Cars

Gas Strand

Tomorrow is my birthday and Monday is Donna and my anniversary, so we decided to get away for the weekend. Last week we made reservations at a hotel in Myrtle Beach. This week, for what ever reason, gas became scarce around these parts with half of the stations in Aiken not having any gas and the ones that do, usually only have regular. The gas station at Krogers has had a line 20 cars long in both directions for the past two days. Maybe they have premium?

Yesterday we checked the Myrtle Beach newspaper online and they had an article about the gas shortage, but they only mentioned one station that was out of gas and the rest of the story was more general about the whole southeast region having availability issues. We started to question as to whether we should make the trip. One thing that was making us want to go was we had put a non-refundable one night deposit down on the charge card. But we didn’t want to get 200 miles away and not be able to find enough as to gas to get back home. So this morning we decided to go get some breakfast and check to see how easy we could find some gas in Aiken. There was already a line at Kroger and the next couple of stations we passed had bags over their pump handles. On the west and north side of town gas was a little more plentiful. We stopped at one northside station and filled up the tank as we were a little below a half a tank. All they had was regular. We almost decided to pack it in and go home, but agreed to go up to I-20 and see if those stations had gas. If they didn’t we would just turn around and go home. Of the the 4 stations at the interstate only one was pumping gas.

Screw it we said and pressed on. If worse came to worse we could always turn around at Columbia. About 45 miles into our trip we pulled off at an exit for a snack break that only had one gas station. They had gas, all grades, and no line. The station is several miles from a town of any size, so the only people who get gas here are the few folks who live out this way and the random interstate drop-ins like us. Not enough people I guess to create a critical mass of panic making everyone keep topping off their tanks when ever they see a gas station with a line. When we got to Myrtle Beach, everybody has gas. When we spoke to someone at a welcome center she said the only place that was out of gas was the one mentioned in that online article we read.

When I filled up this morning in Aiken I had been 170 miles and the tank took 6.5 gallons meaning that my time running mid grade netted a 26.3 MPG average. That might be slightly less than my usual average with the normal premium gas, but seeing as I haven’t really been keeping track there is no way to tell for sure. When we got to Conway, at the first gas station we saw, I stopped in to fill up with premium like Mr. Mazda wants me too. There was still a little over a half a tank left so the car only took 5.4 gallons, but we had been 194 mostly interstate miles. That resulted in an average 34.7 MPG! Usually all interstate driving results in around 32 MPG, must have been that magical mixture of a half a tank of mid-grade and a half a tank of regular…

The real reason for the higher MPG was probably because I didn’t drive at my usual speed. Normally I set the cruise for an indicated speed of 80 MPH which means I have an actually ground speed of 75, my typical five miles an hour above the posted speed limit, today I set the cruise at 75 so I was probably moving along at right around 70 MPH.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 363

Mid Grade

The 2001+ Miatas, which the Emperor is one of, requires premium (91 octane) fuel because they bumped the compression, among other things, to increase the horsepower. Because of this I have been paying 20¢ more a gallon than must folks.

The car will run on lower octane gas because the ECU (brain) will compensate and adjust the timing so the engine won’t knock. When this happens the car will lose a few horses and the gas mileage will also suffer some. I have never cheated and run lower grade stuff, because even when the car is on E it only takes 10 gallons to fill up, so considering the downsides, saving two bucks more a tankful is just not worth it.

When I first got the car I was startled by a sort of abrupt surge in engine power as it passes up through 3000 RPM when the car is not fully warm. I wondered if there was something wrong because none of my previous Miatas did that. I checked that fountain of Miata knowledge, the forums on Miata.net and learned that that behavior was common in the 2001+ cars. They added a mechanical variable valve timing thingamabob and that in conjunction with ECU created that little surge which smoothed out after the engine was up to temperature.

Funny thing happened last Friday though, because Hurricane Ike created havoc with the gas supply in our neck of the woods, when I finally found a place that actually had gas for sale they weren’t selling premium. I filled the car up with mid grade (89 octane) and so far my butt dyno has noticed zero difference in pep. And as a bonus that, still surprising after all these years, 3000 RPM surge is gone. I didn’t check to see if the mileage was down, so tonight I filled it up with mid grade again. At the next fill up I’ll see if I end up getting less than the usual 27 MPG.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 360

Goo Goo Eyes

Today we rode the tandem into work and our arrival time was around 15 minutes before the opening bell, so to speak, for most of the hourly employees, so quite a few of them were sitting under the break area awning getting in one last smoke before going to work. Unfortunately the bike rack where we are supposed to park is like 15 feet from the awning, so Donna and I have to unload our lunches and change of clothes right in front of the crowd.

