Road Trip

155,000 Restaurants Rejected

There were two restaurants within walking distance of tonight’s hotel in Culpeper, VA, one Mexican and one American attached to the hotel next door.

We walked into the Mexican place and could not hear ourselves think over the noise of the blender making margaritas. One woman noticed and made no move towards us. She did nod to a man, who looked at us and made no move towards us. We left.

We entered the outside door to “Pepper’s” and was the wrong one, because it was attached to the hotel they expected you to come in through the lobby. The hostess nodded to us and picked up some menus, but seated another couple who had came in the same door as us, but after us. The place only had a few other folks in it, but it was loud, mostly due to all the hard surfaces, but it also came from the patrons who all seemed to know each other. Not the atmosphere we needed or wanted. We left.

This brings us up to about 155,000 restaurants rejected due to various reasons in our lifetimes. Earlier this morning somewhere along I-81 the Emperor passed through the 155,000 mile mark.

Back at the hotel I consulted the GPS and Donna looked in the hotel info book and we settled on a place in downtown Culpeper just a couple miles away. As it had done almost all day when zeroing in on a destination, the GPS tried to drive us in a circle, but I refused to drive around the block again to go 100 yards backward. I pulled over and parked. Well, the restaurant we wanted wasn’t anywhere on the block where the GPS said it should be, so we headed in the other direction towards Main Street where it seemed there was more action.

We crossed the street and came to the Frost Cafe. Looked inside and started to walk by, when we decided not to press our luck, and went in. The place was nearly empty, but we were greeted, told to sit where we wanted and within a minute a waitress appeared. I got the Patty Melt (great) with fries (eh) and Donna ordered a cup of Cream of Crab soup (good) and a Tuna Melt (lacked the melt part.)

We walked around Lexington, VA like we always do when we get this way, so instead of Moss Motors Distributor photos, here a couple pictures from our walk.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 56

Motoring Challenge Points 4, Approx Miles Driven 330
Totals So Far: 87 points & 4045 miles

Finishing Up the Loop

The initial daily routes are done, I’m sure there will be some fine tuning between now and departure as much as I’m sure there will be adjustments mid-trip, but for now we’re locked in.
Day 9: Bentonville, AR to Texarkana, TX – 282 miles
Day 10: Texarkana, TX to Vicksburg, MS – 285 miles
Day 11: Vicksburg, MS to Hattiesburg, MS – 234 miles
Day 12: Hattiesburg, MS to Columbus, GA – 323 miles
Day 13: Columbus, GA to Aiken, SC – 245 miles

The total trip if driven as now written will be 3278 miles, but considering last year when we drove to Texas and back, we drove 391 miles over the pre-trip estimate of 2504 or an extra 15%, this year will probably end up somewhere closer to 3790 miles.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 35

A Little Trip To The Bookstore

Destination - End of Detour

We made a run to the Book Warehouse in Richmond Hill, Georgia for some more analog reading material. I bought 3 and Donna picked up 8 more hardcovers, all for less than twenty bucks. Of course we burned a $25 tank of gas to drive the 300 mile round trip. We also grabbed a couple of Motoring Challenge points to make the trip “worthwhile.”

Sort of like our Place of Worship photo from January, we were just discussing where we might find an End of Detour sign when we drive by, a Detour sign. We never saw the start of the detour and because we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, somewhere south of the unincorporated community of Tarboro, SC we were kind of unsure as to its authenticity. Luckily Donna was paying attention, as I definitely would have missed it, because just as random as the first sign we spotted, an End of Detour materialized in “downtown” Tillman, SC just a few miles further south on US321.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 34

Motoring Challenge Points 2, Approx Miles Driven 300
Totals So Far: 78 points & 3305 miles

56,000 Raindrops Per Minute

Destination Brunswick, Georgia and the rain threatened all the way until Statesboro, where we stopped for dinner, before it actually materialized. From there until we made it too the Hampton Inn it rained at a rate of about 56K drops/hour.

Somewhere about 10 miles before it started raining the Purple Whale rode through its fifty six thousandth mile.

