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.
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