Master’s Miata Club

A Day At The Beach

Date: Saturday, June 26, 1999
Time: 8:00 AM
Place: South Carolina Welcome Center
Members Present: Shawn Arrowood, Brian Bogardus, Donna Bogardus, Karen Breitinger, Kurt Breitinger, David Brock, Noel Brock, Hilda Delionbach, Leroy Delionbach, Carol Haff, John Haff, Cindy Timmerman, Stacey Timmerman and Rudy Wilmoth.

Kurt had a commitment and headed home, alone. Karen didn’t want to miss an opportunity to spend the day at the beach, so she elected to ride down with Shawn. There was a forecast of a 40% chance of rain for the day, and it was quite cloudy, but what the heck, a drive with food at the end always attracts a crowd. So what if it rains, but maybe the weather did keep a few people away.

Leroy led the 7-car caravan down some backroads to Aiken. While traveling through town we got an impromptu audio tour of the city over the CB, one of the highlights was the location of the Delionbach’s cat’s Vet.

First stop for the day was at a McDonalds in Orangeburg for pit stops, 1st and/or 2nd breakfasts plus some arm chair racing. Next came the high-speed jaunt down I-26 to Charleston. Drone, drone, drone. Just outside of town we made a second quick stop at a rest area for some, well, rest, after 70 miles of interstate it felt good to stretch. From there it was a short jaunt to the beach on Isle of Palms.

Just as we were crossing the last bridge to get to the shore the clouds that had been with us all morning parted and the sun came out. Neat trick. Waiting at the beach house were our hosts Jill Dobson and Brian Wynne. Already there too, were Larry, Janice, JR and Michelle Alster. Larry was disappointed for just a minute or two that Jim Creer hadn’t made the trip, he had just finished turbocharging the Silver Bullet and wanted to swap tales of forced induction.

Folks proceeded to unload all their beach chairs, towels, etc. Also adding the foodstuffs they brought to the already overflowing spread provided by Jill and Brian W. The charcoal was just about ready for cooking after an emergency run to the Red & White for starter fluid. Apparently it doesn’t take long for MatchlightÒ to lose its potency in the beach atmosphere. Now all that was left was to find a sucker, er, volunteer to do the cooking. Just about the time Jill was mentioning this to Donna, Brian B. passed by innocently on his way somewhere, next thing he knew he was putting on an apron that said “Kiss the Cook.” Turns out cooking 3,000 hamburgers and 1,000 hot dogs isn’t so bad when there is a steady breeze off the beach to keep the smoke out of one’s eyes.

After the feast some folks went walking on the beach and some swimming, but quite a few went napping. The hammocks were, as usual, the most sought after spots, a close second was any one of the numerous beds or couches inside the air-conditioned house. The rest of the afternoon was spent just shooting the breeze and all too soon 5 PM rolled around and it was time to hit the road.

The seven car caravan down became smaller groups on the way home. Some as small as one. Donna and I wanted to go back River Road (SC61) to avoid the dreaded interstate. John and Carol thought that sounded good also. Rudy checked his atlas said he’d join us as well. We agreed on a meeting point on the other side of Charleston as we were headed through the heart of the city and didn’t want to do anything crazy just to stay together. Turns out that making a left out the beach house driveway was the hardest part. The Haff’s and us stayed together and we waited at the rendezvous point, but no Rudy. He had chatted a little too long with Larry and Shawn and never did see us on the road. Rudy then missed the turn for SC61 and when he discovered his error knew that he wouldn’t make the link up so he just headed home on I-26. In Rudy’s defense, I almost missed the SC61 turn off, and I knew where to look for it (the only sign was overgrown with kudzu or something.) Our little 2-car parade had a fairly pleasant ride as we watched the thunderclouds and lightning off to our west and wondered if we would make it home with the tops down. Nope, just outside of Bamburg we had to make a quick pull off to raise our roofs.

Where: Riverhouse in North Augusta
When: June 4, 2009
Who: Bill & Bonnie Baugh, Donna & Brian Bogardus, Gail & Miller Butler, Carol & John Haff, John & Jackie Nicholls, Dave & Autumn Schumacher, Stacey Timmerman, Patti & Rudy Wilmoth and Dave Winkler.

Treasurer’s Report: $1,042.98.

Past Events :

1. May’s meeting was very well attended. Perhaps the turnout of nearly everyone on the roster was to prevent being nominated in absentia.
2. Six folks in 3 cars traveled to Harlem for May’s breakfast on the 16th.
3. The Shumachers, both in solo and sometimes in harmony, gave a recap of their trip to Miata World II in Dallas. The celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Miata sounded like a blast.

Future Events:

1. June’s breakfast is going to be on the 20th before the Ridge Peach Parade in Trenton, SC. No breakfast place has been set yet, someone thought that the Garner’s were going to find an eating spot, but they were not at the meeting to confirm or deny this. Stacey said he’d contact them and find out what is what.
2. After a brief discussion it was decided that the Pool Party at the Butler’s on Saturday the Fourth of July will begin at 10:00 AM with brunch. To be followed by swimming in the nearly extinct pool, this will be followed up by a late lunch of hot dogs and trimmings. Our hosts have some place to be in the evening, so everyone must get gone by 5:30PM.

Actual Business:

1. Last month’s promised exciting elections were anything but, the nominated slate was voted in by acclimation. John Nicholls - President, Rudy Wilmoth - Vice President, Donna Bogardus - Secretary & Brian Bogardus - Treasurer.

