Year: 2025

Las Vegas & Hoover Dam

Here are some more photos of that whirlwind driving tour of Arizona in 1989. The first 4 pictures are of Las Vegas. I know we spent the night there, but I couldn’t tell you which one it was. I might not even have been any of these for properties. The Flamingo is the only hotel of these four that still stands from 36 years ago. The Sands was torn down in 1996 and was replaced by The Venetian. The Dunes closed in early 1993 and one of the towers was imploded later that same year with the second tower coming down early in 1994. The Bellagio was built on the site and opened in 1996. The Frontier closed in July of 2007 and the 16-story tower was imploded in November of that year. The property it stood on has to this date not been built on.

Next four are of the Hoover Dam. Look at that water level! Pretty near full and right now the level is about 160 feet lower. We even took the tour. Even though 112 people died during its construction, none of them are entombed in the concrete despite that popular myth. When the bottom of the large concrete bucket opened up, pouring 8 cu yd out, a team of men worked it throughout the form. Each bucket deepened the concrete in a form by only 1 inch (25 mm), and Six Companies engineers would not have permitted a flaw caused by the presence of a human body.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Nothing New To See Here Edition of SORT
As of Monday, February 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2017 BMW M2 1995 Land Rover Defender 2010 Porsche Panamera
More of the same ol’ stuff, a BMW, a Land Rover and a Porsche. Maybe next week
I’ll build a SORT garage from Doug Demuro’s Car and Bids instead of Bring A Trailer.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 1961 Morris Mini-Minor Sold for USD $9,000 on 2/13/25
Off-Road: 1962 Dodge Town Wagon Sold for USD $12,000 on 02/14/25
Touring: 2003 BMW M5 Sold for USD $34,500 on 2/12/25

Monumental

So, for episode 2 of “Driving Ms. Sally” in late April I’ll be driving down to Santa Fe instead of flying. Because after we get back to Santa Fe from the Hammond visit, I’m leaving Sally there and I’m going to continue driving around the country visiting folks. On the trip down I want to visit Monument Valley. Sally mentioned that she wanted to go there and see it someday, so I’m going to reconnoiter the place.

I have driven through the area twice recently and I actually visited it a long time ago. Back in 1989 Donna & me were deciding whether to quit our jobs in Florham Park and move to a sister plant in South Carolina or just stay in NJ and think about buying a house there. To help clear our heads and think on it we took a couple weeks of vacation and flew into Phoenix, AZ, rented a car and circumnavigated the state. One of the stops was Monument Valley. We arrived late afternoon and they were no longer running the Jeep tours, so we thought we were out of luck, but things were a bit more laid back then. The guy behind the counter handed us a map and said, “Just stay on the roads and be back here before 6 to leave, because they lock the gate.” We got back in our little red 1989 Ford Escort and bounced along on several miles of dirt road. That would never happen now.

Fresh Powder

Looks like the 1-2″ of yesterday was joined by at least 3″ more overnight and this morning. So other than dusting the snow off the cars and shoveling snow, I have been hibernating. I’ve been watching episodes of The West Wing and then following it by listening to The West Wing Weekly podcast’s recap of that very show. I’ve watched up to the 19th episode of season 3, or 63 episodes, I still have a little more to go, eighty-nine…

What’s next? A hundred and twenty-one episodes of LOST. Or maybe the 217 episodes of The X-Files? Really, that many? I’ll probably just watch the 40 of them that I saved when I pared it down to one’s I’d rewatch more than once.

Flapping Flag Poles

It snowed this morning and then a little more in the afternoon. What was worse than the snow was the winds. They gusted to over 50 MPH and it actually dislodged the decorative seasonal flag pole on the front porch post. Ripped the 2 wood screws right out and dumped the flag and pole on the ground.

The small American flag on another post was still attached, but it stripped the gear area that held it up at a 45° angle so it drooped to less than horizontal. I think I’ll get another mount for the American flag and maybe just leave the seasonal flag one off and just donate those flags to Goodwill.

They are calling for some more snow tomorrow morning and then looking out in the future, it seems this may be our last snow of the season. Fingers Crossed.

Yesterday I got my first of two free oil changes on the New Miata. It had a whopping 2500 miles on the odometer. Here is a photo of the car sitting outside the dealer’s service area.

Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone

Because I have bought new lightweight 15″ wheels and some summer rubber for #6, AKA Bucky, I wasn’t sure what I’d use the the 2001’s stock wheels for after I get rid the 1/4 century old rubber that is mounted on them. My first thought was to put some snow tires on them and have them handy for winter time use. But then I ran into a picture someone had added to a thread on the Miata Forum, this fellow has a dark colored 3rd gen Miata that he had put the 16″ OEM Miata wheels on. I did a rough draft by adding a bright blue to that image:

Hmmm, I think I like that better than the stock 17″ wheels of the New Miata. I think that they looked better when the car was that Aero Gray color, but now that it is blue…

Jaunty Angle

I’ve tried a couple of times to get that front license place to be parallel to the road surface, but something keeps shifting it. Not sure if it is the post into the tow hook threads or the screw that holds the plate support to the post. I’ve tightened both separately and together, but invariably it ends up non-parallel.

My need of order is screaming at me, “Get that thing right!” while the newly created laidback vibe is saying, “Chill dude, it’s fine.” Or perhaps it’ll be some enterprising young rookie on the traffic beat telling me, “According to Motor Vehicle Code 237.4, sub section ii, the license plate must be set at exactly 0° or 90° to the angle of front wheel camber.”