Miatatude

Head To Toe

Yesterday the Emperor had dental surgery. It was November 1st, so the Vampire Teeth came off and went into their plastic bag for the next 11 months.

After nearly 23 months and 27,000 miles the Emperor’s shoes are getting worn out. They are not to the wear bars just yet (close) and are starting to get hard, so yesterday I ordered up some new foot wear. General Exclaim UHPs in 205/50 x 15.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 464

98,000 Pieces of Coal

Loading CoalSaturday the MMC took a trip to Winnsboro to visit the South Carolina Railroad Museum. This weekend there was a visiting steam engine to give that old time feel (and smell) to your train ride. We combined the Club’s monthly breakfast with the train event, plus following the hour long train ride we drove to a nearby town for lunch making for almost a full day Miataness.

After lunch Donna and I went our separate ways from the group because we had an alternative agenda, that’s right, geocaching. Before leaving we made tentative dinner plans with another MMC couple to meet in Lexington at the Uno Chicago Grill at 5:30 to complete the Trifecta (all 3 meals out.)

Got all caught up chasing camo’d containers in the north central part of the state and ended up not being able to make it back to Lexington in time for pizza with Rudy & Patti. We were disappointed on two levels. With the dreary day and approaching of dusk we opted for the more direct way home from where we were and resigned ourselves to eat in Newberry at whatever place we could find. Luck was on our side though, willing to dine in a Hardee’s or a Subway, we stumbled on The Flying Pie on Main St and had a wonderful pizza about half way between the thin crust of West One in Hendersonville and the thick Chicago style pie in Lexington.

Saturday by the numbers:
299 – Miles driven on the day
98,000 – Total miles now on the Emperor
1 – Tank of gas used
5 – O’clock wake up call
14 – Hours from leaving home until returning
58° – High for the day, 20 below normal
9 – Cars in a line (7 Miatas, 1 Boxster and a Jeep)
11 – Mile train ride (5-1/2 under steam power)
100 – Pounds of coal burned by the train per mile traveled
8 – Caches found
3 – SC County Challenge caches and
2 – DeLorme Challenge pages finished

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 437

Squish

When I got into the car today after work I noticed that when I stepped on the floor mat it went squish. It was soaking wet.

Admittedly it has rained like crazy the last few days, but there was no way I could track in that much water. In the Miata world there are two main reasons why there would be a lot of water on the floor, not counting leaving the top down in the rain, a plugged drain in the door molding and a plugged A/C drain line.

The water was only on the driver’s side of the car which eliminates the A/C drain line because that soaks the passenger foot well. Must be the hollow in the door molding. I poked the long thin brush I have for cleaning Camelback hoses down there and it wasn’t plugged at all. A mystery.

I dried out the area as best I could and we’ll see if the water reappears.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 433

Henderson Heritage Preserve

We got out this morning to visit the Henderson Heritage Preserve north of town to discover the two caches that are there and scout possible locations for placing our own.

It is in two separate sections and there is one cache in each. The first one, Utorthent, was in the newer of the sections and the more groomed of the two. It was a very nice walk and a nice hide of an ammo can, the GPSr never read closer than 12′, but we found it without too much problem. Round trip hike turned out to be 2.8 miles and we only covered about 1/2 of the marked trails.

We then got in the car and drove the 2 miles to the parking area for the second section. We were looking for a cache called Sandhills in this one. This cache was only a 2 mile round trip, but it was through a more primitive piece of woods and included a small stream crossing and a nearly all uphill walk to the cache. As a bonus, on the way back downhill to the car we spooked a pair of deer. They came from near the road and crossed in front of us going deeper into the preserve in a big hurry.

Both places have a couple possibilities for cache placements, now I just have to figure out who to talk to to get permission. I emailed to both people who have caches in Heritage Preserves in this area and only got one reply and he was no help.

In a total reversal of standard procedure, I washed the Emperor the day after an MMC event. Even went the extra mile, vacuumed the interior and cleaned and preserved the leather seats.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 358

Dead Bugs in the Middle of the Car

2009 Bug Splat WinnersTonight was the MMC’s Annual Bug Splat Rally. With only five cars in attendance nearly everyone was assured of a prize. From left to right, John Nicholls, Closest to the Dot with his prize of Bullseye BBQ Sauce; Dave Schumacher with the Cleanest Car prize of Bug Stickers to use next year; Donna Bogardus with Bath Time Stickers to wash the Most Bugs off the nose of the Emperor and Denny Smith with the Trophy for Biggest Bug. If you look just to the right of the Big Bug on the Trophy you will see the ghostly apparition of Rudy Wilmoth who was the driver of the only car not to take home a prize. Don’t feel too sorry for Rudy as he and Patti are past winners of the coveted BBT and are just coming off a two year streak of winning the Cleanest Car.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 356

This Is Sad

At the MMC monthly meeting tonight everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Most of the time was spent on future event planning, where we hammered out the details for the next couple of month’s. Like what restaurant we would be holding the next 2 meetings at and where we would meet for the monthly breakfast. Then something odd happened, one member had the audacity to suggest a car related event…

When I got home from the meeting I turned on the ballgame and the FRS were beating the MFY 3 to 1 after 3-1/2 innings. The Yankees then scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning and it has been downhill every since. I wonder if it is too early to call in sick for tomorrow?

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 324