Year: 2005

Temporary Exile

The Miata is our daily driver, which is both a blessing and a curse. The really good part is that a fun car makes the most mundane drive enjoyable, even the one to work. The curse part occurs after spending the weekend, like we did this last one, driving the windy, twisty roads in the mountains, because when you return home it makes those mundane drives mundane again.

When driving in the mountains you spend a lot of time in 2nd and 3rd gear, winding the engine out close to the redline as the g-forces through you from side to side in the car. As you turn the wheel, the engine is singing and the car goes right where it is aimed. Occasionally you approach the limits of adhesion and the tires start to complain, but then you ease off the wheel and give it bit more gas and you swoop through the curve. Barely time to enjoy your accomplishment when you see which way the road bends next and set up for it.

Then you are home. Shifting gears returns to a more sedate 4,000 RPM level. All the curves are 90 degree bends on city streets taken at 20 MPH so as to not land in the back seat of the minivan in front of you. Sigh. I have said it before (I could have sworn I’ve said it here, but a search turns up nothing) this must be how women feel after giving birth, a sort of post partum depression.

I saw a commercial the other day on TV for Celebrity Cruise Lines. This older couple return from their cruise and all they can do is remember their “celebrity” treatment. “My butler knew just how I took my tea,” he says. “I had fresh cut flowers everyday,” says she. My favorite part is the man is obviously back in his office and is trying to open some vertical blinds that aren’t acting right, “I like to think of this as a temporary exile,” he moans. That is what it is like for me to come back from a weekend driving in the mountains…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 253

Daisy Dukes

The main story in this morning’s Lifestyle Section of the paper was all about the second most famous thing about the original TV series “The Dukes of Hazard,” Daisy Duke’s short-shorts. They became so famous that that particular style of very short frayed denim shorts became known as Daisy Dukes. The costume designer from this summer’s movie remake felt that those shorts were the most important piece of the all the wardrobe for the movie, so she started on them first. She made over 25 different pairs of them before they got Jessica Simpson to come in and try them out.

A sidebar to the piece was instructions on how to make your very own pair of Daisy Dukes. Including the secret to the look, cutting the front of the legs on an upwards arc.

Well, at least one positive thing will come from this movie.

If It Is Worth Doing…

…it is worth overdoing.

I was going to buy my Kanji vinyl decals from a place called VinzDecals.com because they have such a huge collection of kanji words, but the are kind of pricey, $7 each for 3″ high decal (meaning $28 +shipping to do what I want.) Well, CafePress to the rescue. I can squeeze all 4 of the characters I need on one bumper sticker from them for around $3. I’ll have to trim each letter out with a sharp knife, but for a $25 savings, it is worth it.

So, of course while I was at it, I made up on of those oval decals too. What the heck, I made up a ringer T-shirt with the characters on it as well. So even if your car isn’t called The Emperor, you can wear the shirt around the house acting like the king of the castle (married guys, don’t forget to ask the wife’s permission first.) Get ’em here:

Life Of Brian Stuff
Save $10 when you spend $25 or more!
Enter the coupon code DES9 when checking out.
Coupon expires 08/08/2005… so hurry!

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 253

The Emperor

It is sort of a Miata nut’s ritual to name your car. The purists will tell you to drive it for a while and the car will tell you its name. Others will pick out a cute one and other will name it based on the color. Some will pick one to match what is available from the local DMV on a personalized plate. The first two Miatas we owned didn’t get names, they were just “The Miata” or Donna would call it “Your Car” when they were bad.

This car did get a name, sort of. Back last March I nicknamed it The Emperor because since the beginning with it we had treated it differently because of the color combo and it’s quieter, smoother ride, treated it a little like royalty. We don’t use it every time we refer to the car like if you had a child or a pet, mostly it gets tossed in here on the blog once and a while.

Ever since my Japanese front license plate idea failed so miserably I have been looking for something else that might be just a little unusual, but tasteful. I have found something I’d like to try, but don’t think it will make it through committee. On the previous Miata I cut out a Miata script sticker from vinyl and placed one on each side of the car on the lower portion of the panel just in front of the doors. On this one I’d like to put the Japanese kanji characters for Emperor in that spot. Maybe in black…

Emperor in Kanji

Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, down once more, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 253

Photographer’s Block

There have been 13 chances for participating in my usual 3 photo memes in July. I have submitted five and all of them have come from the archives. You have to go back to to June 23rd to find a picture shot specifically for a theme. I totally missed on taking a July picture for the Mr. Fletcher’s Ride series (although I could go get an outtake from last month and no one would know, I’m sure nothing has changed.) We spent the weekend in the mountains and I took 4 pictures, three of a very raging waterfall/river and this:

Lets Go

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 248

Miatas at the Gap

What started as one woman’s off-the-cuff invitation to Miataphiles in the general area has morphed into a pilgrimage of sorts to worship the great road of the sports car.

Nine years ago 44 cars came to the Lodge. Word of mouth (and internet mailing lists) caused a jump in attendance to 144 the next year by year five the estimates of attending cars grew to over 500. The first year we all stayed at the same place, year 2 it expanded to some of the local hotels in the nearest town, Robbinsville, NC. By the fifth, people had to find accomodations as far as 75 miles away and if you wanted to stay at the meeting place, the Tapoco Lodge, you had get on a waiting list that was pages long.

The 5th was the last Donna and I attended, it had gotten too big, too unruly and too not about what it once was. but we still missed it and every year we would say to ourselves, let’s go up, even just for Saturday. But the trip is 5 hours in each direction and walk up motel rooms are non existent, so we never go. This year we found a way and went.

We only saw a few Miatas in downtown Robbinsville where we had lunch. We passed a couple on our way north to “Miata Central.” The parking lot at the Tapoco Lodge was packed as always. The driveway in was lined on both sides by Miatas leaving just enough room for one lane of traffic. We just parked at the end and walked in avoiding the hassle. We saw met up with the one couple from the Master’s Miata Club that still goes every year and chatted with them a bit.

While we were standing there all of a sudden in shows up a new can’t be bought yet, 2006 MX-5. Like flies on cow poop, soon you couldn’t even see the car for the crowd of people it attracted. After we left and way too late to do anything about it I thought I should have taken a picture of the crowd to post here with the caption “New Miata!”

After the crowd thinned around the new car I wandered over and had a sit in the driver’s seat for a minute or two. Here is my incomplete 100 word or less review:”The seats have a lot more bolstering than the older cars. While the door sills are probably only an 1″ or so higher it felt more Boxster-like than Miata-ish at first. Parked next to a lowered red NA it looked like a lot bigger car too. When I went from an NA to NB it was seamless, everything was slightly more modern looking, but it was pretty much the same car. This, on initial impression, seems a very different car, but I’ll have to drive it to know for sure.”

After that we hooked up with Ernest and Cheryl again. We drove over to the nearby Fontana Village wondering if that was were a lot more Miatas were because they agreed with us, it didn’t seem as heavily attended as in previous years. On the 15 mile drive over, we past several small groups of Miatas, but not the usual gaggle. At Fontana we found maybe a half dozen Miatas scattered over the big complex. There we split up, they headed back to the Tapoco and we headed south back to Anderson.

We drove all the way up and didn’t even drive the fabled road. That is very OK for 2 reasons: 1) We are going back in September with the Master’s Club and 2) getting a great big ol’ heaping dose of driving the surrounding roads is just as much fun. Just don’t get stuck behind an old man in a big Lincoln with Florida plates.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 246