Year: 2015

Second-Largest Living Bird?…Score 156,000 Points!

Bonus 3 - One or More Farm Animals (Emus Score Three)

We had a good day today, 7 photos with a total worth of 10 points. Unlike what I implied in the title, the Bonus 3 – One or More Farm Animals (Emus Score More) photo above is only worth 3 points, but the Emperor did pass the 156,000 mile mark somewhere in Ohio. I don’t have time to tell the finding emu story, but I hopefully will soon (well I did a couple weeks later – Part 1 & Part 2.) Here are the other six pictures:

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 64

Motoring Challenge Points 10, Approx Miles Driven 350
Totals So Far: 105 points & 4950 miles

Wild Emu Chase Afresh

FallingwatersOn our way to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Fallingwaters we stopped in for our second breakfast1 at a small cafe in Confluence, PA. After we finished splitting a delicious breakfast sandwich on potato bread Donna asked the woman who waited on us if she knew of any emu2 farms around.

She thought for a minute and said, “Yeah, there’s one between Somerset and Berlin.” We showed her the state map and she pointed out about where she remembers it being. We were about an hour too early for the 10:00 AM opening at Fallingwaters anyway, so we thought what the heck, it’s only 25 miles in the wrong direction. Let’s go.

We used a combination of GPS and state map to find our way to Berlin, PA via the road the woman mentioned. We saw no emus on our drive, so when we hit the main road outside Berlin I turned right towards “town” to see if we could find a shop with someone else to ask about the elusive emus. The first thing we came to was a NAPA garage which would work out perfect because the Emperor was blind in one eye.3

This garage was kind of a small shop so I wasn’t sure they could help with the headlight portion of our quest, but was hopeful on the emu front. Turned out it was the other way around. The 9006 bulb they had and it cost just nine bucks, about what Advanced Auto would have charged, but these guys installed it for me. It wasn’t for the lack of trying that the emu hunt came up empty though. One of the fellows called someone he knew and they gave him the name of the place, so he looked it up on the interwebs. He gave me the phone number, which I called and got the generic answering machine leave-a-message recording. He then called his wife who told him they sold all the emus a year or so ago and actually the farm was sold off too.

As a bonus, while we were standing around waiting on them to find the headlight bulb Donna noticed the Official Pennsylvania Inspection Station sign and thought it would make a nice proof of the State of PA for the Motoring Challenge.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 62

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 295
Totals So Far: 95 points & 4600 miles

 

Turnabout Is Fair Play

Yesterday’s route was scheduled to include about 30 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway from east of Lexington, VA to end up in Waynesboro, VA. The parkway is a great little drive if you are not in a hurry, at least that is how I remembered it, but the road surface has deteriorated since our last forays onto it and this time it seemed kind of boring.

After about 10 miles into the drive I mentioned that I thought this wasn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. My always on the ready Navigator started looking for options. She spotted one. We needed to get off at VA-56 and head south and east until we found VA-814 where we would start heading north where we would pass under the parkway until we found County-644 that would take us directly into Waynesboro. So a few miles later I got off.

The beginning of VA-814 was a lot further than expected, especially following the slow moving traffic on the windy 2-lane road. When we got there, fortunately, none of the 3 or 4 vehicles ahead of turned let onto it. As soon as I turned left we found out why, there was a yellow diamond shaped sign that read “Pavement Ends 2 Miles Ahead.”

Using our calibrated eyeballs we figured it was only 3 miles total ’til the road crossed over or under the parkway, so I said, “What the heck, how bad can it be?” We headed back up the hill. Sure enough two miles later it turned to gravel. As we rose into the woods, the road narrowed some and there were some pretty decent washboard sections on the switch backs, about 2 miles later we popped out right back at the parkway. Across the road was a sign for VA-814 and we said if it was paved we’d go. It was and we did. It was a nicely maintained road on this side of the ridge and it took us close to where we wanted to be to find a Moss Motors Distributor.

Today after ducking into DC and finally figuring out how to escape the clutches of suburban sprawl that surrounds our nation’s capitol city we found some great rural roads paralleling the Potomac River that took us to the western panhandle of Maryland. We got to I-70 and Donna volunteered to take the helm for a while. Well, she lasted about 10 miles of that before wishing she was not involved with the amount of and the varied driving speeds and skills of drivers around her.

I checked the state map in my lap and suggested she try a bit of Historic US-40 that runs closely parallel to I-70. It worked out great the day before with the same configuration of US-11 and I-81 in Virginia. She got off the Interstate and turned onto 40 and was instantly met with the crappiest pavement we had driven over so far the whole trip. Matter of fact there were a couple of places that felt worse than yesterday’s trip up the unpaved VA-814. At least, for both our sakes, a few miles later the surface of the road returned to a more normal condition.