Now a person on a bicycle is a rare enough sight as it is, but put two people on a long ass bike and we are talking parade level attention. One of the engineers was arriving at the same time and as he walked up to the building he noticed us unloading, but what he found most eye-catching was not us, but the looks of all the other employees openly gawking at Donna and I. He said nearly everyone was looking in our direction with sort of an incredulous look, as if they were thinking to themselves that no sane person would ride that thing.

Yesterday we had a very busy day, so instead of coming home and cooking something we dined out at what used to be one of our favorite southside eateries, Wing Place (why it “used to be” is the subject of another post.) When we were finished eating and heading for the door there was also a mom leaving with her daughter just in front of us. The girl was somewhere between to ages of seven and ten, very cute, with long curly light colored hair, a big ol’ smile and the largeest eyes you ever saw. I really noticed the eyes because they were aimed directly at me. This girl was staring at me like I was a movie star or a pony.

As it turned out, mom and daughter were parked next to us in the parking lot, so we were more or less following them. About half way towards the cars I got another look from the little girl. Donna wondered if I dripped a bunch of ranch dipping sauce down the front of my shirt and she hadn’t noticed. Mom loaded the little girl in the back of their Jeep Wrangler as we got into the Miata. The girl was looking over at me, with an almost wistful expression, like maybe she was wishing it was her getting into the Miata instead of Donna. As the mom was going around to the driver’s side of their vehicle we put the top down. The girl was still looking our way with her big eyes and her chin in her hands with her elbows on the side of the Jeep and I could swear she let out a sigh of regret, it was almost creepy.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 252

Gully Washer

Literally.

I went out and took off the cockpit cover, so I could put the top up around 2:00 PM. I had checked the radar and it looked like we might get passing thunderstorm in the next half hour. I was right about the storm, but wrong about the time, it took about an hour and a quarter to get to us. I was also wrong about the passing part, that sucker stopped over us. It was still raining hard at our 4 o’clock quitting time. We decided to wait a while, the way it was pouring we would have gotten soaked getting to the car, even with the umbrella.

It was still coming down in buckets at around 4:30 and there must have been a dozen or so front office types hanging out by the door waiting for the break in the rain that seemingly might never come. Not being able to take it any longer, one of the QC engineers shouted, “I’ll show you how it is done!” and sprinted into the rain, disappearing front sight within 25 yards. Next a woman from HR removed her shoes and walked out under her umbrella. The exodus began.

At the end of the sidewalk at the the edge of the parking lot there are the storm drains, but they were not keeping up and causing a section that was under 4-6 inches of water between everyone and their cars. Our feet got soaked right from the start. Because of where the Emperor is always parked we had a long walk across wind swept pavement while some extremely large, unseen, being sprayed us with his garden hose.

I don’t even want to talk abut the drive home, there were several places that we almost floated….

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 243

G.A.B.B.

Donna and I rode the tandem to work today. We were not the only ones to Get to ASCO By Bike either, two other folks did as well. One was of course Mr. Bike Commuter Numero Uno, Willie, and an engineer from the front office, Gerry. While at an office function this morning, cake and insults for a co-worker who is leaving, Donna and I asked Gerry how far he rode and which way he came. His commute is almost twice as long as ours and he comes a direct route that takes him up busy US1 for the last mile and a half. We tried to explain our route that avoids that section of road, but couldn’t really get it across.

I got back to my desk to print out a Google map, but then realized I had something already drawn up showing our route from way back in the 90’s when we used to do a bike ride to work for other company employees during May (National Bike Month.) I got the company to sponsor the event and they bought doughnuts, bagels and coffee for the first year. The second year I talked them into T-shirts for the riders as well as breakfast. The first ride attracted 5 riders with Donna and I included to a peak at year 5 with over 30 riders on 2 different morning rides and an afternoon one for second shift. One year we even had a small group ride in at 11:00PM for 3rd shift.

