Miata Photos

10 Years Ago Today

As part of the Moss Motoring Challenge for 2015, one of the “Destinations” was something called Coffee shop (with friend) and I still needed it late in the year, so I sent out an email blast to the Miata Club saying I’d buy them a cup of coffee if they came over to my favorite coffee shop and be my friend. I had two cars show up. I’m standing in front of my 2003 Garnet Red along with Rita and Larry Garner and my fairy godfather, David Adcock. Larry and Rita’s car is on the right and the car in the middle belongs to David. Little did I know that 8 months from then I would own that 2002 Silver car of his.

On a side note, when the Moss Motoring Challenge asked for the same “Destination” in 2017, I put it on the club’s website as a club event, and a lot more people showed up for that one:
 

I Was Bored Today

I’ve been running the NB’s 16″ wheels on the ND for about 6 months and because I had nothing better to do today I put the ND’s 17″ wheels on the NB, just to see. And if you like that type of look, it is not that bad. The downside is that this combination will really mess the with feel and handling of the car. Those OEM 17″ wheels and tires weigh in at 38.4lbs each. This is nearly 10lbs of extra unspring weight per corner compared to the 15″ FM Kogekis and Yokohama ADVAN Flevas at 28.4lbs that I put right back on the NB. Oh the humanity.

Kingsley Field Mural

Kingsley Field Mural 3

One of the cooler backdrops for Miata photos in Klamath Falls is in front of this mural on the side wall of the VFW, so naturally I got a shot of Buckey there this past weekend. Below are the previous ones; the Car To Be Named Later’s was taken in April 2020, and the Blue ND’s was taken in the same month 5 years later.

Been A While

It has been almost 4 weeks since I’ve gone post office hunting. I’m overnighting in Pendleton, OR and will head home tomorrow. Today I checked off 8 of them and have saved 5 for tomorrow’s drive home. Today’s list in order of capture went Hermiston, Stanfield, Echo, Milton-Freewater, Athena, Helix, Adams, and Weston. Almost missed Weston. Looking at the area map on the phone, the normal Google saved icon became dots, so I didn’t see it. I knew when I set out that today’s haul should have been eight, and when I had only seven photos, I zoomed in to make the icons larger and found my missing PO. Funny because I saw the town name when I passed the road to it on my way to the furthest one and wondered how come there wasn’t a post office there. Well, there was.

You didn’t think I forgot a Roadside America picture, did you? Turns out there is something called Cattle Drive, and it is less than a 1/2 mile from the hotel, so I walked over and took a few photos. While I was there I noticed lights on the ground, which possibly meant it would be illuminated at night. So, I went back after dark, and sure enough, it was lit up. The low-level lights made it difficult to capture a wide shot that wasn’t burnt out by light flare.

I Get Black Cars Now

All Lit Up

 
Historically I have disliked cars in black. I’ll admit that the color does look good on some vehicles, but on a Miata it kind of diminished its already small size and you lost a lot of the curves that made the car beautiful. I won the auction for Bucky because the year and its low miles not its color. I originally thought I might wrap it a bright color too, but living with the car I’ve come to appreciate it in black. And the truth of it is, a lot of my resistance to a black car was probably based on photographs of cars, so in real life I didn’t pay attention them. Turns out the car isn’t diminished and those curves still come to life.

Now, keeping one clean is a whole ‘nother ball of wax.

Evening Arrival

Evening Arrival

Last night at dusk I went out and drove around a local business park looking to take some photos of Bucky during the golden hour. Took a half dozen or so in a couple spots, but only two are post worthy. This is one and the other will show up in a few days in another post.

Santa Fe, NM – Day 18: All Hail Blue Miatas

The Blues Brothers

This morning I headed over to O’Reilly’s and bought a new set of wipers for the Tucson: 26″ driver’s side and 16″ passenger. As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a bright blue Miata. Oooh, an NC Winning Blue. I just had to park next to it and fire off a couple of pics.

We had scattered rain both in Hammond and on the trip home, and the wipers on Santa Fe Sally’s Tucson are the original ones from June of 2023. It is not like they wore out; not a lot of swipes when you live in the desert, but that same desert dries them out. All that is to say, they didn’t so much as clear the windshield as smear it.

She is due to get that windshield replaced on Friday, and they offered to change her wiper blades while they are at it for an extra $75, and she thought she would let them do it. While that sounded like a lot to me, a frequent refrain from the elder me, it is about right. Because of the weather predicted for this area the rest of the week, I told her that if she intended for me to be driving her around in Tucson, she was out of luck. I, for some reason, like to be able to see things while behind the wheel.

All Hail The Miata

It has been raining on and off with differing intensities all day. But we have also had 2 instances of hail today. The first was green olive-sized (no pimento), and the second shorter bout was just pea-sized. Neither incident was bad enough to cause any damage to the car, the top is new taut canvas, and the vinyl wrap probably added a little extra layer of protection.