Today’s Motoring Challenge Photos:

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 60

Motoring Challenge Points 5, Approx Miles Driven 260
Totals So Far: 92 points & 4305 miles

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

Abingdon, VA

County - Washington, VA (Alt)

Today’s original planned mileage was 288, but we ended up going 330 because of route changes (for the better) and circling the downtowns of both Jonesbourgh, TN and Abingdon, VA trying to get a good angle on their Washington County courthouses (VA above.)

Besides the points for the two Washington Counties, we also nabbed the state of Tennessee (NC & VA were scored on the Moss Motors trip back in June.) We entered Tennessee after a drive on an epic sports car road, NC-197 that had branched off NC-226 at Red Hill. I don’t know exactly when and only realized it when I saw a sign that said 395 in a triangle instead of the previous 197 in a square. We didn’t get the usual “Welcome To” sign, so we stopped and took a picture of the first thing we did see with the state name on it, a Tennessee Route 81 sign.

We used 4 different state maps today, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia, but tomorrow we’ll only need the Virginia map. And because we now have the Washington County of this state, our only goals will be a couple of Moss Motors distributors in Roanoke & Waynesboro.

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 06/25/15: 52

Motoring Challenge Points 3, Approx Miles Driven 330
Totals So Far: 83 points & 3715 miles

Mr. Savvy Fantasy Drafter

The first round of the EZEFFL draft went like this:

1 Aaron Rodgers GB QB Clueless in Lexington
2 Andrew Luck Ind QB Georgia Super Los’s
3 Le’Veon Bell Pit RB Purple Whales
4 Adrian Peterson Min RB Team McNorrill
5 Marshawn Lynch Sea RB Team Gregory

I had third pick and when the first two guys selected QBs that left the #1 running back ripe for the picking. So I did.

When I got home and uploaded the results, I checked my line up. Much to my surprise I noticed a big SSPD next to my main horse’s name. Yikes! Suspended? Guess I should have done a modicum of research before hand, well, better late than never.

Turns out the suspension is just two games, but that is like 15% of our 13 game season. According to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ depth chart Mr. Bell’s primary back up will be ex-Panther DeAngelo Williams, and look, DeAngelo was undrafted and available on the Friday waiver wire. I’m number 5 in line, so I’m hoping that someone else doesn’t realize he will probably be playing the first two games and grab him before me.

Turns out I didn’t have to worry, nobody else thought of it and Mr. Williams returns to a Purple Whale uniform. I had him a couple of years ago and he was madly inconsistent then, and he must still carry that reputation, as ESPN has him ranked as the 91st best running back in the NFL. I have two other RBs besides Le’Veon Bell and they are ranked at 18 & 20, so who of the three eligible to play next Thursday will start for me will probably be a game time decision.

Can I See Your Visa Please?

Not the credit card kind either.

We are coming up on our two week vacation and while filling up our pill containers there were four prescriptions that didn’t even have enough pills in them to put in all slots of both of containers. I entered the script numbers into the pharmacy’s web site and two went through fine, but the other two came back as being too soon the be refilled. No problem, we have done it before, I just call and ask for a vacation over ride. The pharmacist who answered, said he’d call the insurance company and call me back if there was any problem.

Ten minutes later the phone rings. Its the pharmacist. There’s a problem.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama wanted to know what day I was leaving on and where I was going on my vacation! I told him we were leaving Saturday on a driving trip though 20 states. BCBS of AL needed to know if I was staying in the U.S. or going out of the country. Seems that their rules have changed, if you are staying in the country, you would need to have the prescription transferred to a pharmacy local to where you were going. Only if you were leaving the U.S. would they refill a script early. I asked, “How would they know?” He said, “I have to ask for your itinerary.” “Just take the pill bottles with you and get a pharmacist to call us and I can give him all the information he needs.”

Donna asked me to go back and check to see where the two that we couldn’t get refilled ran out. We got lucky, in one of them there were enough to make it through the second Friday evening when are planning on being back anyway. The other only had enough to make it until the second Thursday evening, but seeing as it was the same acid reflux stuff that I take, I had enough extra to front her the one needed.

Next year if we take another two week vacation, I’m telling them we are going on a hiking trip in Swiss Alps or something. I just hope Blue Cross/Blue Shield doesn’t make the pharmacist ask to see my passport to check for the proper visas.