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Just Can’t Stop

In a Barn

After racking up about 560 miles on Saturday and Sunday chasing Motoring Challenges today we promised to just take it easy and not drive too far. And we didn’t. Our neighbor across the street is the wife of a local horse trainer, so when I saw her outside this afternoon I asked if she could find me a barn. When I explained what for for, she had just what I needed right up the street.

Because the Miata is only a two-seater I could only take her and not my usual photographer, so Vicky agreed to take the pictures. While we were messing around in the horse district I mentioned I also needed a horse track photo, so we went over to the Aiken Training Track. She suggested maybe parking on the track right in front of the gates and I thought that was an awesome idea. But as we got on some of the dirt approaching the track we could feel how soft and deep it was, so opted out on trying to drive on the track. It would have been extremely embarrassing to have to have some horses pull the Miata out of getting stuck. So I pulled up next to the rail on the grass. As it turns out the Horse Track photo required a sign, so good thing we didn’t get stuck for nothing. Maybe I will use the picture for a Sneak Peek entry.

The Purple Whale got a nice wash this afternoon and I gave The Emperor a sponge bath (AKA Mequier’s Quick Detailer) too. I also changed the Miata’s oil, after all with all this Motoring Challenge stuff we have traveled nearly 4,000 miles in the last couple weeks.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1362

Was Clean

Was Clean

This is what the front of yesterday’s washed Miata looks like now. And look at those dead bugs! Any of them would be Big Bug Trophy winners. Where are these things when you need them?

So we slept in this morning, until 5:00AM, and had a nice breakfast at home before hitting the road. First stop was Denmark for an Art Gallery photo. We were in Denmark a couple months ago getting the “City starting with a D”, but ignored this South Carolina landmark because we thought the challenge wanted an Art Museum. Mr. Harrison paints rural scenes of barns with Coca-Cola ads painted on the side and I always wanted to commission one of those with a Miata in it. I’m sure he would laugh at the idea or offer to do it a price that even Warren Buffet would balk at.

From there we captured Olar for the City O, Hampton for the County H and Varnville for the City V. We now need just the Q to complete the City alphabet. Well, all except the X. The closest X town is Xenia, OH which is “only” 575 miles away. There are now only 5 County letters left, with F, K & Y obtainable. There is no X county in the US at all and the closest Z is Zavala County in Texas which is still 350 miles further southwest from Fort Worth where we just barely made it to last week.

We also snagged a vineyard in Ridgeland, SC, a cobblestone road and an island in Savannah, GA from the Destinations Column. This leaves only 12 left on that list and all look doable if only Donna and I can agree on exactly what constitutes a harbor…

If you could get every point available in the challenge you could score 201 points. After today we are halfway there at 100 points. My best guess for our highest possible score is 139 and that is going to take crashing 9 more car shows and a trip to Richmond, Va to a Moss Motors Facility.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1361

Snake!

Snake

We got up at 4:00AM this morning so we could watch the supposedly spectacular new meteor shower, the Camelopardalids. Some folks were predicting that the sky would look like the star streaks that most SciFi shows use to signify transitioning to faster than light travel. We drove 6 or 7 miles north of town to a big dark field. I looked up right after parking and saw a streak that moved through about 15° of sky and then nothing. We sat for about 15 minutes and not another meteor trail appeared. We moved the car a few more miles north to get past I-20 and the only moving lights I saw there were the green eyes of a couple of deer crossing the road as we came to stop in the new spot. Now they are saying that some astronomers were not surprised by the lack of a spectacular show, it might be because the parent comet is rather dim or they might have miscalculated and the big show will be tonight. Ha, fool me once…

After the sun came up and breakfast was finished we decide to spend the day filled some holes in our Motoring Challenge list with some local places. We managed to grab 2 cities; an A & a J, 2 counties; an E & a L, and a National Park. We’ve already scored the only National Park in the state, Congaree, but National Park Service run sites count too, so we went to the Ninety Six National Historic Site. After parking the car and taking our challenge photo we took a walk around the site on their 1 mile loop trail and that is where we saw the above critter. Kind of hard to tell size from the photo, but if he was stretched straight out I bet he would have been about 3 feet long.

