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Masters Miata Club

Breakfast at Betsy’s

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Breakfast at Betsy'y

Donna and I arrived at Greg’s Gas Plus about 15 minutes early, so we would be there before anyone else. We were, but not for too long as Hal and Trudy Scott joined us. We chatted for awhile about the usual stuff while we waited for other Miatas to arrive, but mostly marveled at the shear amount of traffic that stopped at Greg’s and 90% of it was pick up trucks. The mix was 50/50 with lawn care trailers headed south to the lawns of the cities and boat trailers headed north to Clarks Hill Lake.

At one point the lot was so full that a truck hauling a boat stopped directly in front of us. The passenger disembarked and headed into the store for ice, a rest room break or maybe just a cup of coffee. The driver came out and called to us, “You guys don’t need to go anywhere in the next 5 minutes do you?” So I asked, “What time is it?” He dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone, unlocked it, pulled up an app and said, “Seven thirty-seven.” “Actually, we probably should be gone already,” I said, “But you don’t have to move, we’re small and can get around you.” He got back in his truck and by the time I finished a quick Drivers Meeting1 and the four of us got in our cars, he was fully out of our way, so we drove off with a wave.

We arrived at Betsy’s about 10-15 minutes later than advertised and there were three Miatas already parked outside. Inside we found John & Pat Clark, Rita & Larry Garner and Tom Varallo at a table with enough empty seats for the 4 of us plus a walk-in2. The nine of us ordered our food and in typical Miata Club fashion one plate was slightly late, one plate needed to be returned for fixing and a couple of dishes weren’t piping hot.

Counting today’s group we had a total of 14 people for Breakfast at Betsy’s if you count the 5 members who ate there last week too after I published the detail’s of this month’s breakfast on the front page of the web site without the date in the post.

All and all, Betsy’s is a splendid spot for breakfast in Aiken on a Saturday morning3, the food is good and the prices are not that expensive.

1 I handed Trudy a map she didn’t need and told them, “Follow me.”
2 No one did.
3 The only day they are open for breakfast.

Tagged: Eating Out, Masters Miata Club, Miatatude

55,000 Gazinta 150,000 How Many Times?

Saturday, May 16, 2015

French Toast

Last night Donna and I took a drive to confirm my wholly online Google Map planned route for this morning’s MMC Breakfast At Betsy’s event we were leading. Half way to I-20 I noticed the Sonata’s ODO read 55008. We were only about 4 miles from the our driveway so the Purple Whale must have passed the 55,000 mark on our way home from work on Monday. Didn’t notice.

Good thing we pre-ran the course too, because Mr Google was thrown off by construction of Giant Tire Parkway and its interruption of Vaucluse Road. The map had me turning right after a half mile when it was really a left after more like a whole mile.

At the start point of the drive this morning we were joined by exactly one other Miata. Had this been any other Club event besides breakfast we would have called the thing off, but because we had to eat anyway and the restaurant was back in our own Fair City(R) we lead one other couple on a convoluted route through Edgefield & Aiken Counties to Betsy’s. I had the trip counter up because I needed it for keeping track of the miles between turns as called out by my navigator along the way, but once we were just one familiar turn from our destination I flipped it back the odometer. It read 149999. A few feet before pulling into a parking spot the Emperor hit 150,000 miles.

There were three other Miatas already there.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1482
Tagged: Masters Miata Club, Miata Mileage, Sonata Mileage

Cars & Coffee

Friday, March 6, 2015

Daily DriverA little thing called Cars & Coffee, an informal car guy gathering, started out in California 7 or 8 years ago and has been spreading around the country. Mostly in big towns, but now some of the smaller places are picking up on it.

Turns out there has been one in Augusta, GA on the first Saturday morning of the month for a year now, but I never knew about it. Someone in the Miata Club brought it up at the yearly planning meeting and requested I put it on the MMC’s event calendar.

Shoot, I like cars and I like coffee, so Donna and I are going to go over there tomorrow to check it out. We also have an ulterior motive, it will count as a car show point in the Moss Motoring Challenge…

The 11-1/2 year-old, 149,000 mile Miata got a bath tonight. I even used a bit of some spray-on wax to gussy it up more gooder. When you get that close to the Emperor you can see it is starting to show its age in paint chips, scratches small dents, so I made up the little sign you see above to place on the dash.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1467
Tagged: Masters Miata Club, Miata Washings, Miatatude, Motoring Challenge

A Day Early

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

And 4 days late.