Every year I would try and entice folks to ride starting in the beginning of May with flyers and what not stuck in their mailboxes. For the third year I did a mock David Letterman Top Ten Reasons to Ride to ASCO (keep in mind that it was 1994, so some of them are time sensitive.)

From the Home Office in Sioux City, Iowa….

David Letterman’s Top Ten Reasons for Doing GABB 3

10. Guaranteed not to get a speeding ticket like a certain talk show host.
9. To train for 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
8. Really cool noise that baseball cards make when hitting the spokes.
7. Lots safer than next month’s Get to ASCO By Skydiving.
6. After the ride, posterior will still feel better than Michael Fay‘s.
5. Never really appreciate the beauty of the Taj Mahal when speeding by in a car.
4. More thrilling than Space Mountain at Disney World when cars pass by real close going 55 M.P.H.
3. Sharon Stone and Tone Loc will be at the post ride party.
2. Daylight Doughnuts are a lot more nutritional than the usual Hardee’s Sausage Biscuit.
and the #1 reason for doing GABB 3…
This year’s T-shirt will be ISO 9002 certified.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 230

78,000 Pieces of Candy

The MMC was “float” #30 and Gnorm was there to make sure we parked in the right spot, in front of the horses and a few participants behind the DJ Man.

This morning when we got in the Emperor to meet the club for breakfast before the parade, the odometer read 78,000 miles even, which is coincidentally the total number of pieces of candy tossed out of the 4 cars to the crowds lining the streets of Trenton, SC today.

This afternoon we watched the last four episodes of Season 3 of House. Instead of waiting to watch Season 4 on DVD when it comes out in August, I thought I’d try my new TV Gizmo and watch it online. Can’t, sorta. All that are available on Fox or Hulu are episodes 1,2,13 & 14. Seems as if they are rerunning the show during the summer and only want you to see it on network TV.

Which leads to a full review of said Gizmo — pretty much what I said before, OK for video, sucks for text. Will I probably get my forty bucks worth out of it? Yep.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 215

Even Better The Second Time

Went to the movies last night and got home today, well 2:30AM this morning.

Last night the MMC went to the “local” drive-in, The Big Mo, in Monetta, SC. I use Master’s Miata Club loosely, there were three cars that made the trip. Two other cars did show up at Sonic and eat with us, but didn’t go the extra 35 miles to see the movies. That’s right, movies, for six bucks a head you get to see two first run pictures. A couple years back they added a second screen so you actually have a pick of two double features. Screen #2 was showing What Happens In Vegas and Made of Honor, while on the original screen Indiana Jones and Iron Man were playing. Of the three couples going, one had seen the Vegas movie, one had seen the Indiana Jones movie and one had seen Iron Man. Guess which movies we went to see?

Right, the two that started with the letter I. When we got to the drive in they had already been letting cars in for about 10 minutes and the place was already 2/3rds full. We were parked by 7:15 and only had an hour and a half to kill before the first feature started, so we did what happens at any Miata Club gathering, we broke out the food.

First up was Indiana Jones and the Last Temple of the Lost Crystal Kingdom. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the next one not so much and skipped the third entirely, so let’s say we were not as excited to see this installment as the other four folks. One, maybe two, cracks about Indy’s age would have been cute, but they got old (pun intended) fast. Don’t get me started on the “thrilling” chase sequence through the jungle… I will have to give them credit as they managed to not fall into the trap of the eternally ready torch (which I have whined about here in the recent past). They had an explanation that worked, for this movie. When entering an ancient crypt deep in a cave below a mountain or pyramid or something in the Andes Mountains, someone yanks a torch off the wall and before he lights it says, “Hey, this is fresh. Someone’s been in here recently.”

The drive in is not an ideal venue for watching a movie (except for the kind they used to show in them in the 70s), so if Donna and I hadn’t seen Iron Man in a nearly ideal setting a couple of weeks ago, seeing it at the Big Mo would have driven me to want to see it in a real movie theater. In spite of a chunk of the bottom right of the screen missing due to the SUV in front of us, the car idling next door so they could run their AC, the steady stream of people passing in front of us on their way to and from the concession stand, the crying baby, the biting ants and knowing what was going to happen next, Iron Man was even better the second time. If you haven’t seen it yet, call in sick to work tomorrow and catch a matinee, you’ll thank me for it.

I wonder if I can pre-order the DVD on Amazon yet? Yep.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 184