Month: October 2015

That’s Fair

That's Fair

The photo above was the proof of concept for our nighttime “Destination – Carnival” photo. Came out pretty good, so then I took a few others to get the actual submission shot. Earlier today we drove to the nearby town of Jackson, SC for the other two points earned today, City – Jackson & Car Show – Hook & Cook Festival.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 103

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 55
Totals So Far: 153 points & 8035 miles

Two Months To Go

Sunday is the first day of November which means that we will only have 61 days left to finish taking photos the 2015 Motoring Challenge. Right now our point total meets the goal of 150 that I set for us this year back in January, but we will probably get a bunch more.

We have all available 15 counties and all the states we are going to get at 22. But we have 5 city letters left (A, J, K, M & R) that we will more than likely get. We need two more Car Shows and a “Famous Work of Architecture” for 4 more points. These four are problematic because the only famous architecture we can come up with that is close by is Rainbow Row in Charleston and with all the leftover flooding from the big rains of a couple weeks ago it is hard to travel in the SC Lowcountry. Our easy Go-To car show is the Augusta Cars & Coffee and there are only two left and we’ll be out of town for one of them.

There are still 15 points left up for grabs in the Destination category and we’ll probably get at least 8 of them. The biggest loss is “Above 8,000 Feet” which is worth 4 points and there is nothing close to that east of the Rockies. I wonder if I could get partial credit (3.3) for getting the highest point available over on this side of the country, Mount Mitchell at 6,683 ft?

We’ll be very pleased with anywhere over 160 points for sure.

I’ve participated in several different Photo Memes on the Internet (Mirror Project, Photo Friday, Enchanted Ceiling, etc.), but here is one I don’t think I’m going to try: Nutscapes. Yikes! I wonder if I submitted one as a Sneak Peek for the Motoring Challenge would I get points or lose some…

The Emperor got a quick bath tonight to wash off any orange over-spray from when I painted the Halloween Pumpkin Mask in the corner of the garage last night.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 102

Your Favorite Restaurant

Destination - Your Favorite Restaurant

Another on our dwindling list of Motoring Challenge destinations was “Your Favorite Restaurant.” We went round and round on this one as we have a few places we really like to eat, but this is it, the Mellow Mushroom in downtown Aiken. While it is a chain, each restaurant is different in look, but the aesthetic is the same. We’ve eaten at a couple of other locations and the food is consistently great.

Now we have to admit that is not finite, next year if you ask the same question the answer might be different, but looking back, the menu aesthetic might be the same. A year ago our favorite restaurant was Apizza di Napoli on the south side of Aiken. A couple years ago we couldn’t sing the praises of West First in downtown Hendersonville, NC enough.

Motoring Challenge Points 1, Approx Miles Driven 10
Totals So Far: 150 points & 7980 miles

Is This Pumpkin Patch Sincere Enough?

Destination - Pumpkin Patch

The train photo we took way back on the 4th of July weekend near Waycross, GA was good enough for submission in the Motoring Challenge. But. Back in 2009 the MMC made a trip to the SC Railroad Museum where we had a ride on a coal-fired steam engine and that has been in the back of our mind for a return trip there to get an even better train photo.

When it came to the Pumpkin Patch destination, we wanted a literal one, not just a display of many large orange-colored cultivars of squash in front of a church or retail establishment, so I searched for one nearby. We found just one in South Carolina, a little east of Newberry, a mere 65 miles away, which is nearby when in a Miata on a beautiful fall Saturday. Looking at the map, the train museum was only another 30 or so miles east, and they were doing, coincidentally enough, Pumpkin Patch Rides.

Not exactly what we hoped for, but having made the special trip, we’ll use it. The train photo wasn’t worth anything because we already had counted the original one. The pumpkin patch was worth one point, today’s other two points came from a Thrift Shop we stumbled on between Newberry and Prosperity. We still have a few city photos to take and figured we get the M on the way home as we’d pass right through Monetta. It wasn’t until we got home and looked at the photos of me sitting on the steps of the Post Office that we realized Donna’s finger was intruding on the frame. Guess we’ll get that M another day.

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 225
Totals So Far: 149 points & 7970 miles

Calendar Girl

Fall at the Gap

The guy who runs my favorite Miata shop that I’ve never bought anything from, The revlimiter.net Store, asked over on the forum for photo submissions for his 2016 calendar. I submitted the one above. Now it looks like he is not going to get enough quality submissions (no idea if mine meets his criteria) so there probably won’t be one this year.

I used to do one using pictures of the Emperor back in the Aughts, so I thought I might have enough photos built up over the last 7 years to do my own. Some quick checking and it looks like I can come up with nine. Hmmm. Doesn’t help that every photo of the Miata from the last two years has me standing near it with a silly poster in my hands. I even tried going back to photos of the previous ’95 Miata we owned, but those are so far back the resolution is too small to blow up the calendar size.

I haven’t given up, but time is getting short.

Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 101

Fan Duel

Because I’ve somehow really been sucked down into the rabbit hole that is televised NFL football. Thursday night from 8 until 11:30, then Sunday from noon until 11:00PM and then again Monday night from 8:00 until whenever. All the time the tube is on football the laptop is open on the coffee table with ESPN’s FantasyCast in front of the league’s scoreboard on the internet.

Consequentially I see a lot of TV commercials and the award for the Rookie of the Year in NFL advertising goes to Fan Duel. Seems like every time you turn around there are those Joe Schmoes who have won thousands, and in some cases millions, by clicking on a couple things on their web page. Well, it turns out it averages about once an hour. I know because I wrote down every promo code they threw at me on Sunday:

Punt, Wind, Clip, Uniform, Watch, Agile, Yards, Triumph & Dual

Their disclaimers say they comply with some acronym and is therefore not gambling, but the gambling world centered in Nevada think they are. So much so that they have made them illegal. Along with several other states. I’m betting (see what I did there)that by next season, even if those types of sites are still in business, they won’t be advertising on NFL broadcasts.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 99