Year: 2025

Interstates Suck

After yesterday’s hour-and-forty-five-minute Uber ride back from PDX Wraps and today’s hour-and-fifteen-minute trip back, I think it is time to pony up the $5.24 on this bumper sticker. This is also why, on the way home from picking up Bucky in Sherwood, I didn’t take one home. It probably took me a little more than the 1.25 hours to get back home, but it was worth it just not to have to creep along in three lanes of traffic. Either way, I think the results were worth that hassle.

New Side Stripes

Yesterday I mentioned I was a belt and suspenders guy with the backup house key options. What would be a way to add a third option to that saying? Asking because I went to Lowes today and bought a digital deadbolt that I’ll install tomorrow.

Several Senior Key Moments All In A Row

Not my proudest moments. When I left the house to head off to the DMV for my scheduled appointment, I locked the door behind me. Only when I got to the car did I realize the keys weren’t in my pocket. Crap. I was so worried about having all my paperwork in hand that I forgot to grab them off the hook by the door. Not a big deal, I have a Hide-A-Key outside just for such an event. I retrieved the key and slid it into the lock; it would not turn. Huh? I must have put the wrong key in my Hide-A-Key thing. It could have been the old Klamath Falls key, or a relative’s house key, or, hell, maybe even an old key from Aiken days.

Being a belt and suspenders kind of guy, my neighbor across the street has a copy as a contingency plan. I texted her, “Are you home?” No reply. Now, I’m starting to think I’m going to miss my appointment. Thirty seconds later I hear a beep and watch her car go by; she was on her way home from the store. I walk over and get her backup key. I open my door, grab the keys for Bucky, lock up, and return the backup key to her. I still had plenty of time to make it to the DMV on time.

After doing all the paperwork to get Bucky street legal, I drove the short distance to PDX Wraps to drop him off for the side stripe and dark windshield banner. After we ironed out the size and placement details, it was time to order up an Uber for the ride home. As I left the shop to go outside and wait for my ride, I realized I still had the car keys in my pocket, so I went back in and said, “Oh, you might need these.”

The 45-minute Uber ride was going to end up taking about an hour and 45 minutes because of some sort of traffic snafu. In the 2 years I’ve lived here and in all the times I’ve dealt with I-5 and I-84, it has never been that backed up. About halfway home creeping along, I realized that those car keys also held the house key. DOH!

So, I texted my neighbor again, admitting that I’m brain-dead and I’ll be needing that key again. This time the no response was a lot longer; I didn’t hear from her even after I was dropped off in front of my locked house. I walked over, and her car was there, but she didn’t answer the knock. Okay, now what? I called a locksmith. He said, “I’m finishing up a job, and then I’m 45 minutes away. Hang tight.”

About 20 minutes later I got a text; my neighbor was back, so I went over and got my spare key again. After unlocking the house door, I returned them across the street again because obviously I’m going to need her to keep them. I called the locksmith back, hoping he wasn’t already on the way because then I’d be out a couple hundred bucks. At last something went my way; he hadn’t finished up that job yet, so I dodged a monetary bullet.

I got in the other Miata and headed to Lowe’s to get the correct key to stash in my Hide-A-Key. Belt and suspenders.

Bucky’s Big Day Out

I’m finally going to get him registered and get the title in my name versus the Bring-A-Trailer seller. Hard to believe, but I won the auction for the car nearly 7 months ago. I’ve even decided to try and get a personalized plate. You get six letters, so I’ve asked for BUC KEY or BUC KIE with the state’s base license plate that features a tree in the center. Odds are probably kind of slim though; the mascot of Oregon State University is a beaver…the only saving grace is the mascot’s name is Bennie.

After the DMV I’m dropping him off at my friend’s at PDX Wraps to have some side stripes put on like I mocked up back in July. Here is the proof they sent me today. We’ll see when I get there. When I mocked up my stripe on it sat a little higher; theirs shows it lower, and I’m wondering how well the thinness of the stripe at the back end of the door will hold up.

Side Stripe Design Proof

I’m also going to get them to put a 4″ or so dark black tint along the top of the windshield. Even though I spent money on the old-school folding visors from the first-gen cars, I might be able to eliminate them altogether with that tint.