This evening I washed the last 1500 miles of Texas Road Trip grime off the Emperor, but he won’t stay clean long though as we are planning on taking a day trip tomorrow to Savannah…

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1360

Putting the F in FRS

FRS

Since last Wednesday when the FRS beat the Twins 9-4 and we were finally 2 games above .500. Since early April they have lost 7 games in a row, by the scores of 4-3, 1-0, 6-1, 6-2, 7-4, 6-4 & 7-2. Next up is a three game series against the Tampa Bay Rays who are in last place only a game worse than the Red Sox. So if all goes as it has been, by Sunday the Sox can capture sole possession of last place in the American League East. I really did pick the wrong year to pay for MLB.tv…

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1358

Twice In A Fortnight

The Emperor got another bath tonight. I washed him two weeks ago before we went up to NC for the Foothills Photo Rally. There was pine pollen still stuck on all the horizontal surfaces from the later blooming pine trees in those foothills. Not to mention the several dozen dead bugs in his teeth, also from that trip.

Saturday we embark on another road in the Miata and I wanted it to at least start out clean. There is a 30% chance of showers where we are headed in a couple days, so I’m not sure how long it will stay that way.

Two weeks ago I was going to put a coat of wax on the car, but discovered (remembered) that I had used the last of the paste wax last fall when I waxed last. Tonight, so I could just one stop shop, I bought a bottle of Turtle Wax Ice spray on stuff at the grocery store. I’m sure the hangers about over on the Miata.net Forum’s Car Care Section would cringe at using such a thing, but I’m all about easy and as previously mentioned, not really into the “Car Show Shine” level of clean.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1326

MMC Tech Day II

Bulldog Blue Meanie

I had grand plans to paint the Emperor’s valve cover with red wrinkle paint when I had it off changing the gasket on Saturday. The local O’Reillys didn’t have the paint in stock in red when I called on Thursday, so they ordered some for me to pick up on Friday evening.

Standing there outside Kurt’s garage on Saturday morning looking down at the cover sitting on a garbage bag, noticing all the things I would have to clean and/or protect and/or mask off, I abandoned the plan. I just didn’t feel like investing the time, besides, it is not like I keep a “Car Show Shine” under the hood (as evidenced by the above photo.)

While removing the cover I had some big help from John “Clunk” Haff, but that help cost me the stock yellow handle of the dip stick as John snapped it off while twirling a ratchet. Not that it took much pressure to break, it is a known Miata issue, because the hard plastic it is made from turns brittle with age and the under hood heat. So much so that mine was not the only one broken on our Tech Day. Dave was having his timing belt & water pump proactively replaced had his break off too. John swore he had nothing to do with it and I believe him as he still had his head under the Emperor’s bonnet, but I suspect it was his partner in crime, Rudy “Thunk” Wilmoth.

John apologized profusely, but I told him, “No worries, mon. I’ve got jus da ting to be repairin it.” This has happened on my previous two Miatas and I had the perfect replacement at home. I still had two of the four heads left from on my Yellow Submarine Blue Meanie Bulldog figure.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1321

MMC Tech Day

Tech Day
The Emperor with his hood up prior to getting his fix, Rudy’s Mazdaspeed Miata and some joker’s car with a Ferrari body kit.*

Today was the annual Miata Club Tech Day where some of us head over to Kurt’s Garage-mahal and do some maintenance type stuff, that some could do in their own garage (not me), but would rather have help, have someone kibitz over their shoulders or just have an audience. Some show up to offer to help or to just hang around and talk Miatas or just cars. There were doughnuts in the morning and lunch was going to be wrangled later.

While I was there changing out my leaking valve cover gasket, there was Dave’s car in one bay getting a timing belt changed and Stacey’s car was getting an oil change and tire rotation. Clunk & Thunk doing a bunch of helping and doing and there were at least three other guys just hanging about.

*It is an actual mid 80’s Ferrari 328GTS and is Kurt’s latest toy. We tried to talk him into letting us each take a spin around the block, but he wasn’t going for it.