Motoring Challenge

Signs of Winter

Signs of Winter 01 – Flurries: Hopefully Wednesday, January 17th’s flurries is the only snow we see this winter here in Aiken. (1/17/18)

Yesterday we had some morning snow flurries here. I watched them come down for a while and when the really small flakes turned into really big flakes, I walked outside to take a photo. By the time I got my coat on and walked out to the north forty where I park the Miata, the flakes had downsized to normal and were not nearly as thick and impressive, but I couldn’t stand around in the snow forever, so I took a couple selfies with the CTBNL in the background and beat feet back indoors. Behold, our first Motoring Challenge point of 2018, Flurries, number one of three for Signs of Winter.

Of course by the time I got back to my desk and looked out the window, the heavy, densely falling flakes were back.

60,000 Sparklers


Happy New Year’s Eve! Every year we are invited over to a friends house for their New Year’s party. It includes lots of food, beverages and fireworks. This year because of the high winds the bonfire had to be squelched and it was so cold without it, we didn’t make it until midnight. Plus they weren’t so sure they could do the big finish anyway.

When we first got there I had them set up a ring all around the Miata of the 60,000 big sparklers we had bought on the way over. OK, maybe it really was only a dozen sparklers. The CTBNL actually went over the 60,000 mile mark last night on the way home, but I forgot to blog about it. I was reminded about it when we got in the car to go out tonight.

Last Minute Point Grabbing

Down to the final 2 days of the year 2017 we drove around yesterday trying to pick up as many points as we could reasonably get locally. Most of today’s photos were ones we looked for all year long hoping to find just the right one, but for one reason or another we dismissed what we saw, thinking that a better one would come along, and then realized we were running out of time to take the photo. We almost waited too long too on the water fountain as several of the local ones we had marked as “aces in the hole” were shut off because of the cold weather.

It’s not over yet either. We have procrastinated ourselves into a whole on the “Epic Sunset” photo, so Sunday night (AKA Six Hours to Deadline) we are going to go out and take a picture of whatever kind of sunset that happens and call it Epic and hope it counts. We also have a New Year’s Eve gather to go to that has a Fireworks Display” involved, so that will be another point. If we get both we will end up with a total of 242. Probably not a winner, but should land us in the money of one of the top 50 runners up.

Saturday in the Swamp


Saturday morning we headed out to get a few last minute Motoring Challenge points. We got a Haberdashery, Sorority/Fraternity, a Natures Giant and a Hero/Villain for 4 big points. This is the second time we have taken a photo of the sign at the entrance to the Congaree Swamp. This year we are using it for Nature’s Giant, but in 2014 it counted for a point as a National Park.

We now have 233 points out of a possible 257. Of the 24 remaining points, if we are lucky and diligent, we will get eight of those. Even if we managed to snag all 24, we still might not end up in the top 3 anyway. Some folks may have a higher possible total because of the scrabble points, those that find 3 words that total more than our 92 points would finish ahead of us.

59,000 Things I’m Thankful For

1. My morning person wife.
We got up on Turkey Day at 5:30, the same time as on a normal work day to drive up to Hendersonville, NC.

2. My patient wife.
To visit my sister and her husband and have our Thanksgiving meal at their community pot luck.

3. My carefree wife.
But before getting to their house we traveled 25 miles past them to the north into Asheville.

4. My curious wife.
To take a picture of an Inspirational Woman’s Monument she found after hours of internet searching.

5. My lovely wife.
Who posed in the near freezing temperatures by a very Large Flat Iron sculpture in downtown for a Motoring point.

6. My flexible wife.
Then when we were stymied in getting the Woman’s statue photo by thousands of runners participating in a Turkey Trot and Gobble Wobble, Donna shrugged and said, “We’ll come back again early tomorrow.”

7. My generous wife.
At the Black Friday sale at Mast General Store she let me buy a $40 hoodie I wanted, but didn’t really need, while she bought a gift to give away at the upcoming MMC Christmas Party.

