Poker Run

This is a reprint from the Masters Miata Club newsletter, The Driver, November 1999 Volume 6, Issue #11. Reprinted with my Permission, because I wrote it.

Date: Saturday, October 23, 1999
Time: 8:30 AM
Place: Georgia Welcome Center
Members Attending: Bill Baugh, Bonnie Baugh, Brian Bogardus, Donna Bogardus, Kurt Breitinger and Rudy Wilmoth.

After the usual chat session at the Welcome Center the four cars started barreling west on I-20. After about an hour and a half, Brian, who was leading, remembered that last time he had made a pit stop about midway between Augusta and the Interstate exiting town. We were way past that, so he picked the next exit that looked like it had a concentration of fast-food places and pulled the train into a waiting McDonalds.

In what turned out to be a preview of things to come, the place was jam-packed. Apparently this was also the getting off the Interstate point for travel to Athens, home of the University of Georgia. As luck would have it, it was football homecoming weekend, and the area was thick with cars flying red and white flags with black Gs on them like so many Staff Cars for Generals of the UGA Army.

Back on I-20 for a few more miles until we got off in Covington for the northern backroad loop around Atlanta to Alpharetta. The last two times the Bogardi had made this trip it went smooth as silk, but that was with a 7:00 AM start. Today’s later start was just enough for the millions of normal people who live in the ever increasing rash of suburbia surrounding Peachtree Center to wake up and hit the road. This made traffic a mess in the semi-small, normally sleepy, towns that the caravan had to pass thru. The first major setback was in Lawrenceville. They were having their annual fall crafts fair and probably some sort of pagan celebration to the pumpkin, which ground us to a halt. Of course now the “Spiraling Traffic Density to Time Postulate” kicked in. The further behind we got, the worse the traffic got.

Then, I think just to test our mettle, the Georgia D.O.T. tossed in an unexpected detour. It was “nicely” planned to take 2 lanes of impatient traffic on the right side of the road and funnel it into one left turn lane within the span of 50 yards. Then of course the detour signs magically disappear within a few miles leaving us to wonder whether we are still going the right way.

Finally our plucky band of adventurers arrive at the MCA Headquarters. It had taken us 4 hours to travel the 120 miles that usually takes 2-1/2. We were 30 minutes later than the listed start time, but that was not a problem because they were just starting the cars on the Poker Run. Looks like these bimonthly events may become a victim of their own success. The place was jammed. It looked like there were about 200 Miatas scattered around. The cars filled up the parking area around the HQ building and had spilled over into the parking areas of some of the neighboring complexes.

After the frazzling trip, Donna at first balked at getting back into the car when she found out that the Poker Run was an 80 mile affair. After convincing her that the route was rural, not suburban and that we would stop at the first likely place to eat something, she agreed to navigate. Because of complex directions, driving and navigating was really a two person job, so Rudy agreed to ride with Kurt.

The Bogarduses and the Baughs were following each other because Bill and Bonnie wanted to get a bite to eat as bad as Brian and Donna. Kurt & Rudy were several cars back. They were certainly right about the rural part, north and east of Alpharetta is still just Georgia farm land. The bad part about that is that there was no place to eat. At the first card stop we ended up feasting on Moon Pies and RCs at a little country store. That would just have to suffice until the post run BBQ.

On the final stretch back in to HQ for lunch we had about 6 Miatas running together along the back roads. Can’t help but wonder what those farmers thought about the steady stream of little Furin Cars travelling down those roads.

I don’t remember what Bill and Bonnie or Kurt and Rudy had, but on our last card Donna and I managed a pair of eights. We thought we were hot stuff. We were nowhere near the money, the winner had a straight flush! The Master’s group didn’t come away entirely empty handed though, Bill & Bonnie won a poster in the door prize drawings.

Miata driving on back roads, good food, car-nut camaraderie and near perfect top-down weather. Plus R-Speed and others had displays of all kinds of car goodies to separate us from our money. Thanks Vince and Norm for having us. Way to go, MCA. Big thank yous to Diane and Doneeta who probably did most of the work.

It’s Postal Photoin’ Time Again

I thought maybe an early drive and a caramel latte would be nice. I had picked out a route home so as to be able to grab some post offices parallel to I-5, but there were three not on that path, so I went looking for them. The hotel breakfast looked awful, but I went with my old standby, cereal with a banana with some OJ.

After breakfast I was really ready to go, packed up all my stuff, threw it in the trunk and started back north.

Bucky or #6 Needs A Bath

Couldn’t stand it any longer, I drove down to Eugene to see my new purchase. They have it scheduled to start working on it this Friday, but until then it is tucked away all dirty and forlorn. I dropped off some of the parts I purchased, for them to install, so I don’t have to do it in my driveway in the cold.

After that, instead of going back to the hotel and relaxing, I headed out on the town. First up was dinner at the Snack Shack. Blue Cheese & Bacon burger with crinkle fries, not bad, but not Burgerland wonderful. Afterwards I drove around the dark and rainy streets photographing Post Offices.

