Maybe it's time to make a redneck hot tub...

A Redneck hot tub?
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

MINOT, South Dakota - Hot hot can it be in South Dakota?

Hot enough, apparently, that Mike Blackburn and his son, Jim, filled up their pickup and popped a couple of cold ones, getting their photo posted all over the nation thanks to the Associated Press.

But what a fabulous idea. I've always wanted a mobile hot tub, but never realized it was as close as the bed of my Nissan pickup truck. True, I would have to figure out a way to keep the water from draining out as fast as I put it in, but it looks like Mike and Jim just used a tarp for a liner and away they went.

Or technically, away they filled, I guess.

In New York, the temperatures dropped dramatically in the last 24 hours with some thunderstorms blowing out the humidity, making it a very nice 80 degrees, just warm enough to take out the Bud Boat (more on that another time) for a spin to see how the tuned-up engine runs.

It runs fantastic and it means we can now zoom up and down the shoreline in search of wildlife and docks that sport real hot tubs, not the ones you see in South Dakota in the back of pickup trucks.

Still, for Sacramento, that pickup truck tub idea might be just the ticket, though I'm not sure my condominium association would approve.

But I'll be the four coeds who live across the driveway would probably consider jumping in, if for no other reason than to tick off the rulemakers in the association.

More on that later, too, if we put it to the test.

But for now, Mike and Jim, enjoy that beer and moment of fame.