Cars

One Cheek Landing

Went on my usual 3-mile rollerblading loop this evening. The middle mile is around the one mile walking track surrounds the city’s recreation center. I enter on one side and at about the 3/4 mark the trail it passes between the parking lot and the main road. Cars come in on one lane and they exit in two more, one for right turns and one for lefts. Cars are supposed to yield to walkers and skaters and almost always do. Today one of them didn’t for me.

As I skated towards the entrance I looked behind me so as not to be ambushed by a car swooping in from the road. I then looked forward and could see a big sedan coming out in the left lane and I slowed a bit to make sure he was stopping. When I saw that he was, I continued forward. Trouble was there was a smaller car coming in the right lane, I noticed late, and the driver didn’t even see me at all. I braked hard and it really wasn’t going to be enough, so I turned hard right into the space between the two cars. My right skate came out from under me, dumping me on my right butt cheek.

I got back to my feet and thanked the guy in the car that stopped and looked over at the one that didn’t, who was sitting at the stop sign before entering the main drag, and gave him the evil eye in his rear view mirror. I think he felt bad and was waiting to see if I was alright before going, but I just skated back on my way with wounded pride and a pain in the butt.

I’m still sore 5 hours later and I’m betting that sucker is going to be purple by tomorrow.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 398

Going To Puerto Rico?

Donna spent 2 years in Puerto Rico as a kid and has fond memories of that time. Going back there to visit has always been thought in her mind.

Well, a couple days ago her friend Sally (of State Department fame) emailed to say that once she is done with her tour of duty in Namibia next February she was going to be in the states for a few months before heading off to her next assignment. First she will be spending some time in Louisiana with family and then a fellow embassy friend was lending her their condo in Puerto Rico for a week. A plan was hatched to kill two birds with one stone, a visit to PR and get to see Sally at the same time.

We weren’t planning on spending a whole week with Sally just maybe an afternoon and an evening meal. Sally was going to be spending time with her mom and her daughter. Donna and I would spend a couple days in Fajardo were she spent her early teens when her father was a sea plane pilot flying a Gumann Goose for Antilles Air Boats. Donna actually studied Algebra in Spanish, which explains why she asks me to solve all the quadratic equations we run into in our daily lives. A visit to the only rainforest in the National Park system and a bioluminescent bay were also on the schedule. The next three or four days would be spent exploring the central mountains and the quieter south & west of the island. Saturday while out shopping we bought a book called “Let’s Go Puerto Rico on a Budget.”

That $15 may save us a lot of money.
Driving:

Traffic is heavy; many people disregard speed limits, neglect to use turn signals, and cut off other cars. Markers such as stop signs are treated more like suggestions than rules. – Carjackings are common in Puerto Rico, especially in big cities. To avoid nighttime carjackings they have passed a law that drivers do not have to stop at red lights from midnight to 6AM. Central mountain roads tend to be narrow with sharp curves, poor visibility and frequent one lane washouts. The greatest danger is not the roads, but rather the local drivers who often use the whole road in narrow spots and drive at high speeds around sharp turns.

Health:

There are no required inoculations to visti Puerto Rico, but travelers should have the following vacines up to date; MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), DTaP or Td (diphtheria, tetnus and pertussis), IPV (polio), Hib (haemophilus influenza B), HepB (hepatitis B). Make sure the food you eat is fully cooked and the water is clean for drinking.

Time:

Puerto Ricans have a much more laid back sense of time than most Europeans and North Americans. Things get done when they get done. Restaurants do not maintain strict closing hours and will stay open as long as people are still around. If an establishment is empty, it will likely close early. Museums and stores frequently change opening hours and will close if someone who is supposed to work happens to be sick or unavailable.

After reading all that and reading a bunch of web reviews of tours, tourist spots and accomodations we have pretty much talked ourselves out of going.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 390

Andy Jones

Andy JonesWashed the car this morning in preparation for today’s MMC gathering for the Sno-Cap Drive In’s 42nd Anniversary. We had a pretty decent showing of cars, six, but all of us were late arrivals, so we were beat to the shady spots under the awning by the Corvettes and the VWs.

I was a few minutes late because I stopped for an impromptu photo shoot at the empty Andy Jones car dealer lot. Andy Jones opened a Mazda dealership in Aiken a year or so after I bought my first Miata. A couple years later they moved 15 miles west to this shop in North Augusta. Now they have packed up and moved 20 miles further west to Augusta, GA.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 348

Automobile Enabled Insect Extermination

Bug Splat Line UpWe had a great turn out for last night’s MMC Bug Splat Rally. Nine cars and eighteen people. When we all gathered at the Mexican restaurant for the pre-drive meal we exceeded the number we had called in for, so he nice folks there just added another table.

When Donna and I arrived at the eatery we parked in the back row. The one car that was already there backed out of his spot and came over and parked next to me. The four of us went inside to make sure our table was ready. As the rest of the folks showed up, they, in typical Club fashion, parked one after another in the back row creating a long line of Miatas. Unbeknownst to me about halfway down they left one spot open because there was some glass in it.

