Road Trip

Richmond

Breakfast was just about what we expected, I had a bowl of Raisin Bran with what milk I could get out of a mostly frozen jug and Donna ate a biscuit with sausage gravy. Plus we each ate one of those half dollar sized powdered doughnuts that come in packs of 10 for fifty cents. We stopped a few miles down the road and bought some fruit at a grocery store.

Donna had the official North Carolina Travel book out and we were going to stop in a couple small towns to see some of the “points of interest” in them. Trouble was all we really had were descriptions of the sites, no directions. There was a covered bridge near Asheboro, one of only two remaining in NC, that we actually found some signs to, but gave up finding after traveling 10 miles on two-lane roads with nothing to show for it. Next site we couldn’t find was a antique carousel inn Burlington. It was located in a city park at the center of town, but we never saw a sign for downtown.

Side Note: Berries & Cream Dr. Pepper tastes a lot like cough syrup.

Traffic was amazing light until we got to Richmond when we needed it the least. A miscommunicated routing request sent the driver several miles out of the way causing a delay in getting into our hotel room.

We had a nice visit with Sally over DQ Blizzards and got the inside dish on Africa and the whole Pitt-Jolie birthing extravaganza. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast with her and her “Tug Boat Captain” daughter Claire before visiting Donna’s Cousin Sue and family.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 169

Kannapolis

Rest easy Mark, we resisted the “Call of the Rat Toe.” We came into Concord on US601 and even though we were 5-6 miles east of Lowes Motor Speedway the traffic was as thick as mosquitos on a summer’s eve. Descretion being the better part of valor we just rolled north into Kannapolis.

After a few false moves we found our motel. I couldn’t beleive that we could find a room this close to the big race on such short notice, but maybe I know why now, it is only a couple short steps up from a dump. But hey, there is wireless broadband internet, the water pressure is great, the AC blows cold air and after manually hitting the power button, the remote control works the TV just fine, so what else do you want for $80.

At the front desk there was a schedule for the Kannapolis Intimidators, class A farm team for the Chicago White Sox, and they were home. We found a local pizza place for dinner, Flyin Buffalo and went to a baseball game, sort of.

Parking was a buck and General Admission was to be $4 each, but some guy was giving away complimentary General Admission tickets just outside the gate. He assured Donna there was no catch, so we took them and got in for free. About 10 minutes before gametime the grounds crew put the tarp on the field. The PA announcer said the game would be delayed a few minutes as there was a storm system headed our way. Donna and I immediately made our way to one of several covered picnic areas, even though it wasn’t raining yet, to avoid the rush later. After about a half hour and no rain we decided to just go ahead and leave as our tickets were free. Before we made it to the exit they started to take the tarp up, so we got some seats to watch some baseball. We made it through two whole innings before our long day caught up to us and we headed for the exit again.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 165

Tires Balanced

We don’t get the Miata on an Interstate much and the last few times we did it showed some tire shimmy at 60MPH and again around 80 or so. Rotating the tires didn’t eliminate it totally, but did change its feel and speed of appearance. Seeing as we are doing a road trip this weekend that will encompass a good chunk of interstate I went to a different LTS and had the tires balanced. The Miata is fairly sensitive to balance issues because of the light weight wheel/tire combination and taught suspension. I’ll let you know how they did.

When I had the ticket written up I left a big hint that the torque spec for my lug nuts was 75 ft/lbs. I had tried that tact with the last place, but they didn’t get the hint (which is one of the reasons I’m at some place new.) These guys did good on this account as I checked when I got home in the driveway and the lug nuts were easily removable with the regular lug wrench. I then retorqued them back down to 75 ft/lbs.

They did made a weak attempt to sell me some new tires before balancing. The Toyos are nearly worn out, but I think I have another month on them. They were installed in October of 2004 when the car had a touch over 16,000 and we are fast approaching 40,000. That would mean I would get a respectable 25k miles on the set with this weekend’s trip and another 30 days of local travel.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 160

Neon Diaries II

Neon Diaries IIGot up this morning and took a road trip. Donna wanted to visit the Swan Lake Iris Gardens in Sumter, SC and I wanted to go to Denmark, so that’s what we did. First stop was to the country, er, city of Denmark which is famous around these parts for two things, it is the closest spot to board an Amtrak train and is the home of artist Jim Harrison.