The offset O2 sensor wrench from Harbor Freight came in the mail today. If I follow along with the USPS tracking page this tool left Los Angeles, CA and passed through Lake Havasu City, AZ, Vaughn, NM, Clarksville, AR, Graysville, AL and Atlanta, GA before arriving in Aiken, SC some 2,400 miles later. When I looked at the return address label on the padded envelope it arrived in it said; Harbor Freight, 224 Harbor Freight Rd, Dillon, SC 29536. Did it actually come from California in 7 days or did a Postal Service employee walk it the 160 miles from Dillon to my house in the same time frame?

I’m not sure just what I’m going to do with it right now. Do I mail it back to return it? Do I make a trip to Augusta to return it? Do I eat it and keep it as a backup in case the one I bought from Advanced Auto breaks when I’m trying to replace the front sensor when it inevitably fails in 6 months? Maybe I’ll give it away as a door prize at this Saturday’s MMC breakfast.

Tagged: Masters Miata Club, Rants, WTF

Dual Doughnut Shop Day

Saturday, January 17, 2015
 

 

And an Ice Cream Parlor too, it wasn’t open, we just stopped in for a photograph. I’ve monkeyed with this enough that you can’t read the sign which reads: Pink Dipper an old fashioned ice cream parlour. All the digital darkroom messing around helps hide the fact that I’m holding the Challenge Poster upside down too. I didn’t notice while posing and the camera woman was more worried about composition than content, so it wasn’t until we got home that we noticed the faux pas.

The MMC Breakfast was lightly attended, I’m not sure whether it was because it was January and cold or “Doughnuts for breakfast?!?” or the no chain rule violation. Anyway, there were 10 people in 5 Miatas and 1 Prius who whiled away an hour or so eating puffy fried dough coated in pure sugar and downing hot beverages.

I snagged one of their trademark paper caps, possibly left over from the Free Hat Day on the 15th, with the intention to wear it while being photographed in our Motoring Challenge photos today. Trouble is we dropped the top on the Miata after breakfast, so I threw the hat in the trunk so as not to have it blow off and promptly forgot about it.

Didn’t notice it again until after we were done taking our pictures and were doing a little shopping in Aiken. As I was tossing my newly purchased DD K-Cups in the trunk I did a Homer Simpson head slap (DOH!) Oh well, I left it in there, maybe when we run across another KK I’ll don it and have Donna take my picture with the Miata and Challenge poster to use as a Sneak Peek Bonus point.

As predicted yesterday we did take 4 photos for the Challenge, just substitute Water Tower for One-Lane Bridge.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1450

Motoring Challenge Points 4, Approx Miles Driven 40
Totals So Far: 10 points & 170 miles
Tagged: Masters Miata Club, Motoring Challenge

More Of A Guideline Than A Rule

Friday, January 16, 2015
 

 

More fun with filters. I’m fairly sure this isn’t an Instagram one…

This Saturday’s breakfast with the MMC violates rule number one of the event charter; No Chains. Tomorrow the Club will meet at a Krispy Kreme in Augusta. We haven’t been to an event with them in a while, so it is about time to make an appearance. As usual we will probably have a small pre-breakfast because of the later than normal for us to eat time. And while I would probably be alright with just doughnuts for the morning repast, Donna would not and I should not.

We will probably snag a couple more Challenges points while we are out; Book Store, Ice Cream Parlor, Irish Pub and maybe a One-Room Schoolhouse.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1449
Tagged: Masters Miata Club, Motoring Challenge

Dyno Movies From Panic Park

Sunday, September 21, 2014

They’re kind of fuzzy because I cropped and resized them from the camera’s native 640×480 to a blog sized 800×450. The first video is of the first run:
httpvh://youtu.be/vsC54TNTkyY

This video is of the second run:
httpvh://youtu.be/-RhDmb9VlPY

The best HP number came on the third run – 104.3@6400RPM

Tagged: Masters Miata Club, Miatatude
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sturgeon’s law

"Ninety Percent Of Everything Is Crap"
Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud." Oddly, when Sturgeon's Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to 'crap'.

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1) Last Marker of the Yellowstone Trail in Hetting 1) Last Marker of the Yellowstone Trail in Hettinger, ND 2) Cowboy Riding Missile in Bowman, ND 3) Creepy Crawler Giant Baby in Miles City, MT

1) Last Marker of the Yellowstone Trail in Hettinger, ND 2) Cowboy Riding Missile in Bowman, ND 3) Creepy Crawler Giant Baby in Miles City, MT

#roadsideamerica #lastmarkeroftheyellowstonetrail #hettingernd #cowboyridingmissile #bowmannd #creepycrawlergiantbaby #milescitymt

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