8. My understanding wife.
She understands that there is no way I can come up with 58,992 more of these.

The CTBNL passed through the 59,000 mile mark a few miles north of Saluda, SC on the way up to North Carolina.

Let’s Take A(nother) Drive


So yesterday morning we drove to Columbia in the Mini, essentially a one hundred twenty mile round trip for breakfast. Some people might question this method of purchasing the most important meal of the day, but we could think of no finer way to spend 3 hours on a lovely fall Saturday.

On second thought, we could.

So after a lunch at Subway here in Aiken yesterday, we filled up the Miata, dropped the top and drove to Greenwood, about 60 miles away, to take a photo of a train locomotive. Not just any locomotive, but one worth 10 points in the Moss Motoring Challenge in the category “117 Years of Transportation.” Before we took this drive we still needed 4 of the 12 photos, the decades of 1900, 1910, 1950 & 1980.

On our way into Greenwood I got a fleeting glimpse of a car repair place that had a very interesting old truck parked outside. Because we were going to go back out of town the same way we were coming in I didn’t pull an immediate u-turn. The shop was further back than I thought though and I was just beginning to worry I had imagined it, when it popped up on the left.

The 111-year old train was the big prize, but this auto repair was a nice prize in it’s own right. That old truck was a 1954 or 1955 Chevy 3100 pick up. And in the back was our 1980’s point just sitting there, a nicely preserved Pontiac Fiero. Before we had headed north we cut through a local golf course neighborhood to get a photo for our last point in the “Around the World” category.

Chasing Rainbows

On Saturday Donna and I led the Masters Miata Club on the drive to the North Carolina mountains to see some fall color and drive on a few windy roads. On the way home at our last pit stop in McCormick, SC we put the top up because it looked like rain ahead. The top was down when we left home 11 hours and 400 miles ago and truth be told, we were glad of the excuse because it was about time to take a break from the sun, the wind and the noise.

About 10 miles south of McCormick, as we passed through Plum Branch, I looked left at the dark clouds, thanking ourselves on our decision to raise the roof, when I noticed a small segment of barely visible rainbow. Oooh, we need a rainbow for the Moss Motoring Challenge. I conferred with my navigator, and Donna said, “Turn around.” So, I did a U-turn across the 5 lanes of US221 and turned right on SC283. After a bit, we came to a side road, turned down it and stopped. The rainbow segment was still there. I hopped out and took a picture. When we reviewed it inside the car it was fairly disappointing looking. It was recognizable as a bit of rainbow and would probably count, but both of us were unsatisfied.

Because the sun was going down in the west and 283 traveled east and the rain was ahead in the east, we agreed to keep going in that direction hoping for a better rainbow. A 1/2 mile further along down the road it was still wet from the rain having just been there and another 1/2 mile further it started to rain lightly. The two-lane road was surrounded by tall pine trees, but after a slight shift in road direction the sun popped out behind us and the rainbow appeared in front of us seemingly starting right in the middle of the road. I slowed down to pull over and had to pick a spot carefully because there was very little shoulder. By the time I got stopped and jumped out of the car into the light rain, the sun mostly disappeared and the rainbow, while still visible, had faded considerably. I took several vertically orientated pictures to capture the car, road, trees and about a third of the rainbow’s arc. The in-car review of my efforts had us agreeing that this was much better than the first attempt, but still left a little to be desired.

In for a penny, in for a pound, so we thought even though it was a bit out of the way, we’d drive the whole 20 miles east to Edgefield before turning south to Aiken to see if another rainbow opportunity showed up. Because of the recent downpour, the grass was very wet and the ground a little soggy, so as I pulled back onto the road, the back tire started to spin. I eased off the gas and returned to the road somewhat gracefully, but vowed that next time we pulled over to take a rainbow.

Well, not 3 miles further down the road, everything came together, the sun came out, the rainbow brightened and an empty Baptist church parking lot appeared on the right.