Motoring Challenge

Famous?

Bonus 1 - Famous Work of Architecture
Bonus 1 – Famous Work of Architecture: The definition of famous is in the eye of the beholder and Rainbow Row in Charleston, SC was being beheld by a half dozen Oriental tourists, including one standing in the middle of the street while his companions took photos.

The sharp eyed amongst you might have noticed that yesterdays info Moss Motoring Challenge line mentions 4 points and 270 miles, but there was only one photo and I mentioned its nearness to home. Well, that is because the Wilcox was on the way out of town on our way to Charleston, SC. One of this year’s Bonus Point opportunities is a photo that includes a famous work of architecture. While my first thought of Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright and even though our big trip was going right near there, you can’t get a car close to the house.

With the year winding down and the pressure on, we came up with the only real famous bit of architecture we could think of in South Carolina, Rainbow Row. Turns out it was harder that we thought to get a picture of me, sign, car and row house into a photograph. Oh well, hopefully our effort will be worth the two points…

Movie Set

Destination - Location Filmed In A Movie

One of the last of the few Motoring Challenges we had left was “Destination – Location Filmed in a Movie.” We haven’t tried too hard to find anything because we had an ace in the hole, not too far away from the ol’ homestead is The Wilcox. This historic Inn served as the clubhouse for the Carolina Pines Golf & Polo Club in 2007’s cinematic masterpiece Who’s Your Caddy? It was sort of a riff on Cadyshack and caused quite a stir in Aiken while they were filming it, at the Valve Store(TM) we used to get daily updates on sightings of Big Boi or Lil’ Wayne…

I think you can watch the whole movie on YouTube, but you don’t have to watch too much to see the Wilcox’s screen debut. At about a minute and a half in, two Range Rovers full of an Atlanta rap mogul and his entourage pull up in front of the place. Of course it wasn’t decorated for Christmas then (they filmed in the fall), plus they covered the paved street with gravel for some reason and they also had a bunch of stuffy looking whites guys sitting in the rocking chairs on the front porch. Take a look.

Motoring Challenge Points 4, Approx Miles Driven 270
Totals So Far: 167 points & 9380 miles

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 129

Last of the Cities

City - Appleton, SC

On our way down to Hilton Head on Friday we made an effort to find a sign for Almeda which was shown on the official South Carolina transportation map. It shows at the point where SC-68 starts going east and US-278 veers south, but when we stayed on 278 there was nothing. On the way back we made sure to come west on SC-68 to meet up with US-278 just in case we missed something, but we hadn’t. No sign. Which was not surprising because there really wasn’t anything that resembled a structure. Probably was something here a long time ago and the map makers just keep putting it on the map without checking.

On our way down to Hilton Head on Friday we drove slowly through Allendale looking for a nice sign to get for our “A” city. Nothing really popped out at us. The farmer’s market sign was close, but it was mostly obscured by bushes and there didn’t look like any place to park. There were plenty of Allendale County buildings that caught our eye, but counties were done, we needed the city. On the way back I asked Donna to ask the GPS to lead us to the Allendale City Hall, but it didn’t have that particular POI. So I said just select the city option and let’s see where it takes us. The GPS lead us down a road we hadn’t been on, but when it said arrived there was nothing there, literally. It was an empty lot. I made a left to make another to get back on our route home when we found a trailer with a wood sign out front that read Allendale Police Department. There weren’t any LEO vehicles around so I’m hoping it was the old police station because it really did look deserted. We took a couple photos anyway.

On the way back after we had past through Allendale, Donna, looking at the SC map, said, “Hey there is a small dot labeled Appleton just 5 miles ahead.” We had traveled this route a bunch of times before and I didn’t remember any Appleton, so I said, “I bet there is no sign, it is going to be another Almeda.” I was wrong. I was wrong.

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 150
Totals So Far: 163 points & 9110 miles

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 127

Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean (Outtake)

This is the picture I’m not using of the two taken for the Destination – Ocean (Atlantic). From the 3rd floor stairs of the Admiral’s Row building on the Hilton Head Beach & Tennis Resort.

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 150
Totals So Far: 162 points & 8960 miles

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 126

Number 10

Car Show - Aiken Horsepower Association December Cruise-In

We missed this morning’s Cars & Coffee in Augusta, it was just too comfortable in our warm bed, but we found the Aiken Horsepower Association December Cruise-In a bit over a mile from home for Car Show #10 of 10 possible in this year’s Motoring Challenge. A far sight better than the 2 we claimed last year.

There are 10 points left out for us to get and we have 25 days to finish them up. Two cities A & K we’ll grab on our way to Hilton Head in two weeks where we also planning on getting 2 points for the Atlantic Ocean while we’re there. Four points are right here in Aiken and the last two are in Charleston.

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 5
Totals So Far: 159 points & 8810 miles

Fam Damily

Destination - Family Reunion

We have been keeping our eye out for a Family Reunion to crash for the past 11 months and figured we’d stumble on at least one, but alas, nope. So when we agreed to come up to Hendersonville, NC today, not only was it to visit my sister and her husband, but it was to have a mini family reunion, as my brother was visiting them too.

While three of us are are not much of a family, we are pretty much all of it. Donna and I never had kids, my sister and her husband have only raised some cats, while baby brother never even bothered with the marriage part at all. As for the reunion qualifier, this is just the third time we have all been in the same zip code in the past eight years. Plus, before that it was even less frequent…

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 120

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 160
Totals So Far: 158 points & 8805 miles

Literal Ghost Town

Destination - Ghost Town

This Ghost Town was literally a ghost town, as it was closed for the season. Right across the street was the town of Maggie Valley’s sign, so we got all three of our points for today within 100 yards. And actually it could have been zero feet because now that I look at the Maggie Valley sign, in the background is a billboard for Ghost Town. The ghost town destination has an asterisk next to it meaning you need to include a sign…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 110

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 275
Totals So Far: 157 points & 8645 miles