to hit theaters on the evening of Nov. 15, the actress says she's not shedding tears over the franchise's end. "I'm so ready to walk away," the 22-year-old said Saturday at a gala screening of what will be her first post-"Twilight" release, "On the Road. " "I lived in that world for so long. The story's over. And it's not going anywhere. " Stewart certainly veers far away from the chaste image of "Twilight's" Bella Swan in "On the Road" - an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's famous novel - which shows the actress half-nude.

TORONTO -- British filmmaker Ben Wheatley has quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive new voices in international genre cinema. By turns funny, disturbing, sly and sharp, his three films -- “Down Terrace,” “Kill List,” which was released earlier this year, and his latest, “Sightseers,” screening at the Toronto International Film Festival -- are ostensibly a gangster picture, a horror flick and a road-trip comedy, respectively. Yet each also serves as an insightful take on family life, marriage and relationships.