Clark for President

Just found out who I’m voting for in the next Presidential election…retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark. That is if he gets the Democratic nomination. And here is why: read the first line in the 7th from the last paragraph of this article. (the article is long gone, but it mentioned he owned a Miata)

The Miata is spending the night at a sleep-over. It is parked behind Rader Mazda in Augusta, awaiting a timing belt/water pump transplant surgery. Tune in tomorrow to see the money spent figure increase by 50%.

Purchased Today: $0
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1148.59
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 228

Word Scambler Thing

Sitll oeinptarg on the psot-gap ehpuoira.

Ntohnig btroehed me at all tdaoy. Eevn wehn my bsos ddeeicd taht I sulohd go aeahd and snped the day rintceearg a carht for an oictapl cpaotmraor ienstad of sennpidg $100 and buy a new one. Deosn’t he rebmeemr waht my hluory rtae is? The one I mkae wlil look etlaxcy lkie the pchrasued one, but wlil lsat nworhee naer as lnog. Mnie wlil be pretnid on a lewor qliauty flim on our ikenjt ptletor as oposped to the myalr wtih watreoporf ink and pttoirecve flim of the psorislfanoely preducod one.

Wrod Sbmelcrar Tnhig

Trip Down

Made it back home about 2:30 this afternoon. We were going to go home 19/74 to Asheville then I-26, but when I got to the 28 south sign I couldn’t resist. Several more doses of twisty road awaited. Made it all the way to the outskirts of Franklin before I had to slow for some one in front of me. Between Franklin and Highlands there was no one in front of me until, wouldn’t you know it, right where the sign warning truckers of the steep grades and 20 MPH curves ahead. Old couple in a small car with Florida tags. I got right behind them and pushed for a bit until Donna told me to back off I was scaring her. 1/2 mile later when I could see around the next couple esses I dropped into first and blasted by, all the while Donna screamed at me (I hadn’t asked permission.) The yelling was worth it though, as I would have gone crazy behind them at 20 MPH for the next 9 miles.

We decided to follow the route up in reverse to come home. Good plan, but the SC187 south sign was missing because of construction and we were 8 miles past it before we realized. We backtracked rather than drive through Anderson. The sign was missing coming from that direction too, but luckily I recognized the intersection.

We got to McCormick about 12:30 and the only place to eat is that Hardees we waited for the Breitingers at. Donna said no! Let’s go to Hickory Knob State Park, they have a lodge and restaurant. It turned out to be a trip in itself, the entrance to the park was 10 miles west of town and the lodge must have been another 5 miles into the park. When we entered the huge dining room it was almost empty and we should have taken it as a sign. The only thing they offered was a buffet for $7.95, no menu. The salad bar was fair and the soup was OK. Fatty fried chicken, green beans cooked with fatback, something they called dressing, rice and gravy were your dining “pleasure.”. Pretty much the worst food we have had in recent memory, but at least they had soup spoons.

Purchased Today: $13.00 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1161.59
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 224

The Dragon

We retired early yesterday because we wanted to get up early today and beat the weekend traffic to the gap. Worked too. We left the hotel a little after 7, so we got to the official start of the dragon at about 7:25. All the motorcyclists were still in their tents at the Crossroads of Time when we flew past. Didn’t really keep track, but I figure we made 7 of the 11 miles unimpeded before we had to slow when we caught up to a couple of pickups. While we were at the gravel lot on the other end the only vehicle that went by was truck loaded with house trusses. We knew he would take a while so we waited about 15 minutes before starting out. We sailed up the hill and took another break at the dam overlook. While we were there a Suburban went by, so we waited another 20 minutes or so. When we did leave, we made it all the way back to the NC state line before we caught the Suburban or about 10 miles at speed. The CoT was open when we got back and some of the cyclists were stirring. We went inside and looked at the T-shirts and stickers and such and as we shopped John noticed out the window a semi with a wide load escort go by headed into the gap. We all breathed sigh of relief that we were already through. Here are some photos of trucks in the gap on the Tail of the Dragon site.

