Miata Mileage

26,000

What started out as a Saturday day trip turned into a Friday & Saturday overnighter on basically a whim. Donna and I had sort of planned an impromptu trip up to Deal’s Gap for Saturday. It is the weekend of annual Miatas at the Gap, an unofficial (inter)national meeting of Miatas in the western mountains of NC.

Earlier in the week we decided to get a hotel room in Anderson, SC for Saturday night so we wouldn’t have to go there and back in one day.

About 7:30 Friday night Donna’s mom said, “I thought you we leaving tonight?” A seed was planted. We checked the radar and it didn’t look good, all green between here and Anderson. So we just packed our bag as if we were leaving in the morning. About 8:15 we looked at the radar again and the green was dissipating. Hmmm, called the hotel, they had a room. Threw some more clothes in the bag. Checked the radar as we were leaving and there was hardly any green showing. We did manage to make it all the way to Anderson with the top down. Had to drive through a few sprinkley patches, but we stayed dry.

The Emperor passed the 26,000 mile mark about 10 miles out of Aiken.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 242

25,000 Peaches

And about 10 Shriners on Go-Karts. The Emperor passed the 25,000 mile mark on the way to the Ridge Peach Parade this morning. It was organized chaos, both in the manner of go-kart driving in front of us and at the start when the “float” markers weren’t out on time, so we just kind of lined up where we thought we should be. Coincidentally there were 10 Miatas in the parade following right behind the Shriners. Although we would have liked to have done some of the maneuvers that the go-karts were doing, and Miatas are small cars, our turning radius is not that tight.

Shriners

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 191

24,000 Kalmias

Donna and I went for a nice little walk in Hitchcock Woods this morning. At first we weren’t going because it was supposed to rain, but radar showed no chance of it for a while, so off we went. For a change of pace we went in a diffrent entrance than usual and we were glad we did. As we came to a halt the odometer turned 24000 miles.

There is a subdivision in town called Kalmia Hills and there is a path in the woods called Kalmia Trail, but for whatever reason (mostly I don’t know flowers from flours) I never put two and two together until today, the darn things are blooming all over the place. I know we have traversed that trail before, but never in the middle of May…

Kalmia

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 149

Rome to Dahlonega

154.8 Miles. For today we staked out a spot on the first climb of the day, a category 2 climb to the top of Fort Mountain. We were joined by about a dozen other people at our little wide gravel spot about 3/4 of the way up. We chatted up a few other fans and even helped one guy write GO EKI in big letters with chalk in the road.

After the riders were all by, we drove back down the mountain and leapfrogged around them to get to the finish in Dahlonega. Even though the skies were threatening we had the top down all the way until about 15 miles from town when the surrounding black skies caught up with us. (Note: You can raise the top on a Miata while going about 35 MPH if the passenger helps. :)) About 5 miles later the Emperor passed through the 23,000 mile mark, right around the time the HAIL started. Not big, but a little frightening for a while there, what with the blinding rain and flashes of lightning that accompanied it.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 118

22,000

Somewhere on the way back from Augusta last night, the Emperor clicked past the twenty-two thousand mile mark. Now averaging 1,350 miles a month.

Just realized that it is almost time for the next Mazda recommended service interval – 22,500. Let me check the owner’s manual, but I think it is just a glorified oil change. If that is all it is I will do this one in the driveway myself rather that risk a big hit in the pocketbook if I take it Rader to let the “professionals” do it.

21,000 Miles

In Kitchings Mills, SC the odometer rolled by 21,000 as we came home from the airport tonight.

The last two days in DC were the coldest week I’ve experienced since childhood. It was so cold that the mid 50s and dark of South Carolina felt balmy enough that we drove partway home with the top down…

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 46

20,000 Miles

Just notched over the 20k mark on the drive home from work. Once home there was just time enough to unpack the lunch buckets and change clothes before heading back out. Tonight being the first Thursday of the month meant Master’s Miata Club business meeting.

Donna is thrilled. It looked good when I saw it on someone else’s Miata. It looked cool when I looked at the pictures of some. It looked neat when I did a Photoshop mock-up. But somehow it lost something it the translation to real life. Maybe if I had a lighter colored car? Oh, well, I’m keeping it on until at least this weekend so I can take a picture or two of it on the front, but after that its coming off. Anyone want a replica Japanese license plate?

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 17