Mini Mileage

21,000 Indian Blankets


Day 4 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Tyler, TX. to Abilene, TX. Like avoiding big cities, another hallmark of a Bogardus road trip is at least one meal a day at a local spot and today because we were at a regular Holiday Inn instead of an Express1, we drove a couple miles down the road to a place called The Diner. We highly recommend eating here if you ever find yourself in Tyler and if you go for breakfast, you absolutely need to try the Banana French Toast2.

Instead of geocaching along the route today, after breakfast we headed over to a local park in Tyler that had a walking trail with a bunch of caches. On our mile and a half walk we found 4 of the 5 we looked for.

On FM2114 between Laguna Park and the town of West the road was lined along both sides wild flowers. Finally I could stand it no longer, so I found a spot that led to a ranch entrance and pulled off to take a picture. While I was circling the car looking in a field of Indian Blanket flowers for the image I wanted, Donna was inside the car taking pictures of me. Not too far west of West, Texas, which is now my second favorite town name, right after North, South Carolina, the Ladybug rode past its twenty first thousandth mile.

I would like to tell you we gave the car a bath when we stopped for the night in celebration of this milestone, but it was really for washing off the bird blood off the hood and windshield. About 15 miles outside of Abilene on I-20, with Donna at the wheel, a bird decided to fly right into the front of the Mini. For the record I still lead in bird kills 2 to 1 having scooped one of them up in the mouth of the Miata back in 2008 and 2015.

$20,000 In Legal Fees


Day 1 of our 2018 Jumbo Road Trip.

Aiken, SC to Birmingham, AL. In our continuing effort of never having to drive in Atlanta, our first day’s drive across Georgia included a back road route that took us more than 30 miles south of that megalopolis. We were barreling along GA16 about 10 miles west of Monticello when we blew by a convenience store with the rather odd name of Sack-O-Suds. I thought to myself that it sounded familiar. Then it hit me, the movie My Cousin Vinny. This was the place that our two “heroes” shoplift a can of tuna from and it lands them in jail for murder. By now we are a couple miles down the road and I think to myself out loud, “Should have taken a picture.” My co-pilot says, “Well, turn around.”

Not too far from crossing into Alabama the Lady Bug flies past the 20,000 mile mark.

19,000 Holes in My Socks

I made it until retirement with two of those three pairs of brown socks intact. What I didn’t plan on is running out of white socks before the weather warmed up.

Around the house in spring, summer or fall I’m barefoot all the time, but in the winter instead of slippers I’ll rock some white calf-high “athletic” socks. I really don’t want a cold breeze hitting my ankles. The six pack of those kinds of socks I bought last year has dwindled down rapidly to one in the last 2 weeks. It seems like every time a load of wash was finished, I’d lose a sock or two because there were holes in the heel. And I’m sure that one this Sunday I’m going to lose my last pair.

Just outside Graniteville the Ladybug flew through its nineteen thousandth mile.

18,000 Sea Gulls


A picture of what looks like about eighteen thousand seagulls standing patiently in the stream of the lowering tide waters waiting for food to come to them. Taken on our very chilly Christmas morning walk on the beach.

While on the trip home from Hilton Head on Christmas day, in downtown Martin, SC, the Mini past thru the 18,000 mile plateau.

17,000 Square Inches of Leather

About a month ago I talked of buying leather seats and since then I have placed a set of them in the shopping cart at GoMiata.com…twice…and couldn’t pull the trigger (or click the buy button.)

The first time I did it, I paused just before clicking. I had looked at the image they have on the site and thought I needed to order the body style, but the ordering page said it was unavailable for my vintage Miata. Unsure what to actually order, I called the folks at GoMiata and asked. Turns out that I needed to order the combo style.

The second time was the next day, now knowing what to order (combo style, black with smoke perforated inserts, black stitching and no piping), I paused just before clicking again. The total, with $75 for shipping, came to a nickle less than $700. And I still needed $30 minimum to get the hog ring pliers with some rings, so it was starting to sound like real money and I just couldn’t drop my forefinger that last inch.

Besides, we could really use that $700 towards something else made of leather. Our just shy of 5-year old living room couch looked like leather when new (its not), but now the faux leather outer layer is separating from the polyester base fabric. We’ve tried to extend its life span some by covering the cracks with some tape. Not silver duct tape like Martin Crane’s recliner on Frasier, but by using some Realistic Red Brown Leather Repair Tape. That repair tape is pretty good looking, but unfortunately it is not flexible enough to withstand being sat on.

Today we got in the Mini and hightailed it over to Augusta to buy us a real leather couch from Ashley Furniture. It is very similar in color and look to our current shedding couch, so it fit right our living room. Plus it will fit right in our horse town because right there in the description it says it has “equestrian style.” We opted to call this our Christmas present and splurged by buying the power reclining model. No more having to awkwardly pull at a handle to pop up the footrests, no more having to forceably push down & back to get it to latch closed and we can stop the recline at any angle we want.

Sometime on Saturday, on a different trip to Augusta, the Landybug, which has Carbon Black Leatherette seating, flew past 17,000 miles on her odometer.