Motoring Challenge

Almost Cold Enough To Ice Skate

Destination - Ice Rink

In downtown Columbia, although in the mid-40’s, it was cold enough. From Thanksgiving to Mid-January they set up a small outdoor rink in a park next to the Museum of Art in downtown. I’m guessing they are using some of the ice setup from the Carolina Coliseum that the local ECHL team, the Columbia Inferno, used to use when they were in business.

After last weekend’s aborted trip to Florence to start back taking photos for the Moss Motoring Challenge, we decided to start smaller and earlier this weekend. We planned 60 miles one way where we were after two objectives, a skating rink and a roadside oddity.

First stop was in the Columbia suburb of Irmo at an indoor ice complex in a nondescript building on a dead end road near I-26. I’m guessing it was the practice ice for the defunct Inferno. We took a picture and could rightfully cross that “destination” off the list, but we weren’t too happy about it. Seeing as we were headed downtown for our oddity Donna mentioned that she saw where they had a temporary ice rink in a park off Main Street.

The oddity we were going for was the giant fire hydrant that is in the same parking lot as the mural we used for the tunnel destination. Interestingly, both pieces are done by the same artist, a fellow named Blue Sky.

When we took the tunnel photograph back in April, we did take a couple pictures of the Busted Plug Plaza thinking we might use them as a Sneak Peek. Never did use them because we had several nicer and more interesting ones to choose from. We took today’s photo because we thought we could do better and because Moss opened up a bonus slot worth two points for Roadside Oddities. The photo of the hydrant came out a lot better, but I still have to work on my facial expressions…

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1441

I Miss It Like Bad Tooth

 

 

Tonight at 7:05 PM I turned on the TV and watched….Wheel of Fortune. Its the first night of the baseball off season and they may have had the 26th worst record in the Major Leagues by losing over 90 games, but I’m sure going to miss watching the FRS bumble through 9 innings each night.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1426

Serial Offender

Destination - Pier

Yesterday was not the first time I’ve sat stopped in a Miata in front of a police car with its light bar strobing for this same issue. The previous time was quite a while ago, might have even been in an earlier Miata, back before they kept track of warnings by filling out a form.

I was making a left from the two lane Price Avenue onto the five lane Whiskey Road. This intersection is atypical in that cross traffic have segregated turns at crossing and or entering Whiskey Road. This means that when it is your turn to turn left, you get a green arrow. I was a ways down the road when the light went green and the two cars who triggered the signal were long gone by the time got to the intersection, so I barreled through without slowing and entered the rightmost lane because in about a 1/4 mile I was turning into Kroger’s parking lot.

Sure enough, there was a city cop sitting at the head of the line pointed in the direction I was going. When his light went green he hit his flashing lights and caught me half way to my destination. I got a warning about how I should enter the left most lane when turning left onto a multiple lane road.

What both these incidents have in common is the car I was driving and the manner I was driving it, more so than the actual lane entered. In my humble opinion, had I been piloting a Toyota Camry with in a Camry-esque way, neither LEO would have bothered me.

This is from the South Carolina Drivers Handbook: A left turn often takes more preparation than a right turn. …Then turn into the lane nearest and to the right of the center line. This, anyone can understand, so perhaps that particular section 56–5-2120 should be written more like this.

I still probably won’t obey it in situations like this one or yesterday because of the impending right turn though.

Happy Birthday From Officer Krupke

WarningIt is actually fall around here, so for my birthday we were going to drive down to Folly Beach in an attempt to get a Moss Motoring Challenge photo of their fishing pier and to get some seafood for lunch on the beach.

We started our road trip today in the usual way, by going to the local DD and getting my coffee and Donna’s hot chocolate, when we left the parking lot it got slightly unusual. It was early, so there was very little traffic on the 5 lane Whiskey Road and it was still dark, so picking the spot to exit was easy. I waited out the two cars coming from the left that were close together and there were two more coming from the right that had a enough separation to get between, so I swung left, out between them and got in the far right lane because I was turning right at the next intersection about 200 yards away.

As I stopped at the light and prepared to make a right on red, that second car that I had got in front of, pulled to a stop behind me. It was a white car and I instantly recognized the headlight signature as that of a Dodge Charger, which probably meant one thing, city cop.

My blinker was on and the car behind me put his on. I turned right and moved to the left turn lane in preparation for my next turn. Sure enough the white Charger followed in step and when he got in the left lane, he lit ’em up. I hung another left into the back parking lot of the quick oil change place there.

We were in the Miata with the top down and as the officer approached the car, Donna “helpfully” told him it was my birthday and it was her fault we were going this way as she forgot something at home. I think our LEO was more nervous than I was because as he tried to explain why he was pulling me over he was stumbling over his sentences and was a little confused as to where I came from when I got on Whiskey Rd. He did get out that the reason we were gathered here together was that when making a left turn onto a multi-lane road you should enter the leftmost lane first before moving into the right one.*

I handed him my license, insurance card and registration and as he walked back to his car he said, “If everything checks out OK, I’ll probably send you on your way.” Well, of course everything checked out, so our friendly young officer reiterated why he pulled my over, then explained he was just giving me a warning, which generated the piece of paper he was giving me. He then wished me a Happy Birthday, told me to drive safe and sent me on my way.

I blurred out my driver’s license number in the image above (I didn’t do any of the rest of the info as it is already readily available elsewhere on this site.) I did change the name of our police officer** and blurred out his badge number as well.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1424

*South Carolina Code of Laws, SECTION 56-5-2120. Required position and method of turning. Paragraph (b), Left turns … Whenever practicable the left turn shall be made to the left of the center of the intersection so as to leave the intersection or other location in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available to traffic moving in the same direction as the vehicle on the roadway being entered. I’m guessing that if I was to get a ticket it would be for a violation of that bit of very confusing legalese. It is the only thing in the vehicle code that I can find that is remotely on point.

**to the first name that popped into my head, it’s from West Side Story in case you were wondering.

Wrest of the Week Wrap

Shappire Valley

Wednesday: Top down morning drive, work, top up drive home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Thursday: Top down morning drive, work, top up drive home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Friday: Hawaiian Shirt Day, ride tandem to work, ride tandem home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Saturday: Top down morning drive, lunch in Highlands, NC, top up drive home, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Sunday: Top down morning drive, rollerblade around the block, grocery shop, watch Red Sox lose on MLB.tv

Started up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1410

Peach Parade

Destination - Parade

We had a dozen cars show up to be in the parade and that I think is a record for Club participation in the event. Donna took a couple of pictures for the Parade Destination of the Motoring Challenge with all of us were lined up on both sides of the street.

Donna was not going to ride in the car with me and was going to try to get an “action shot” as I drove by in the actual parade. She was standing at about where the parade started and took one photo with me moving, but you couldn’t really tell I was in a parade as there was no crowd in the background. She then moved up to the first turn to get another picture, but I was in the outside lane and didn’t hear her yelling at me to hold up the challenge poster, so we missed a second chance at the action shot. Oh well, the line up photo will have to count.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1383

Welcome To Florida

Welcome To Florida

We got the Florida sign. I stood there posing for so long waiting on the person standing behind me to leave that my smile turned upside down… We got our ferry ride in between Fort George and Mayport, FL and that photo, but struck out on the pier at Jacksonville Beach.

Today was National Donut Day and we started it we a free one at DD. Today is also the 70th anniversary of the Longest Day, AKA D-Day and we ended it by watching the movie The Longest Day.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, down again, up once more, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1369