Motoring Challenge

138,000 Seconds Too Late

We have a North Carolina road map, but it is dated 2007, so we thought it might be a good idea to update it this trip and because of the way we were driving up we had an opportunity to cross into the Tar Heel State via I-85. So we planned to pop into the official Welcome Center grab a new map and also take the NC state photo for the Motoring Challenge.

As we cruised into the rest area the state name was on the back of the building, so we figured there would be a nice sign in the front. We were wrong. There is a wood sign that is too far from the parking lot to be seen well and it also had wood letters spelling out North Carolina Welcome Center above the front door, but it too could not be captured photographically. We then struck out on the map front too as we were about a half hour too late, they lock the doors at 5:30 PM.

We did manage to manage to successfully grab three other challenge photos on the trip to Statesville, a County, a National Forest and a Destination:

A little north of Kings Mountain, NC the Emperor passed the 138,000 mile mark this afternoon.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1315

Black Is Back & I Need A Beer

While the entire episode one of season two was exciting and worth the 10 month wait, it wasn’t until in the final two minutes that we got something that sent a simultaneous shiver & cheer racing throughout the Clone Club – “Excuse me…my sistre shot me.” – Helena lives! (barely)

Brewery
I could see the gentleman in the photo as he walked towards us on the empty downtown sidewalk. He got right near us and looked at me strange, so by explanation I said, “Photo scavenger hunt and we needed a brewery.” He grumbled, “You could say so.” Editorial comment or professional opinion?

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1310

The King’s Donuts

The King's Donuts

Took a 400 mile road trip to Fairburn, GA today to go get a doughnut. And to see a friend who recently bailed from working at the Valve Store(tm) to become the COO and head baker of a Christian doughnut shop called The King’s Donuts. Yesterday was their soft opening and they sold out of doughnuts by mid-afternoon. We were there for about an hour and there was a steady stream of customers the whole time. Just before we left at 4:30 he gave us a tour of the kitchen and there were only 3 mostly filled trays of wares left to sell.

We took the long way there on the back roads to get a couple more of our Moss Motoring Challenge objectives:

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1309

Saturday Drive

Car Show 01

We “photobombed” the Aiken Horsepower Association’s big spring car show on the way out of town. I’m not sure if it will count towards the Moss Motoring Challenge though, because we weren’t actually entered in the show. But the legal team here at Life of Brian Inc thinks it should, based on their interpretation of this rule found in the official guidelines: To earn points at car shows, your photos must clearly show the Challenge Guide, your car and either 1) a banner with the car show name or 2) at least 6 additional cars in the show field. Clearly number two’s requirement is met here.

We were headed down to the old US301 multi-use trail near the Savannah River to check on our eight caches hidden there. We had a some logs about a couple of them that they might need some maintenance. One was fine and the second was missing entirely. Donna had made up a replacement in case, so it was a simple matter of piling some sticks on it and One Point Oh was ready to go again. The rest of the caches were just fine, including one we had placed on a bamboo stalk in the middle of a stand of the stuff. As we approached the hide, we both thought that it had to be missing as more than 75% of the stalks were bent over and broken from the ice storm of two months ago, but we had picked one of the lucky 25% of still standing stalks.

While on the road we snagged a couple more challenges, a laboratory sign on the Savannah River Site and the Georgia Welcome Center on US301. Nation’s oldest welcome center relic of bygone travel era

There Are 137,000 Stories In The City

SkyscraperThese are 25 of them.

We drove up to the state capitol this morning with the intentions of getting about a half dozen of the Destinations listed for the Moss Motoring Challenge. We struck out on 2 different WWI monuments/memorials. Our Main Street photos from downtown Columbia were crummy and the Brewery that was on that Main Street had no real sign, so we missed those opportunities as well.

We made it to the Riverbanks Zoo, but opted not to drive to the main entrance to photograph the main sign there as there was a line to get in because it was about opening time on a sunny spring Saturday. Instead we looped a quick u-turn and stopped at a smaller sign at the corner. I got out, backed up a few steps, took a photo and when I got back the car to show Donna the results a cop car pulled up right next to us and asked if we were OK. I said yes and he zoomed off. When I got back in the car to leave I noticed that right behind me was another patrol car. Yikes, but he just sat there as I drove off. The picture was kind of crappy, so an early Sunday morning return trip is needed. The botanical gardens sign at the other entrance to the zoo wasn’t very photogenic either.

The trip wasn’t a total wash as we did get the Skyscraper photo. The Capitol Center, at 25 stories barely qualifying for the Challenge, is the tallest office building in the whole state of South Carolina. I can’t be sure, but that may be the tallest gamecock in the state too. We photographed the Tunnelvision mural and are going to use that for the Tunnel destination. On the drive home we took a picture of the sign for the thriving metropolis of Gilbert and just because we happened to be passing by, the Aiken County Farmer’s Market here in our fair city.

Sometime before the little town of Gilbert the Emperor passed the 137,000 mile mark.

Image Manipulation

I have added a question to the “Ask A Question About The Challenge”section of the Motoring Challenge forum relating to a photo from yesterday and a photo from today:

How much can I “photoshop” an image that I am submitting? I’m not planning and cutting and pasting my car into a backdrop of a Challenge requirement or anything…

City-Yemassee

On this image, when we got home and looked at it on the computer monitor, we noticed I was holding the Motoring Challenge Guide against the door of the car using just my middle finger. So I copied the tip of that finger and pasted it so as to appear that I was using two fingers to hold the Guide.

Junkyard

On today’s Junkyard photo, I thought I could make the car, Donna and Guide stand out from the clutter a little more if I removed all the color from the picture, except for on them.

Junkyard

I uploaded the original color photo as I ended up liking it better anyway, but it got me wondering just how much manipulation is permissible.

Oh Savannah!

Claire, Mark & Us

For the second time in a little more than a month we visited the city of Savannah, GA. In February it was a side trip & diversion in our escape from Ice-ageddon. This time it was to catch up with recently wed (6/13) friends Claire and Mark. They were in town from Lexington, VA for the big music festival, so we drove down to spend a couple hours walking around town, eating lunch and watching maritime traffic on the Savannah River with them.

On the way down, and more so on the way back, we grabbed a couple items off the Motoring Challenge checklist.

Started down , went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1300