From there we headed to the corn maze in Andrews. I have to admit it was more fun than I thought. It was real study in human nature. The guys all huddled around our maps trying to keep track of where we were and we ended up just following Karen, she used “women’s intuition” and led us right out.

We were scheduled to meet the Battles at a restaurant in Telico Plains at 1:00 PM. Because there aren’t many ways to get there we thought for sure it would take too long for us to get there from where we were and we would miss them. Made good time and arrived at Cardin’s about 1:15. As we pulled into the lot, John and Barbara came in from the other direction. The setting is magnificent and the food is good, but service is lacking and what there is, is slow. Donna had to eat her soup with a teaspoon, our waitress came back after rechecking and said she couldn’t find any soup spoons. My and John Haff’s sweet potato fries were cold (at least they took the price of them off the check.) Next year we’ll have to find an alternative lunch location.

After lunch we all drove together back to Robbinsville along the Cherohala Skyway. We did the 10 mile side trip to ogle the Bald River Falls and because of that we missed the 5:00 PM closing of a pottery shop that Karen had requested a visit to on the other side of the pass. To make up for it, we visited a pottery place in Robbinsville, probably not as nice, but it was the best we could come up with.

By now it was after 5:00 PM and after covering more than 200 mountain miles since 7:00 PM, I was toast. Kurt and John hadn’t enough, so they headed off to run through the dragon one more time.

Purchased Today: $12.00 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1148.59
Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 222

Trip Up

No one met us the GA Welcome Center, but that was expected. We met the Haffs at the Publix Shopping Center on Fury’s Ferry Road as expected. The Breitingers weren’t there, but we pressed on without them.

First stop was in McCormick about 30 miles up the road. There we made a pit stop and hung around for about 20 minutes until the Kurt and Karen arrived. Next stop was Walhalla were John requested a gas stop to top off as it is a bit cheaper here then in the mountains proper.

After lunch in our usual haunt in Highlands we pressed on. Outside of Cashiers, John took us on a nice little back road called Wayah Bald Road up to US74/19 instead of the normal SC28. Cool road with a lot of twisty bits, tree lined stretches and almost no traffic.

That evening, the final couple arrived in car # 4, John & Barbara Battles. The 8 of us dined in the new Mexican place in Robbinsville. By the end of the meal it was almost dark and none of wanted to attack the dragon. Not for any fear of the road, but for fear of the deer that might leap in our path. We retired early.

Purchased Today: $7.25 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1136.59
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 220

Oreo Quality Control

My snack for the week was Oreo cookies, Double Delight OREO Coffee and Cream to be exact. My wife packs 5 in a plastic sandwich bag for me to enjoy at my morning break. In each of the last 4 days there has been one cookie in my bag that has had one of the chocolate wafers on upside down, that is a smooth side is showing and the imprinted side is towards the filling. For some reason I don’t remember this little non-conformance occurring with such regularity.

I’m sure in the beginning these defective cookies were destroyed. Then, as with the rest of manufacturing America, cost became more important than quality. Slowly things migrated from throwing them away, to giving them to charities to allowing a certain percentage to make into consumer packages. Now with each passing quarter the total of non-conforming cookies allowed has been increased.

Soon somewhere in the corporate halls of Nabisco a decision will be made to eliminate the embossing of the words OREO and the Nabisco logo altogether. It will be cheaper all around and then it won’t matter at all which way the cookies come together. To keep the identity they will have to spray the likeness of these logos on with some food dye or something.

Oh, and they will call it “New and Improved” too.

Gased Up & Ready To Go

The clothes are in the wash, the windshield is clean and the CD with 20 hours of reggae MP3s is loaded. Just have to put the clean clothes in our “suitcase”, toss it in the trunk and set the alarm for 6:00 PM.

‘Twas the night before Gapping, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The gas tanks were filled with high octane with care,
In hopes that their turbos would not ping while there;

The drivers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of twisty roads danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long pre-drive nap,

There’s more…

Purchased Today: $8.50 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $1129.34
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 219