July’s meeting on the 2nd will be the traditional Fireworks at Fort Gordon one. Meet at the Cracker Barrel at 7:00 PM for the drive over.

Respectfully submitted:
Donna Bogardus
Club Secretary

When:May 16, 2009, 7:30 am to 9:00 am
Where: Cracker Barrel, Augusta, GA - map

We will leave the Cracker Barrel parking lot at approx 7:30 for a short drive to The Acorn Restaurant in Red Oak Manor at 410 North Louisville Street in Harlem, GA map (706-556-8222). Join your fellow Miata Club members for some coffee, a bit of gossip, more coffee, a morning meal, maybe one more refill of coffee and if you are very lucky, a drive afterward.

Event Coordinator: The Wilmoth’s 706-840-2877

Double Drive In

Date: May 22, 1999
Time: 6:45 PM
Place: Sonic Drive-In, Belvedere, SC
Members Present: Nicholas Arrowood, Shawn Arrowood, Zachary Arrowood, Brian Bogardus, Donna Bogardus, Karen Breitinger, Kurt Breitinger, David Brock, Noel Brock, Jim Creer, Judy Creer, Jill Dobson, Wes Garin, Carol Haff, John Haff, Sean Kelly, Andrea Thorton, Cindy Timmerman, Stacey Timmerman, Cheryl Van Horn, Ernest Van Horn, Rudy Wilmoth, Anita Wylds and Brian Wynne.

It took a while to get our caravan all in a row because of the left turn leaving the Sonic. Fortunately the first few miles of US 25 North is four-lane divided highway which made it relatively easy to get all the cars lined up. The route was probably familiar to some, as it is the same way we headed to Columbia a couple of months back, but the drive was still gorgeous due to just a hint of chill in the air and to the slowing setting sun.

The weekend before the event Donna and I went up to the Big-Mo to iron out the last few details. We talked to somebody who was outside putting up the letters to spell the movie titles and he told us that we should get to the drive-in around 8:30, so this is what we aimed for. Obviously he must have meant 7:30. Our merry band arrived at about 8:40 and when we pulled in, the place was already packed. We did find a place to put our 12 cars in a line, in the sixth row on the left end.
When you pull in to a parking spot there is the familiar metal pole to park next to, but it looks empty, what gives? There are no speakers. Nothing to hang on your window/door, nothing to forget about as you drive off, ripping the cord off and breaking your window, no tinny sound. Isn’t modern technology great? You now turn your FM radio to 89.4 and the movie sound comes out of your car speakers, cool.

Some of the non-Miata folks had brought boom boxes so as not to wear down their car batteries. That set a few of the members to worrying about running down their expensive little gel batteries. If you had a high power amp hooked to a sub-woofer and turned up the volume so everyone within a ½ mile could hear it, maybe. Fortunately the Miata is really light making it easy to push start if this did happen.

The movies for tonight were, first, “The Mummy” and second, “Life.” At around 9:00, after several 50’s style concession stand enticements, the show began, no previews, right into ancient Egypt.
I don’t know if it was because the screen looked smaller than my TV or what, but I just couldn’t get into the movie. Maybe it would have been a lot better if it took place in the present day and added some Miata car chases.

Donna and I, as well as some others, left after the first feature, as it was getting well past our bedtime. More stayed than left, I think. We may try this again in the fall, but if we do we will be sure and get there earlier so as to get a better spot.

Where: Formosa II in Augusta
When: May 7, 2009
Who: Donna & Brian Bogardus, Kurt & James Breitinger, Gail & Miller Butler, Larry & Rita Garner (and Michael their offspring), Carol & John Haff, John & Jackie Nicholls, Dave & Autumn Schumacher, Stacey Timmerman, Patti & Rudy Wilmoth and Dave Winkler.
Special Guest: Former Member Ray Cullen

Treasurer’s Report: $1,062.98.

Past Events :

1. April’s meeting was at Ferrando’s in Aiken and was a bit noisy for a meeting.
2. Sunrise Grill in Augusta lived up to the reputation of its South Carolina namesake.
3. Six members in three cars made the trip to the Abbeville Opera House and it went a littl like this: eat, drive, eat, drive, eat, play.
4. The rally was a big success Six cars participated and the Wilmoths snagged first place. The Winklers finished in second and also won the most improved prize. The only one disappointed was one of the rally masters who felt they must of made it too easy as everyone finished without opening the emergency envelope.

Future Events:

1. The Wilmoths are the planners for the May breakfast on the 16th.
2. Dave Winkler let us know that on the same day there is a big Military Appreciation Day in downtown Augusta that includes a big car show and fireworks at dark.

Actual Business:

1. Nominations of Officers for the following year were solicited and a hush went over the crowd. Finally the President broke the silence by volunteering to be nominated again and soon the the other three officers agreed to do the same. Be sure and come to next month’s meeting for always exciting elections.

June’s meeting will be at the Riverhouse (formerly Davenport’s) in North Augusta, SC.

Respectfully submitted:
Donna Bogardus
Club Secretary

This is the GPS track from our running of the rally. The GPS told us that we went 70.8 miles in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 56 seconds for an average speed of 33 MPH. I don’t remember what the actual figures were supposed to be, but you can bet these numbers are way off because we finished tied for fifth in a six car contest.

Here is a larger and clearer image - Rally Route Taken - you can right click and save to your PC if you want to.

Here are the few photos I took at the Rally finish, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, both figuratively an literally, but the food was good and there was a steady lunch crowd the whole tim we were there.

	Obligatory Car Line Up Photo		Obligatory People Line Up Photo
	Country Boy’s		Rally Dog