Penultimate Photo

National Park - Blue Ridge Parkway

The last picture taken on our 2-Day Moss Motoring Challenge Photo Excursion is the above photo. We snapped a total of 48 photos and accomplished 9 objectives worth 11 points altogether. We traveled a little over 600 miles on 2 tanks of gas. We had breakfast at home on Christmas morning and dinner at home today. In between we had a picnic lunch next to the Flat Creek Quick Stop, a Chinese buffet for Christmas dinner, breakfast at DD and pizza with my sister at One West in Hendersonville.

Now all that remains is taking the photo that will be the one that is closest to home, something less than a mile away, something we have already taken a photo of nearly 10 months ago and are slightly unhappy with, a Horse Track. Once we get that picture we will have scored 125 points out of a possible 201.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1444

147,000 Stupid Looks

147,000 Stupid Looks

Right down to the wire. We have until the 31st of December to get our Moss Motoring Challenge photos in the mail to California, so we are out and about racking up the final few points available to us in the “near” neighborhood. Kershaw County, Florence County, City of Quinby and York County. We also snagged a couple bonus points by taking a picture of a business that had Moss in the name. The photo above will not be my entry, I will submit one of the others taken because of the sort of stupid look on my face in this one.

What happens is we arrive at the photo location, I get out, line up the shot I want and hand the camera to my able bodied assistant. I then go pose in the spot I think I should be standing in and wait. Because I almost never know when the photo is actually being taken I often end up with an odd look on my face or my normal unsmiling one.

Tomorrow we head further west and north to fill in the last three spots on the National Park ledger of the contest. The spots don’t have to be actual National Parks, just sites run by the NPS, so we will get Kings Mountain National Military Park, Cowpens National Battlefield and then the Blue Ridge Parkway. Fortunately for us you don’t have to go on or in them either, as the two Revolutionary War sites are closed for the Christmas Holiday and aren’t open until Saturday. And the Parkway goes in two directions from the closest to us entry and both of them go the wrong way from where we want to go at that point, so all we will be doing is getting photos of the signs at the entrances.

When we swapped drivers just outside Bishopsville I noticed that the Emperor’s odometer read 147002.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1443

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

I Googled “miata night before Christmas” so I could put a post here tonight without having to actually write something. I knew I had seen one that was Miata related and sure enough there were a bunch of hits, including the 6th one that was from a site called “Life of Brian.” Eleven years ago I quoted the whole original poem. Some of the others were OK, but I opted for this one of unknown vintage on the Flyin’ Miata website, purveyors of all kinds of Miata goodies.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the Counties,
The Miatas were parked, warm and safe from the Mounties;
The driving gloves had been packed, with loving care,
Knowing that next Spring they would still be there;

His ‘n her Miata owners were nestled snug in their beds,
While visions of forced-induction danced in their heads;
And mamma in her FM shirt, and I in my cap,
Were planning next year’s drives on a dog-eared road map,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I dropped my Miata Musings to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

What I saw made me weep and shook me to the core,
It was a Velocity Red Mica Mazdaspeed Miata, a two-thousand and four!
With a tall thin man driving, like a bat out of hell,
I knew in a moment it must be Bill Cardell.

“Now, ELVIS! now, TRACKDOG!
now, FILOU and TORO!
On, ANGEL on BABY!
on, CUZI and PHOENIX!
To the point of that apex!
cut the driving edge fine!
Now make that last mad dash!
all the way to the finish line!”

And I heard on the roof the sound of much fun,
The squealing and chirping of Toyo RA-1’s.
As I grabbed the car keys, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Bill came in with a bound.

He was dressed all in Nomex, from his head to his toe,
With tight fitting driving shoes so he could shift just so;
The sunglasses he wore sparkled with a dancing light,
And I thought to myself “How the hell can he see at night?”

Around the room to the stockings he raced,
Leaving Hard Dog Deuce bars and a FM Cannon Brace,
I even saw under the tree, by a moon so low and so pale,
Nothing less than a Da’Lan hitch and a brand new Tire Tail!

Bill was ready to leave, “Other slalomers yet to go!”,
And make his way through the white winter’s snow.
But he left mine till last, ‘fore he went up the flue,
I found in my stocking a brand new FM-II!

He sprang to his droptop, blipping the throttle with a roar,
And I knew right away the 2.0L was stroked, not bored.
I heard him exclaim, ere he squealed out of sight,
“KEEP the needle at REDLINE and CUT the corners Tight!”

Almost Cold Enough To Ice Skate

Destination - Ice Rink

In downtown Columbia, although in the mid-40’s, it was cold enough. From Thanksgiving to Mid-January they set up a small outdoor rink in a park next to the Museum of Art in downtown. I’m guessing they are using some of the ice setup from the Carolina Coliseum that the local ECHL team, the Columbia Inferno, used to use when they were in business.

After last weekend’s aborted trip to Florence to start back taking photos for the Moss Motoring Challenge, we decided to start smaller and earlier this weekend. We planned 60 miles one way where we were after two objectives, a skating rink and a roadside oddity.

