Sport, Off-Road, Touring

Santa Fe Edition of SORT
As of Monday, November 15, 2021 at 9:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2010 Mazda RX-8 R3 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer 1956 Nash Statesman Super Sedan
No, the Nissan Maxima is not it, this is a four-door sports car. Forget the Wrangler, this has got some real room. Perfect for some slow speed touring, AKA cruising.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to, if the reserve was not met.
Sports: 2009 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster Sold for $17,500 on 11/13/21
Off-Road: 1987 Suzuki Samurai 4×4 5-Speed Sold for $17,500 on 11/13/21
Touring: 1961 Chrysler Newport Wagon Sold for $41,961 on 11/13/21

35,000 Native American Names

Today was a the last of three days of travel and we drove in three different states. We started in Utah, traveled a bit of Colorado and into New Mexico so we have passed through and by about thirty five thousand casinos, reservations and pueblos.

Just before we got into Nageezi, New Mexico our Mitsubishi Outlander Sport clicked over 35,000 miles.

Damn, That’s Good Stuff

Started the day in Elko, Nevada and ended up in Moab, Utah. The quickest way that Google says to go should be 461 miles and take nearly 7 hours. We covered over 480 and it took us 10-1/2 hours.

The extra miles were from noodling around the NV/UT border on I-80 looking for a Utah state map (unsuccessful), to take a photo of the rental car near Bonneville Salt Flats sign (also unsuccessful) and to eat at a Chick-Fil-A outside of Salt Lake City (again unsuccessful.)

The extra time was partially because the switch to Mountain Time at the Utah border, partially those frivolous miles at the Utah border and the Garmin GPS leading us to a place called Pita Bakery near Salt Lake City that turned out to be an actual large scale bakery and not a place to eat. We then found a Chick-Fil-A, but after seeing the length of the drive-up line and the lack of nearby parking for possibly walking in we opted for a small Japanese spot for lunch in the same shopping center.

The highlights of the day were breakfast in Elko at the Coffee Mug, and a doughnut and coffee at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Wells, NV. The Coffee Mug was researched ahead of time and was always going to be breakfast in Elko. But we lucked into the Dunkin’. We had gotten off I-80 in Wells looking for a place for a leg stretch/nature break where we saw a big casino/truck stop. As we pulled and saw the Dunkin’ sign we knew we hit the jackpot.

On a side note, this is the only Dunkin’ Donuts, of the 33 in Nevada, that is not near Vegas or Reno and we have been here before on our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip to a niece’s wedding in Tahoe. Can’t remember if it was sought out then or another serendipitous find like today.

34,000 Casinos


As you can see we are about to enter the state of Nevada where gambling is not only legal, but encouraged. The folks who live here want you to gamble so much there is a slot machine everywhere you turn. We have been in this state for a little over 250 miles and in 4 hours have passed about thirty-four thousand casinos.

Somewhere not too far into the state of Nevada the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport clicked past the 34,000 mile mark.

Coincidence?

Shortly after moving here we wanted to take a trip to Washington state to see the family. But just before we left to go, almost 2 years ago to the day from the present, the Mini started acting up. It was misfiring and unfortunately the local place we took it to couldn’t get to it until after our scheduled departure, so we had to rent a car.

Fast forward to this year and Donna’s friend for life Sally Lewis has retired from the State Department and has bought a home in Santa Fe, NM. She would like us to come down and help her settle in to the new home.

The Mini has had a Brake Warning Light on in the dash for a bit, but we thought we should get it looked at before taking the 1,300 mile drive to the New Mexico capitol city. We took the Lady Bug to our friends at Emmett’s yesterday morning so they would have a couple of days to sort it out. We got the call last evening that it was going need some new front brake pads and sensors. No big deal, those are the original brakes and at 44k that seemed about right. But the big bugaboo were the calipers, both sides were showing very uneven wear meaning that one side was sticking. These were the parts that they couldn’t get locally, so the had to order them and they won’t be here until Monday next.

In 2019 the Mini was all we had here at the time, this year we do have the Miata as a back up, but we don’t want take it because it is nearing winter. Our travels will take us through several mountain ranges and ultra high performance summer tires do not go together well with cold temperatures and any kind of winter precipitation. Rather than put off the trip, we opted to do what we did in 2019, rent a car.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

HBO Premiers Edition of SORT
As of Monday, November 8, 2021 at 9:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2009 Aston Martin
V8 Vantage Roadster		 1987 Suzuki
Samurai 4×4 5-Speed		 1961 Chrysler
Newport Wagon
Eight cylinders, two seats and zero tops. Were you expecting another Land Cruiser? I’ll flip you for sitting in the rear facing back seat.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to, if the reserve was not met.
Sports: 1969 Pontiac GTO Convertible Sold for $55,000 on 11/6/21
Off-Road: 1973 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 Bid to $27,000 on 11/4/21
Touring: 1955 Chevrolet 210 Handyman Wagon Sold for $77,000 on 11/7/21

Happy 32st Miataversary

Hard to believe it was thirty-two years ago when I drove home in a shiny new Mariner Blue Mazda Miata.

Decided to get the current Miata out of the garage this evening for a short drive. When we last drove it, sometime last week, it barely started, so I vowed to get behind the wheel for a drive at least once a week to keep the battery alive. Well, it just about started again this evening…

When we got back home and parked I hooked the CTBNL to an IV of battery tender.