Road Trip

The 3 B’s

Tonight we (Donna) decided on a whim to head on down to HHI early, so we quick like a bunny packed the car and heaed southeast. We were already going to go down for the weekend anyway, but plan was to eat a breakfast of oversized muffins at the New Moon before driving down. With the tempuratures in the low 70’s at quiting time it seemed a waste to not start the trip with the top down, besides traveling two lane blacktop under a clear sky and moss draped trees is awesome.

A quick trip downtown to get cash from the magic wall and a loop around the busy part of town lead us to New Ellenton for dinner. Pickings are slim in this small bump in the road between Aiken and the bomb plant, heck even the Huddle House closed due to lack of business, which meant the only choices we had were hot dogs at a quick stop or Popeyes. We chose Popeyes hoping that the service here would be better than the one we have in Aiken. Nope.

I had a Catfish Deluxe sandwhich which was not realy as deluxe as the picture on the menu board would have you beleive and Donna had the Butterfly Shrimp Dinner. We split her french fries, bicuit and drink. After we finished she proclaimed, that was too much fried food. So told her for the rest of the weekend we wouldn’t have any more fried food, we would be sticking to the 3 B’s. Baked, broiled and….I didn’t have three. We both paused trying to come up with the third B but couldn’t do it. So I restated my position, “The 3 B’s, baked and broiled!”

A couple miles down the road I thought of the third, boiled.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 41

Transplant A Success

Transplant A SuccessThe power supply swap went smooth as silk. No more brrraaattttttttttttt. While I had the patient open on the table I went ahead and put the original CPU cooling fan back in. I’d swear that the replacement one Dell sent me was noisier than the 2-1/2 year old original one.

On our way over to the Concord Mills mall on Tuesday afternoon we stopped at the drive-thru convenience store in Albemarle so I could snap a couple of pictures of the Miata on the checkerboard pattern they had painted on the driving lane. I’m guessing this store is no longer in operation because it wasn’t open last Tuesday nor was it open last October when Mark and I visited the parking area next door so I could snap a picture of the giant Rat Fink replica there.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 20

It’s Always Longer Coming Back

What took 4 hours on the way up, with a dinner stop, took 3-1/2 on the way back without.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna change the power supply on this PC. And it beter solve our random ugly noise issue or…I don’t know what.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 19

Red Hot Pepper

Spent another day learning stuff that we’ll never use at GibbsCAM school. It was not a total waste, although we will never be doing exactly what we covered today, we may see something similar in the future. Plus he more we monkey with the program the better we get with the interface and will feel more comfortable using it. And a dull day at training beats a good day at work anytime.

Tonight after school we headed over to the Concord Mills mall area. After a brief shopping excursion into the Bass Pro Shop we headed over to Razzo’s Cajun Cafe for dinner. The food and atmosphere when we visited in October were so great we just had to make a return trip this time. We asked to sit in Madeline (our waitress from last time’s) section, but were told she didn’t work there anymore. Oh well, we were seated in a booth just two away from where we were seated before. The place was pretty quiet tonight compared to last time and our server turned out to be a red hot little number named Pepper. Mark and I would have enjoyed flirting more, if we were into young men. No kidding, the guy’s name was Pepper. He said he was named after a famous baseball player from St. Louis in the 30’s, Pepper Martin.

Even though our plan of getting Madeline to hold up a “I miss you Mark” sign and having her picture taken with us in the booth, to email back to the other Mark who was with us last time, was foiled, we are still planning a trip back to the restaurant in two weeks when we return for our last training session because the food is that good. We just won’t necessarily be asking to sit in Pepper’s section.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 19

Monday In Albemarle

Mark and I are off on another two-day training adventure in Albemarle, NC. We are saying in our usual Holiday Inn Express (Mmmm…Cinnamon Buns.) and this time I won’t be able to complain about the parking lot lights interfering with my beauty sleep. After my complaint at breakfast last trip, Mark cued me into the secret, ask for an odd numbered room. The odd numbers are on the backside of the hotel and face a patch of woods. Very dark.

Another plus about this trip was the drive up, I’m driving the Miata and in an effort to not get stuck in rush hour traffic in Charlotte, I charted a route that got us off I-77 about 30 miles south of the big city. It took us through a couple small towns (and a few really small burgs too) on the back roads. Even though the mileage was a little longer, we got to the hotel at about the same time as the earlier trips. As a bonus we were in Monroe, NC about 5:30 and found a Sagebrush Steakhouse to eat at. instead of having to wait until we got to Albemarle. The food was just as good as the one in Albemarle and the waitress here was a whole heck of a lot better than the one we had back in October.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 17

12 Hours

We left Stuart, FL at about 6:30 AM and we arrived in our driveway at 6:40 PM. That includes 2 meal breaks, lunch at a Hardee’s in Lake City (FL), dinner at Waffle House in Augusta, plus about a half dozen driver changes/leg stretches/potty breaks/refueling stops.

I’m sure we could know an hour or two off that time by taking the most direct route, but we hate I-95. There are always too many people going too fast, too close. We actually go west then east to get home and pay for the privilege. Florida Turnpike ($12.90 in tolls) to I-75 to somewhere north of Valdosta and then duck onto the two-lane GA state roads to get to Aiken. Yahoo maps says it is a mere 521 miles from Aiken to Stuart. I’m not sure how long the return trip was, it was a slight variation of the one down which totaled 640.2 miles, because I kept the total trip distance (1363.3) and didn’t pay attention to the 2 days worth of driving around down there. Now you wouldn’t think there would have been much mileage drive because we were visiting family and the motel we were staying at was less than 5 miles from the house, but you probably wouldn’t factor in a 45 mile round trip to see the sunrise over the Atlantic on Hutchinson Island with a trip to Ft. Pierce to eat at Dave’s Diner because it was rated one of the top 3 breakfast places on the Treasure Coast to go along with the last minute shopping trip.

We did start the trip out with the top down because it was 63 in Stuart this morning. We made it about 60-70 miles before the rains came. The rest of Florida was off and on rain, but by the time we got to Georgia the temps had cooled and with the cloud cover, we just left it up for the rest of the drive.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 390

Saturday In The Park

Saturday In The ParkNo state parks for Christmas Eve, but we did walk a few blocks from Sandy’s house to a small city park. The adults stood around chit-chatting while some nephews-in-law played in the sand and a niece related by vapor swung on the swings.

That night the kids were going to open one gift after Uncle Paul read them Clement Clarke Moore’s “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Donna and Brian were going to open a couple because they weren’t going to be there Christmas morning, but one of the relations (who likes to be the center of attention and in charge of everything) proceeded to hand out gift after gift after gift until the tree was empty underneath. Oh well, at least “Santa’s” gifts to the kiddies were in another room, so they would have some surprises in the morning.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 388