From there we headed northwest towards Sumter. Somewhere around halfway there we passed a small sign at a gravel road that said Kensington Mansion. About a half a mile later we did a u-turn and went back to check out the place. They offered tours, but we could find no one to tell us anything about them. We walked slowly around the whole outside of the place and just as we finished our circuit the latest tour was finishing up, 4 people and one guide came out of a side door. We asked if there was a brochure or something and Donna got a 1/3 sheet flyer thing and the guide wanted us to stick around for another hour for the next tour. We declined and drove off.

At Sumter, after a lunch at Chik-Fil-A, we visited the Swan Lake Iris Gardens. Lots of hungry swans and turtles and not much on the way of gardens. We walked around a bit and did a boardwalk around the lake which looked remarkably like the boardwalk near the river of two weeks ago in the gardens of Orangeburg. After an hour or so we had had enough so we got back in the car and turned west for home.

Just west of Columbia we almost past right by a little car show at a roadside flea market. I’m hoping we missed the big action of earlier in the day, it was 2:30PM, or this was one very poorly attended happening. I took a few pictures of some of the more interesting cars there before we ate an elephant ear and came on home.

Started up, still up.
Neon Top Transitions since 04/24/06: 0

Visited Norway Today

Visited Norway TodayI may have to start a South Scandilina gallery. I’ve already got a picture of me in Switzerland and the town of Denmark is just around the corner.

Donna and I got up early and drove to Orangeburg to visit the city’s really nice Edisto Memorial Gardens. Not the best time to visit, the roses aren’t totally out yet and most of the azaleas are past, but still worth the drive. There is a really nice sensory garden, a really cool metal palmetto tree fountain and a long boardwalk along the south fork of the Edisto River. We walked all over the place for a couple of hours, but knew it was time to go when Easter services around town let out and families descended on the place to have pictures taken in their spring finery.

I spent the afternoon up a step ladder installing two ceiling fans in our soon to be new bedroom. Two, because the first one didn’t work once I got it 90% installed. Lowes was more than happy to swap out for another of the same style fan, but they wouldn’t refund me for my time spent. The good thing about the second install is it took less than half the time of the original one.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 112

Muffler Man

Muffler ManAiken, SC to Washington, GA where we lunch on the square at a place called the Jockey Club. Donna had, appropriately, a Club Sandwich, with soup and a salad while I had a Chicken Salad Sandwich with french fries. The food was good, but the highlight was definitely the fries. Real potatoes, hand-cut and deep fried to perfection. After lunch we walked off our meal by doing a lap around the square where we discovered a cool old hotel, The Fitzpatrick Hotel, built in 1898 and operated for 50 years. Then sat neglected for another 50, before being bought and totally renovated and has been open for only the past two. Donna walked into the lobby dragging me with her. We poked around on the ground floor for a while when an employee invited up to look at some of the guest rooms. Very classy. We are going to go back in May when the town holds one of its two big cruise-ins and spend the night, if we can get a room…

After Washington we headed northeast to Watson Mill State Park. we had visited there way back in 1998 on one of our covered bridge tours. We have a little book we bought that has a bunch of Georgia attractions that we bought back then and right there in the margin was the date we visited (4/10/98) and the notation, “Very nice, need to come back.” Well we did and it was worth it again. Guess we’ll schedule another visit in 2014.

We are spending the night in the Holiday Inn Express in Elberton, GA. Us and a bunch of bass fishermen, because there is a team tournament being held on Thurmond Lake this weekend. The only problem with that, besides worrying that somebody will drag their boat trailer across the hood of the Miata trying to park 60′ of vehicle, is ice is very scarce. Neither machine in the complex spit out any frozen water, pushing the button resulted in nothing but whirring noises. I had to go to the front desk to get my little plastic bucket filled. We have 4 channels of HBO on the TV and for our viewing pleasure this evening, on two of them, is Catwoman with Halle Bery. I’ve got a whole ‘nother rant post about our stay which may come your way later.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 87