Miatatude

Where My Hunt Began

Just a few mile errand was all the exercise the Miata got today. It was like middle 90’s with the heat index way up in the middle 100’s so I drove around with the AC on. When I got home I decided to try and locate my hot weather rattle. Started as a mild annoyment towards the end of last summer. Disappeared for the entire winter and reappeared in late spring. The rattle only happens when the temperature is above 85 degrees and sounds like it is coming from the glove box. Donna has pushed/pulled/pounded on every possible surface on her side of the car. I even tried driving around with the glove box removed once a few months back, but the rattle was still there. Today I decided it must be under the hood somewhere, so that is where my hunt began. I pushed/pulled/pounded on a bunch of things until I got to the windshield washer fluid bottle – it rattled slightly! I tightened the two top bolts and lined a hole in the fender with duct tape where a plastic stud from the bottle sits. I’ll let you know…

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 169

Some Blue Goo

To make up for yesterday’s lack of attention we drove the Miata this morning to an appointment downtown and on the way home stopped at AutoZone and bought 4 quarts of Penzoil 10w-30. Came home and washed & dried the car outside and then pulled it in the garage for the interior cleaning and changing the oil. While I was at it I cleaned and conditioned the leather seats. Ooh, and tried somewhat in vain to remove all the bug guts of the nose of the car with some blue goo. Got most of it but I won’t win any car show. After that I waxed just the nose of the car. In a few minutes we’ll take a night time drive, because the heat index will possibly be back in double digits. As a consequence of that there will be a few new insect inards plastered to the front. 🙁

Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/02: 169

Stoplights And Shops And Cars And Stuff

Drove home from Chattanooga, TN today. We left the Hotel at 9:00 PM and pulled into the Garage at 6:00 PM. That is a lot more driving than we really like for one day, but it is done and we now have the next 4 days to recover from it before heading back to work. We know better but somehow forget to leave all big towns via the Interstate for about 20 miles before getting onto US or State Highways. Left out of Chattanooga via US 27, then 41 figuring we would be in the mountains sooner, NOPE. Just lots of stoplights and shops and cars and stuff. Oh well, once we got into north Georgia we found some awesome roads. The trip to Elijay vis GA 52 was excellent. The rest was pretty good too, but after 150 miles of it we were ready to be home. Stopped at Amicalola Falls for a peek at the 729′ water fall, cool, but a bit of a hike/walk/climb to get to it. They have a neat lodge in the State Park and we plan a revisit to spend a night and explore more.

One Last Touristy Thing

Started out early with the intention to do the Big Three of Chattanooga tourist attractions, Ruby Falls, Rock City and the Incline Railway. Did the Railway first as it is the first one you come to and the first trolley was leaving in 15 minutes. At the top we got off and walked over to Point Park to snap a photo or two of Chattanooga from the top of Lookout Mountain. No dice as the haze was so bad we were lucky to see down to the Tennessee River directly below. After we took the Incline back down we decided we had had enough of the heat, humidity and tourists, so we cancelled the other 2 attractions and headed over to the Hamilton Place Mall to do some air conditioned window shopping and get some lunch. Afterwards we went back to our hotel room and took a two-hour afternoon nap. We awoke refreshed enough to tackle one last touristy thing, am IMAX movie. A 3-D flick about the building of the International Space Station.

Tow Truck Museum

Almost didn’t drive the car at all today. Took the free electric shuttle bus to downtown early. We then walked across the pedestrian (and bike) only Walnut Street Bridge to the other side of the Tennessee River and visited some not yet open shops and Coolidge Park with its marvelous carousel (not open yet either.) Walked back across to go inside the Tennessee Aquarium. We visited it way back around the time it opened in 1992 and it was worth the re-visit. They had a special sea horse exhibit downstairs that was worth the price of admission alone. After the Aquarium we had an early lunch of Japanese food at Sekisui right across the street. We were going to catch the matinee showing of Minority Report, but were about an hour early so we ducked into the Tow Truck Museum. Officially called the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum and at 4 bucks a pop for admission, well worth it. The first ever wrecker was made just one block away at the Ernest Holmes Company. After watching the movie we walked the 12 blocks back to our hotel. In the evening we wanted to go see the minor league Chattanooga Lookouts play a game and planned on taking the shuttle back in town and walking home afterwards. But at the last minute decided to drive and maybe take a short nighttime drive afterwards. Stayed for the whole game, which the Lookouts won 4-3, but were so tired afterwards that we just went back to the hotel and crashed.

Vague Road Signs

Decided to take a drive this morning following a loop devised by the Chattanooga Bicycle Club for a Century. It is billed as a 3-State, 3-Mountain Challenge so it should make for a nice little Miata drive. Once again we had an exciting time of it following someone else’s directions. A combination of my misinterpreting the instructions, Donna misreading the cue sheet, flaky odometer readings and vague road signs made for a “fun” trip. In spite of several u-turns and a couple of backtracks it really was a good trip, filled with windy roads that were little traveled and in spots quite scenic. Glad we are not still riding bikes as much as we used too though, as we might have been tempted to ride it and that definitely would have been a CHALLENGE.

100 Best Road Trips In America

The people who write directions for books, obviously don’t have someone other than themselves drive it and try it out before publication. We were trying to follow the directions in a book from Reader’s Digest entitled 100 Best Road Trips In America through northern Georgia. We missed a few turns. No real problem as we are on vacation with no real deadlines, but frustrating nonetheless. Found a couple of the highlights, drove by a couple and skipped the rest when it got too hot to keep the top down any longer. On arrival in Chattanooga we circled the downtown area a couple of times looking for the Holiday Inn Choo-Choo Hotel. Finally we double parked in front of the Visitor’s Center and asked. Oops, no wonder we couldn’t find it, either they moved the hotel and train 8 blocks north or our memory of the location was faulty.