 I-95s, Overpass of State Route 17, in Fredericksburg VA Quick! Glance over to your right. You are passing a lovely manicured campus. The Big Man on that campus is in fact a lizard. That’s because you are passing the corporate campus of GEICO Insurance.  In fact, the big lizard on GEICO's Corporate campus is no ordinary lizard but rather a gecko. And no doubt you have heard, The GEICO Gecko, that MOST uncommon of creatures, is uniquely adapted to help people save money on car insurance. So, in short order we will give you some Fast Facts about animals who sell insurance but first let us make you an Offer: If you say, " Deal Radar get me some GEICO," we will send you an email that can save you 20% on your current car insurance. You are under no obligation but it can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars annually. FAST FACT Number #1: On top of that, with RoadSpoke feeding you experiences and monitoring your reactions, we can offer even more cash savings in the following year. Imagine that! You are driving for dollars! So yes say it. Repeat after me. One two three... "Deal Radar, get me some Geico!" Oooh. That was good. Although someone said "Get me some Gecko!" And now we will get you Fast Facts about the Gecko.  FAST FACT #2: The cockney lizard has captivated audiences of all ages. GEICO is now the second largest writer of private auto insurance in the United States. This 40 acre campus on your right is home to several company divisions including our favorite, the GEICO auto insurance division. The idea for the Gecko grew from a creative session at GEICO's ad agency, the Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia. The name "GEICO" was often mispronounced “Gecko." As the brainstorming began, a quick doodle of a gecko appeared. Ad campaigns from the past have proven animals create a strong connection between customers and companies. Think Lassie, Morris the Cat, Smokey Bear, or the MGM Lion. But a lizard? Any how, with this in mind the Gecko came to life and made his debut in the 1999 television season. But the Gecko is not alone. GEICO has launched concurrent ads with equally humorous characters. There’s camels yelling “Hump Day!” and silent manatees in T shirts. There’s even a walrus playing hockey. The GEICO Cavemen promote commercials claiming to use their GEICO website is "so easy, even a caveman could do it”. Of course the sophisticated cavemen are deeply offended by this stereotype — and well should they be!  But the biggest threat to the Gecko’s job security came from a pork chop. Maxwell, the GEICO "Piggy" gave the Gecko a brief run for his money. If you can recall, Maxwell shouts a long "Whee" and appears in both radio and TV commercials.  Between the piggy, the caveman, the gecko, and 2,800 employees, GEICO is the largest private employer in Fredericksburg. This should make another character supremely happy — and that would be the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffet, who himself kinda plays a character, that of America’s richest granduncle! Turns out Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway is the majority owner of GEICO Insurance.  So don’t you wish he was your Grand- Daddy? Common, dontcha? With all that doe, just think how you would never care about what day it was. Humpday would be so easy it would be a thing of the past! Oh... Sorry Caveman. #Geico #GeicoGecko #Gecko #Caveman #Humpday #Camel #OracleofOmaha #WarrenBuffett  Armaggedon in the Bible Belt Hear this here: Exit 14 I-95s To: GA 25, to Harriet’s Bluff Creek [~ 6.92 mi to Exit 7, ] near Fancy GA Everyone brought their crowns, right? It’s time to put them on, because we’re now passing Kings Bay. Welcome to the last few exits in Georgia, a Bible loving area which happens to be the headquarters of Armageddon. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is the east coast home to America’s Ohio Class submarines. According to the National Interest Magazine, the Ohio Class of nuclear powered submarines is the sole class of ballistic missile submarines currently in service with the United States Navy. Fourteen of the eighteen boats are configured to carry nuclear missiles, which, along with United States Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, constitute the so called nuclear deterrent triad of the United States. The remaining four subs have been converted to cruise missile submarines. Why do Russia and China Fear America's Ohio-Class Submarines? Well it is not complicated.  Built in the nineteen eighties these boomers might be old, but they could wipe out an entire country in less than an hour. Prowling the oceans today , the fourteen Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines carry onboard upwards of half of the United States’ nuclear arsenal. If you do the math, the Ohio-class boats may be the most destructive weapon system created by humankind. Each of the four hundred and fifty foot or one hundred fifty meter long vessels can carry twenty four Trident Two submarine launched ballistic missiles. Depending on the load, these babies can be fired from underwater to strike at targets more than seven thousand miles away. As a Trident Two re-enters the atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 24, it splits into up to eight independent reentry vehicles, each with a 100 or 475 kiloton nuclear warhead. In short, a full salvo from an Ohio-class submarine—which can be launched in less than one minute—could unleash up to 192 nuclear warheads to wipe twenty-four cities off the map. Sweet huh?  Running silent and running deep, the sub’s nuclear reactor gives it virtually unlimited underwater endurance and the ability to maintain cruising speeds of twenty knots (twenty-three miles per hour). All the while these boomers produce very little noise. While other branches of the military may be deployed in reaction to the crisis of the day, all over the globe the nuclear submarines maintain a steady routine of patrols and communicate infrequently so as to remain as silent as possible. This makes them very tough to track.  Each Ohio class submarine hosts two crews of 154 officers and enlisted personnel. Cumulatively Submariners are known as Squids. Each Sub's Squids are split into 2 crews designated Gold and Blue, who take turns departing on patrols that last an average of seventy to ninety days underwater—with the longest on record being 140 days by the USS Pennsylvania . Currently, nine boomers are based in Bangor, Washington to patrol the Pacific Ocean, and five or maybe six are stationed here in Kings Bay, Georgia for operations in the Atlantic. Make no mistake. This is a nightmarish weapon of the apocalypse.  Luckily, the closest competitor to the Ohio class submarine is the Russia’s sole remaining Typhoon-class submarine, a larger vessel with twenty ballistic missile launch tubes. American Squids are confident their Ohio ships are superior, but if they told you why they would have to kill you.  In the event of a nuclear exchange, a boomer would likely receive its firing orders via Very Low Frequency radio transmission. While a submarine’s missiles are not pre targeted, like those in fixed silos, they can be assigned coordinates rapidly. The logic of nuclear deterrence is simple. While a first strike might wipe out a country’s land based missiles and nuclear bombers, it’s very difficult to track a ballistic-missile submarine lurking in the depths of the ocean—and there’s little hope of taking them all out in a first strike. In fact, they rarely contact any other craft or command unit for weeks on end so once they go down they are invisible to track and/or hear. Their Captains do however enjoy exhibiting their speed, power, and acrobatics on the surface!  Thus, ironically ballistic missile submarines promise the unstoppable hand of nuclear retribution—and should deter any sane adversary from attempting a first strike or resorting to nuclear weapons at all. At least that’s the theory! #KingsBay #OhioClass #Tridentmissiles #Georgia #NationalINterestMagazine  
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