After eating and before the drive I always go out with my Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and clean off the noses of the cars, so I could tell the new from the old bug splats. Some folks even go so far as to not wash off their cars just to have a little fun with me. Last year’s “winner” pointed out the mark that was still left on the nose of his car that no amount of bug remover or cleaning could completely erase. I started with my car, hey it was right there after I got the Detailer and towel out of the trunk. As I worked my way down the line of cars I came to a green ’99 with a lip spoiler, hmmmm, I don’t recognize this car. By now most everyone was done inside and was out standing around chatting. I finished the green car and moved on to the next and then the next. It was about then that two fellows walked out of the restaurant and wandered over to our group, seems that they had just come out to get some Mexican food. Seeing the line of Miatas with one open spot in the line was too tempting to pass up, so they parked right in the middle. In spite of our best efforts, they wouldn’t join us on the rally, some sort of work conflict, but we did give them an old newsletter as a Club come-on. Plus they did get a cleaner nose out of it.

Even though we had a good amount of people come out, too bad the bugs didn’t cooperate. The Biggest Bug trophy was won by Dave & Bobbie Winkler for a moth with a 3/4″ wingspan. John & Carol Haff were almost the winners, but when we pulled the remnants of a decent sized dragon fly out of the mouth of their car it was too badly dessicated to have been recent. But they did take home a prize for Closest To The Dot with what is a Bug Splat first by having a spot right dead center of their green one inch diameter Avery dot. The Nicholls won for the most bugs, although most of them may have been on there from the beginning because their nose was the dirtiest to begin with. Rudy & Patti had the cleanest nose to begin with and finished the same way, the front of their car marred only by a long narrow string of insect “blood.” Everyone who participated was awarded a prize of their choosing from a selection Mazda/Miata goodies supplied by Mazda.

We then literally took over the Sweet Cow Creamery in downtown Aiken for dessert and post drive storytelling.

The 45,000 Most Beautiful Cars Ever

Mickey D'sA co-worker shared his September issue of Automobile magazine with me today. The cover story was titled “The 25 Most Beautiful Cars Ever.” When you talk style and design everyone has an opinion and I can agree with most of their assessments, but they needed to drop one of the ones they picked or have made it twenty-six because they forgot to include the 2001-2005 Mazda Miata. 🙂

I even have no quibble with them listing the current Pontiac Solstice as a future collectible that you can buy now. It is not a bad looking car, but it will be a collectible because the total number of Solstices produced won’t be very many. If they make them for more than five years I’ll be surprised.

The biggest bewilderment was smack in the middle of the article, between the 1990-96 Nissan 300ZX and the 1954-57 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gull wing was a 4 page fold out on the new Chrysler Sebring. WTF? This car is one ugly thing. Matter of fact its looks could be improved by adding one or more of the article’s big styling dont’s, fake wood grain siding, a vinyl top or some opera windows.

On the way home from work today the Emperor surpassed the 45,000 mile mark. Hey, isn’t that some sort of service milestone?

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 336

Town Hall

Municipal BuildingIn spite of my best efforts to do nothing at all today but lay about the house, my lovely wife coerced me into a 2-part, approximately 12 mile jaunt on the tandem this morning.

The first part consisted of some random travels around our side of town with the final destination being the city building to pay the water bill. While we were cutting through Citizen’s Park on a newly created roadway connecting the 2 existing ball field complexes to the newly opened 3rd, I started expounding on just how useless the several speed humps they placed on the road were. They are about 3 feet wide and maybe an inch and a half high. They would hardly register in our low slung, tightly sprung Miata, let alone the typical SUV or minivan that would be traveling this road. Of course they were marked with bright yellow signs proclaiming “Speed Hump” just in case someone did notice a slight tremor in their Starbucks coffee cup they would be assured it was an actual road hazard and not the offspring of someone they might see in the pick up line at the Montessori school. Donna asked where my camera was, so that a picture of this extra layer of asphalt could become this blog’s POTD. I said it was at home, so that is where we went next.

After slipping the camera into a jersey pocket it was back on the front of the bike for part two. It was getting late enough in the day that I thought it better just to head downtown to take care of our real business instead of going back to take pictures of a road. We more or less headed directly to City Hall. But a couple of early church services must have just let out because traffic was as bad as it gets in our little town. We did a couple of rights on red so as not to have to wait on lights surrounded by nicely dressed old folks in big cars. We finally ducked in through an alley and arrived at the Municipal Building and the front of the place was thankfully deserted. I propped the bike against the curb and took a few shots. Fortunately most of the church goers had cleared the roads, so we had a pleasant little trip home.

I didn’t avoid the bike ride, but the lawn remains unmowed and the car is still filthy inside and out.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 324

Grand Prix Saturday

I bought the long awaited DVD of the movie Grand Prix last Saturday and finally watched it today, a week later. Donna had said she would be interested in watching it with me, but she is not to receptive of loud noises right now and with half the reason to see this movie being the sounds of mid 60’s Formula 1 race cars, I watched it by myself. On the laptop with headphones on. VRRROOOOM, VRRROOOMMM.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 295