Not As Noisy

That's ThreeYesterday’s bouncing bolt was not the only thing the Emperor tried to eat on the drive home. For the second time in the last two months the mouth of the Miata has swallowed a bird.

This time Donna was at the wheel and I didn’t even notice the impact at all. We were heading north on US301 and quickly running out of Georgia when she calmly mentions, “I just hit a bird.” Sure enough after we crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina we stopped to change drivers and discovered a decent size female cardinal plastered against the mesh grill.

Donna pointed out that this bird was likely bigger than the one I hit in May. “OK,” I said, “You win the biggest bird trophy, but I’m still ahead 2 to 1 in quantity standings.”

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 12

This Come Off Of The Emperor?

Dropped Something

About 50 miles from home, half way between No & Where, there came a bang and a loud clattering from under the Emperor.

Donna: What was that!?!
Me: Ran over something.
Donna: Something fall off?
Me: Dunno.
Donna: Think we should check?
Me: Guess so.

So I pull a u-turn and about a 100 feet back is a big bolt smack in between the yellow lines. I continue past a bit and pull another u-turn. Stopping in mid lane I get out and pick up the bolt. Yikes! It’s hot. And it has a very thin coating of something that looks like anti-seize compound. Now is it hot because it just came off our car or a car not too far ahead of us or because it is 95° out and laying on a dark surface? Time-wise I can narrow it down only to it has been on the road since after the last thunderstorm here because otherwise the fluid on it would have washed off.

I pull the car off the road onto the shoulder and crawl around a bit underneath looking around at the suspension because that is the last thing that was worked on. I also take a peak at the brake calipers as it almost looks like a slider pin, but see nothing amiss. Might be off the PPF as that was probably loosened or removed for the recent clutch change, but I can’t get that far under there to see.

We get back in the car and slowly start back down the road. I get it up to about 15 MPH and hit the brakes hard and the car responds as it should, with a sudden stop. I then wig/wag down the road like a race car driver warming his tires on the pace lap and the Miata dances back and forth with no drama. But we are both a little spooked, so I drive home at the speed limit with both hands on the wheel.

When we got home I jacked up the car about 12″ off the ground and put all 4 jack stands under it. Looked at everything I could possibly see and there was nothing missing on the PPF or nothing absent at any of the suspension connections. Must be someone else’s bolt.

I swear I did not see anything on the road in front of me before the sudden noises1, so I’m guessing it was there already and I scooped it up with a tire and bounced it back and forth between the car and road a bit before ejecting it out the back.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 10

Motoring Challenge Points 2, Approx Miles Driven 260
Totals So Far: 75 points & 2945 miles

1. Of course if you ask my wife or the guys at Panic they’d tell you I don’t see anything in the road.

Disappearing Courthouse



We started today with two goals, the letter Q and Washington County number two, we finished with five. There were two options on our track for the Q; Quincy, Florida and Quitman, Georgia. Quincy came first and won the day without us even having to go to Quitman, it had a cute mural on a downtown wall.

I had already planned what I was going to take a picture of for Washington County, Florida, the courthouse. I’d eyeballed it on GSV, but boy was I surprised when we got to where the courthouse was supposed to be. It was gone.

There was a small sign saying where everyone had moved to, so we plugged that into the GPS and headed over there. What we found was a totally unassuming one-story structure. Eeh. In the end we drove across the street and captured another totally unassuming one-story structure, that of the Washington County branch of the Florida Department of Health.

Driving towards Chipley knowing I was going to get the courthouse for Florida’s Washington County, it got me thinking that maybe I should get courthouse photos for all 15 Washington Counties. I’d only have to retake the one Georgia county, but now that plan was moot. Seeing as the Georgia Washington County sign had a Georgia shaped “Buckle Up, It’s the Law” sign in the background we’ll just have to differentiate using signage. Which is why we picked the unassuming one-story building we did.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 8

Motoring Challenge Points 5, Approx Miles Driven 320
Totals So Far: 73 points & 2685 miles