And there is one last modification (or so I’m telling myself) to be done: a set of custom gauges from Revlimiter. We are ironing out all the details as we speak; it is based on a combination of his Spyder faces and something I’ve had sitting in my Miata folder for a couple decades.

Custom Gauges Go Here


 

Alligator Man

Yesterday I drove up to Long Beach, Washington to visit brother-in-law Scott and the two nieces. Nephew James had other obligations and mom Beth enjoyed a quiet, hopefully relaxing weekend at home. Maddy, Susan and dad were spending time with his in-law’s family at their beach house. Beth’s younger sister, her husband were there with their 2 kids, Luke and Eli. The kid cousins were having a great time together. There were about a dozen other older relatives, from my age and up, who I was introduced to. By the end of the day I had mastered everyone’s names, but their relation to each other never totally gelled.

I left home at 7:30 AM and returned home at 8:30 PM. Its a 2-1/2 hour ride up and the same on the way home, so I spent around 8 hours up there. I had lunch, which was leftover Mexican from Friday night and dinner was burgers and salmon on the grill, along with a half dozen picnic salad staples. Before lunch a lot of us went to the next small town over, Ilwaco’s “Farmers” market. After lunch was a trip into town to visit Marsh’s Free Museum and giant souvenir shop to see the Alligator Man and buy some trinkets. I bought a couple post cards and a sticker for the trunk of the Miata.

Alligator Man


 
Right across the street from Marsh’s was the Chamber of Commerce with the World’s Largest Frying Pan, so, you just know I needed a photo of that. I was then tipped off to an arch a 1/4 mile away proclaiming “World’s Longest Beach”, so I walked over to photograph it too.

When I got home I looked these two “World’s Largest” thing to see if they were listed on Roadside America, and they were. Trouble is the frying pan may have been the largest when it was forged back in 1941, but it is no longer the largest. Rose Hill, NC has one that is 15′ in diameter, 5-1/2 feet greater in diameter than Long Beach’s. The arch’s claim is dubious as well, the beach it is a state park and is 28 miles in length. It doesn’t make onto Wikipedia’s list of the world’s longest beach.

Street Number Upgrade

My house number has always been this plain faded black metal number 1 ever since moving in and I always planned to upgrade it somehow, but never did. I thought it might be funny to tack one of those giant foam fingers that say “WE’RE #1” on the post, but Donna wouldn’t let me.

Today when I went grocery shopping this morning I added a can of white spray paint to the cart. My plan was to paint an oval around the 1. I already had a can of black (and now for the life of me can’t remember what I needed it for) to touch up that number 1. When I got done I used a giant black sharpie to out line the oval.

This is the before, hover over the image to see the after.

Wasn’t until I was through that I noticed a bunch of over spray, it was a bit breezy this afternoon. Don’t know I’m going to do about it because I don’t have any of that gray paint left over anywhere. You know one of those giant foam fingers would cover that all up…

25 Years Ago – Volume 11, Issue 4

The Story of EO

– Ken Freeze

I actually liked this color. I didn’t buy one for a couple reasons, 1) Donna didn’t like the color and 2) I was very happy where I was in the 1995 Laguna Blue car. If I hade bought one, it would have had a black interior, light colored cars with light colored interiors have a lack of contrast. For some reason I’m OK with dark cars with dark interiors, but with dark colored cars, I would still prefer a lighter colored interior.

In 1998 when the second-generation Miata was introduced, it also saw the introduction of a new and striking color. While I absent from the North American market, the new color was seen in ads, web sites and brochures around the world. The color carried different names like Copper Mica, Evolution Orange, Mélange Gold and Evolution Gold depending on where the Miata was being marketed.

2000 Evolution Orange Miata


 
For the 2000 model year, Mazda introduced the color into the North American market as Evolution Orange. And just as is had in other parts of the world, the color turned heads everywhere it was seen.

Then almost as suddenly as it appeared, it was discounted worldwide, creating what is by far the shortest color run in the entire history of the Miata. For 2000 only 644 Miatas were imported and just two 1999 models were shipped into the U.S. Worldwide, the number is not much greater. It is conceivable that worldwide there are less than 1,000 Evolution Orange Miatas total for both years. Numbers between 700 to 800 total have been voiced.