First stop was in the Columbia suburb of Irmo at an indoor ice complex in a nondescript building on a dead end road near I-26. I’m guessing it was the practice ice for the defunct Inferno. We took a picture and could rightfully cross that “destination” off the list, but we weren’t too happy about it. Seeing as we were headed downtown for our oddity Donna mentioned that she saw where they had a temporary ice rink in a park off Main Street.

The oddity we were going for was the giant fire hydrant that is in the same parking lot as the mural we used for the tunnel destination. Interestingly, both pieces are done by the same artist, a fellow named Blue Sky.

When we took the tunnel photograph back in April, we did take a couple pictures of the Busted Plug Plaza thinking we might use them as a Sneak Peek. Never did use them because we had several nicer and more interesting ones to choose from. We took today’s photo because we thought we could do better and because Moss opened up a bonus slot worth two points for Roadside Oddities. The photo of the hydrant came out a lot better, but I still have to work on my facial expressions…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1441

25 Years Ago – Winter 1989

Did they ever checked back 4 years later? Nathan would be about 37 now and I wonder if he owns or ever owned a Miata.

Miata Club of America Member Profile

Nathan Hitchcock
Age: 12
Address: Trailway Lane
El Toro, CA 92630
School Activities: Drama, playing keyboards, basketball
Other interests: Harrison Ford and Michael J. Fox movies. Also Def Leppard, Steve Winwood.

He doesn’t remember the classic British roadsters of the ’50s and ’60s. He hadn’t been born yet.

When the RX-7 first appeared as Mazda’s entry into the affordable sports car arena he was…two years old.

Ask him what he was doing when the Miata first hit the drawing boards near his home in El Toro, California, and he may not remember. He was in the first grade.

Today Nathan Hitchcock is 12 and the youngest member of the Miata Club of America. We stopped by his home on what was coincidentally his birthday to welcome him personally and to get to know him.

An unassuming and polite gentle-man for his years, he was nevertheless excited to have such a direct response from his original note which read, “I’m very pleased with the Miata and with your club.”
Nathan is much like a typical 12-year old. Cars seem to hold a deep-felt interest. “I like expensive, fast cars,” he told us, “My favorite would have to be a Lamborghini.” The posters on the walls attest to his passions. Countaches, Porsche 911s and the like are a part of this dream gallery. We can identify with him. The exotics are so unreachable that we’re left to appreciate them only as works of art. But then why the interest in the Miata..? “It just caught my eye so fast.” And we can identify with that.

But enough looking. Let’s go for a ride! Better yet, we hand the key to a surprised Lee Hitchcock, Nathan’s father. After a brief familiarization session, (no, Nathan you have to sit on the right side) they’re off.

Next, we get to spend a nice moment with the other two members of the family: Nathan’s mom Lisa (who penned the club membership check that got this all started), and brother Jeremy, 10. We learn that they’re new to southern California, having moved from Austin, Texas, where the boys were raised.

Now that starts to figure. Nathan doesn’t seem the prototypical southern Californian. When we asked about his hobbies, for instance, they didn’t include skateboarding or surfing. (“I don’t go to the beach too much.”) They do include basketball, keyboard playing, and drama, all of which he’s starting to delve into at Serrano Inter-mediate in El Toro where he’s in the seventh grade. He also wants to be a writer someday.

When they do get back they look less like father and son and more like a couple of kids who just got off of Disneyland’s Space Mountain..A little tousled but ready to get back in line and ride again. You can just see Dad’s mind working too. (“Let’s see, we can sell the 280Z…”)

Up till now Nathan’s only knowledge of the Miata has been gained by reading the automotive press. So what does he think now that he’s had a ride? “Let’s see, we can sell the 280Z…”

Any suggestions we can pass on to the Mazda product planners? “I’d really like it to come out in black.”

Thanks, Nathan. It’s been a pleasure meeting you and your family. Oh, and we’ll check back when you turn 16.

Copyright 1989, Miata Magazine. Reprinted without permission.

 

I’ll Get The Paperwork Started

I like cars and I like Jerry Seinfeld and I like coffee (as long as it is from DD), so I love Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Thursday was the Season 5 finale, a 2-parter with Jimmy Fallon.

Ever since Season 2 the show has been sponsored by Acura. Season 2 & 3 featured really off beat commercials for the MDX. Season 4 & 5 have featured a rotation of two different spots for the TLX. One has a female buyer and the other has a male buyer talking and riding with the same fast talking salesman. For the longest time I could have sworn the male and female were the same person, they have a certain look, just dressed up as the opposite sex with an appropriate wig. But upon further study it turns out they are more than likely different people.

I’ll Take Historical Fiction For $2000 Alex

This was the last clue in tonight’s Double Jeopardy round:

“Written In My Own
Hearts Blood” is the
eighth book in author
Dina Gabaldon’s series
about English Army
Nurse Claire Randal.

Nailed it!