Slice, And Another Slice

Back in December I visited a Dermatologist to check a red spot on my forehead. I seemed like it had been there for a long time. I’ve bumped it a few times and at least once getting my haircut it was hit with the clippers, which led to some bleeding each time. But when it became obvious it was growing pretty fast was when I got my new Real ID Drivers License back in November. In my early 2020 license the spot looks small, but by the end of November in 2024 it is very noticeable.

The results of the biopsy came in just before I went on my recent month long “vacation”, it was Basal Cell Carcinoma. Today I went back to the Dermatologist to have the rest of the cancer sliced off. Luckily he got it all off with one swipe. While I was still in the chair I asked, “What about this little cyst on the bottom of my right ear?”

Dermatologist, “Has it been there long?”
Patient, “A while, I guess.”
Dermatologist, “Lets lop it off, and biopsy it.”
Patient, “Good, I want that ear to look good because on my 70th birthday I want to pierce it.”
Dermatologist, “See you in a couple weeks and we’ll take those stitches out.”

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

One Month Gone Edition of SORT
As of Monday, February 3, 2025 at 7:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1972 Datsun 510 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser 2004 Volvo V70
I so wanted one of these, but all I could afford on an E3’s salary was a B210. For your off-roading adventures it’s a Jeep or one of these. The Everyday Driver guys swear Volvo seats are the best in the biz.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 1960 Cadillac Series 62 Sold for USD $71,000 on 1/30/25
Off-Road: 2016 Cadillac Escalade Sold for USD $29,000 on 1/30/25
Touring: 1984 Cadillac Fleetwood Bid to USD $9,300 on 1/28/25

Can I Call It A Vacation?

I’ve now been home now for a little for a little over forty hours and I’m already locked into a full home stop mode.

This means that content output here will be back to just sporadic. Which is a shame, because I looked back and the last time I missed a day posting here was December 27th of last year, or thirty-seven days ago. Tomorrow’s SORT post will make it a little under 40 days of posts in a row. Haven’t seen those kind of numbers in quite a while, maybe a dozen years ago?

As to the title of this post, on this last trip, I didn’t know how to tag it. When were were actually driving from point A to B, I used “Road Trip”. When were stationary somewhere, I was tagging them “Vacation.”

So, phycology majors, homework for next week is a 2-page essay on, “If you’re retired, isn’t everyday a vacation?”

The Proposal

Time for one of my patented long-winded intros leading to a small bit of actual content. Sally, of Santa Fe fame, and I have known each other 42 years. So, when she asked me if I wanted to come down, visit Santa Fe a bit, and then road trip together to go to her mother’s 98th birthday festivities, I jumped at the chance.

She was Donna’s friend from an early age, and the two families belonged to the same church. When I got out of the Navy in 1983, we moved back to Donna’s hometown of New Orleans. The 2 girls connected again; Sally had married, so the four of us naturally became a group. Sally and her husband bought the house 2 doors away. Donna and I babysat the daughter, Claire, and then a couple years later, the son, Stuart.

For various reasons we moved up to New Jersey for work in 1987. The Lewis clan also moved north to Lexington, Virginia, shortly after. We visited several times a year, first from Jersey and later from Aiken. In the early two thousands Sally’s husband proclaimed he was in love with someone else and wanted out. Claire was already in college, and Stuart was a junior or senior in high school. After his graduation Sally joined the State Department. Whenever she was back in the states for language training or something, Donna and I would get to DC to hang for a couple days. Anyway, we go way back.

Now, with just Sally and me, we get along sort of like an old married couple without the sex. Our senses of humor are similar; we would be in a store somewhere, and we would cut up with each other in the checkout line. We “argued” about whose turn it was to fill up the car with gas. “We’ll always have Paris.” A plan was concocted. There was a get-together on Saturday the 18th with the whole family at a place downtown in Hammond called Tommy’s on Thomas. A local pizza joint/nighttime entertainment place—that is where Stuart met his wife and where they go every year on their anniversary. This would be the most perfect place for this; I was going to pretend to ask her to marry me. I wrote a script. I practiced kneeling.

We thought for sure that Adele and Stuart’s wife, Cristina, would be flummoxed; Stuart’s two small kids wouldn’t know what was going on. We thought Sally’s kids, Stuart and Claire, would not know what to say, or their sense of humor might kick in immediately and call bullshit on Sally and me. At the last minute, because of a miscommunication, Adel and Claire couldn’t make it, so we decided not to do it, because those were 2 of the 3 we thought would get the biggest kick out of the stunt.

Scene: Restaurant Interior

Brian
(stands)
"As we knew the end was getting nearer, I asked Donna if she would be okay with this, and she smiled and said of course."
(slight pause)
"So, Sally, these last 2 weeks have been the happiest that I’ve been since last September.
(he kneels)
It would be great if we could grow old, older, together. Will you marry me?

Possible Responses:
Sally
1. Yes, I thought you’d never ask.
2. Stunned silence.
3. What?
4. I hope you didn’t buy a ring already?

Brian
1. You’ve made me a very happy man.
2. Stunned silence.
3. I feel so embarrassed.
4. I may be an old fool, but I’m not stupid.