How could a color that was turning up seemly everywhere go out of production so soon? Simple – it was planned that way. “The intent was to only offer the color in the U.S. for one year.” said Product Marketing Plans Manager, Mazda North American Operations, Alan Childers. “Expectations were that although the color is an eye catcher, it never would be a big seller,” he said. “But it is a flashy color that really draws attention.” And, while the color may be a ‘head turner’ and get people into showrooms, in the end they generally bought a different color.

Childers said that the Evolution Orange was just a standard color with all the regular options and packages that could be ordered by dealers. The dealers placed their orders through their regional offices and the orders were sent to Japan for production. So, the end production number reflects the orders that were placed for it.

“In 1992, the Sunburst Yellow (of which only 1,519 were sold in the U.S.) had a planned production run of around 1,500 units from the beginning of the year, ” said Childers. The Sunburst Yellow Miatas were then sent to dealers along with all the other colors available that year.

Mazda obviously saw the PR value of such a striking color. In 1999, when the 500,000th Miata rolled off the assembly line it was Evolution Orange and the 2000 press car from Mazda North America was an Evolution Orange. The press car was the Miata whose photo appeared in the 2000 Miata press kit and was the Miata loaned to just about every major auto publication in the U.S. As a result, from late 1999 through most of 2000 hardly a word was written about the Miata that didn’t also include a photo of an Evolution Orange Miata. As a result, it was easy to get the impression Evolution Orange Miatas were everywhere.

In a very real sense, there isn’t anything special about the EO’s except their color. Unlike the M-Editions or the recent 10th Anniversary model, they are not all equipped alike or include any special equipment not available on other models. They were available with a wide variety of options and packages, from stripped down base models to fully loaded LS models. But what that has done is create even rarer sub sets. For instance, the number of LS models with tan interior vs. base models with black interior. It is conceivable that there may be several one-of-a-kind Evolution Orange Miatas running around America.

Like many of the other limited and special edition Miatas, a registry has been set up on an Internet Web site to follow the Evolution Oranges and to help owners get in contact with one another. The site is http://www.allroadster.com/libs/EORegister.htm gone. Besides owners being able to register their EO Miata, the site also has facts and statistical information as well as an Evolution Orange screen saver from Mazda New Zealand.

What is in store for this rare color is anyone’s guess at this point. It’s closest counterpart, the 1992 Sunbursts Yellow, has taken on almost a cult following, with used models selling for well above the value of their used siblings from the same year.

Will models with different packages become even more sought after? Leather interior vs. black interior, suspension package vs. appearance. And, what about the Evolution Oranges with automatics? Rumor has it that very few were produced worldwide. Could this be the model most sought after by collectors and museums 50 years from now? Only time will tell.

Copyright 2000, Miata Magazine. Reprinted without permission.

 

Dualling Shovels

I feel a little cheated, don’t they fact check over there at the Roadside America HQ? Back in May on the way back from Hammond with Santa Fe Sally I made us stop just outside of Wichita Falls, TX to take a photo of the Largest Shovel in Texas at 15 feet high. In the blog post about it I said, “… someone will take that as a challenge and make one 25′ tall somewhere else in the state.”

I have been pre-planning another jaunt with Sally for later this year. Today I was looking for a different route across the great state of Texas to go between Santa Fe and Hammond. We did it last time with a single overnight stop in Bowie, TX, and we’d would like to do that again, but I’d like a different path to mix it up. So I started dragging the blue line on Google Maps around and came up with something promising that loops south of Dallas.

The next thing I look for is hotels at the overnight spot, some small towns in the middle of nowhere don’t have many places we’d stay in, we have some standards, you know. Off I went to Roadside America to see if there is something weird that would hopefully be near a driver’s change spot. I opened the Texas map and zoomed into an area where I thought we would be and saw something labeled World’s Largest Shovel. Wait a minute, I thought I’d been to the largest shovel in Texas? I had, but it was only the tallest one until this beast was created in 2020.