Cars

Why Won’t It Start

The streak of failures continues:

Tonight for no apparent reason Donna’s Mom’s 97 Honda Civic failed to start. It had started fine 2 times earlier in the evening, but the 3rd time was a charm. To ice the cake it decided to not start 25 miles from home in a quick-stop parking lot in Augusta. Plenty of battery power, it just wouldn’t turn over. Mom is a AAA member so we called a tow truck to haul the car back to Honda Cars of Aiken so they can hopefully fix it in the morning. We called a friend to come over to Augusta to take Donna and Mom home while I waited for the tow truck. Fun way to spend a Friday night. At least it wasn’t raining….

Poker Run

Today was a big day. We went to Warner Robins to participate in the MidGA Miata Club’s annual Toys for Tots Poker Run. we left the house at 7:45 AM to meet the rest of our Club members at the GA Welcome Center. There were only 2 others who showed up, Tony Cappucci and Karl Johnson and Tony wasn’t making the trip, his wife was home sick so he was going to go back home and play nurse. We had to pick up the Rushtons (Scott and Lisa) in Thompson, GA about 30 miles down the road on the way to our destination. After a meeting in the McDonald’s lot our 3 car caravan headed out. The poker run was scheduled to start at 1:00 PM and as it turned out with one missed turn in Macon and a slow Pizza Hut lunch we got there about 10 minutes after 1. Our 3 cars were almost the last to sign up. The MidGa folks had arranged for some media attention, one of the Macon TV stations had sent a camera man down to shoot some footage (I wonder if we made the news?) They also had a photographer and reporter from the Macon newspaper. The reporter was looking for an empty seat to join in the fun and Karl volunteered, so I’m sure we’ll get in the paper. The loop for the run was 60 miles and nicely laid out, with for some reason, easy to follow directions. The only down side was the fact that it never made it out of the 40’s so we kept the tops up for almost all of the drive. After picking our last card we made a potty stop at a McDonalds. We realized that we only had a couple miles to go so we put our tops down to trick the crowd at the finish into thinking we did the drive that way. We let them stare and point a bit before we admitted we just put them down recently. They had prizes for the top 6 hands, cash for the top three and other items for the other 3. Donna and I ended up with 4th place with a pair of 9s and a pair of 5s. We traded the turkey frying kit that wouldn’t have fit into the trunk, nor did we want, for a gift certificate to the Atlanta Bread Company. Also cleaned up on door prizes too. We all did, they only had 22 cars show, I’m sure due to the weather, but had prizes for like 50.

Another thing big thing was the total mileage. Turns out it is 165 miles from our door to the old Wal-Mart parking lot in Warner Robins. So with the round trip and miles involved with the poker run we ended up driving 390 miles today. We got home almost exactly 12 hours after we left. I took my hat off about halfway home, but as I sit here typing this it still feels like I have it on. When this is finished I’m showering and going to bed.

Started up, went down, went back up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 317

Spoiler = Silly

What’s with the spoilers on cars these days. Everybody’s got to have one. Spoiler = Sporty? My neighbor’s new Toyota Camry’s got a little wing spoiler, even the “sport” edition Camry is not sporty. Wolf’s clothing will not make a sheep a carnivore. I’ve seen wing spoilers on the newer Ford Tauruses as well. Come on people, I’ve rented a Taurus SES and trust me neither of those esses stands for sporty. Today’s 4-door sedan spoiler sighting was even more out of place, a current body-style Mercury Sable. WTF? To make it even more oxymoronic, if that is possible, was the vinyl roof treatment. 😎

Be Careful

We missed any rain on the drive up, although the clouds looked like we might get a downpour, it never materialized. We put it up when we got to the hotel, as everyone wanted a driving break after the 6-hour trip up. But the break didn’t last long, as the siren’s call of 318 turns just up the road, had us back in our cars in about an hour. We managed to get one complete spirited run through out of both passes. On the north run we came up behind a small car at about 2 miles in that didn’t take the hint to pull over until about 5 miles later. On the way back south we had to chill until halfway through and we passed Sheriff’s car #2. We knew there were 2 Sheriff’s cars in the gap, because they passed by us as we took a break in the big gravel lot at the Tennessee end. One stopped and chatted with us a bit and asked if we were enjoying ourselves and told us to be careful, we were. At dinner that evening I balked at putting the top up, but Donna insisted, so up it went. As usual, Donna was right, as it had started to sprinkle before we were done eating.

Started down, went up, went down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 236

The Taurus Diaries

Lexington Park, MD to Lexington, VA. Today was a beautiful back-road jaunt through the middle of Virginia. Made a stop in Richmond to visit a cousin of Donna’s. We had a couple of hours to kill before we could get together so we visited the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Nice place to visit and it was in very good shape considering the drought that central Virginia is in the middle of. After lunch with cousin Suzy & her daughter we finished the day’s journey by heading west on US 60, a very straight road with lots of ups and downs until you hit the Blue Ridge Mountains. Then it winds it way to the top where it crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway and then winds itself right back down into the Lexington area. The Taurus didn’t do to bad on the twisty roads, a set of higher performance tires and I’m sure we could have given some of today’s “sports” cars a good run.

That night I went to my second high school football game ever. The last one was almost 29 years ago while in my senior year of New Britain High School. Some friends and I snuck into the Thanksgiving Day game with our big cross-town rivals, Pulaski High. Tonight I “snuck” into the game between cross-county rivals, Rockbridge County High School and Parry McCluer High School. Stuart is the RCHS Marching Band Drum Major and tonight was his first football game in that capacity. Mom Sally is the president of the Band Booster Club, so she asked us to come along and help out. We followed the tractor pulling the trailer of band equipment down the road into the field to keep stuff from falling off. We just waved at the guy guarding the gate as we walked on by. Later that night I thanked Sally for helping fulfill a life-long dream of being able to get backstage somewhere by just saying, “I’m with the band.”

A Couple Of Quick Toots

Well it wasn’t exactly crowded out there, but when you are used to only seeing a dozen cars total on the 10 mile trip, 30 or so seems like a lot. Almost all of them on the one road that goes by the entrance to a middle school.

One thing happened to make up for the downer traffic though, we were barreling down a back road and noticed a half dozen kids just standing around or sitting on their book bags waiting for the school bus. As we got closer one little girl about 8 or 9 notices us coming, she jumps up shouting and pointing, “That car’s got teeth on it! That car’s got teeth on it!” All the other heads turn our way, a couple of quick toots on the air horns and everybody’s, kids and car occupants, morning just got a little brighter.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 205

Ice Cream on a Summer Night

We headed out for a little shopping expedition this evening and it was still hot and ugly humid out. On the way back we stopped at an ice cream place to get a scoop each. Most folks were eating their ice cream on the benches surrounding the stand, but quite a few were inside their air conditioned cars. I don’t know about you, but part of the reason you eat ice cream on a summer night is get cooled off, just doesn’t seem like the same enjoyment can be had from eating it inside the air conditioning.