Month: March 2025

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

See The USA Edition of SORT
As of Monday, March 31, 2025 at 8:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2013 Chevrolet Corvette 2019 Chevrolet Colorado 2021 Chevrolet Express
Last week was all Porsche and this week it is all Chevrolet. The Chevys couldn’t be all the same model as the Porsche, but what the hey I would have if I could have.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to (if the reserve was not met):
Sport: 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Bid to USD $425,000 on 3/28/25
Off-Road: 1982 Porsche 911SC Sold for USD $130,000 on 3/26/25
Touring: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera Sold for USD $50,500 on 3/25/25

Solo Post Office Sunday

I got up early and went downstairs at the Shilo Inn for breakfast and boy what a disappointment. The only thing I got was small pre-packaged container of Honey Nut Cheerios and an 8oz container of 2% milk. I went back to the room and ate. I wanted to get this hanging Post Office in New Pine Creek (see above photo) so I drove the 112 miles one way to get it. I stopped in Lakeview on the way back to get something really worth eating.

When I arrived back to the hotel around noon, it was just in time to watch the Red Sox lose their game against the Texas Rangers. Boston won the first game of the series last Thursday, but promptly lost the next three to Texas, so their 2025 W/L record so far is 1-3.

Also, when I got back to the hotel, I wasn’t hungry for lunch because of the homemade biscuit with egg, sausage & cheese I had at The Bottom of the Barrel Bakery was twice the size of a normal Carl’s Jr biscuit. I figured I’d get back on track with a good dinner. Never happened.

When I checked the weather for the day in Klamath Falls it mentioned that there might be some snow in the early morning hours of Monday. Hmmm, there wasn’t any mention of snow earlier in the week. Around three this afternoon I looked again, now they were saying an inch or more of accumulation at lower altitudes, but there might be several inches above 5,000 feet. That would be a problem, any route I would take from Klamath Falls to home would include at least one pass that was higher than five thousand. I was willing to stay another day, but changed my mind when snow was forecast for the next 3 days.

I stuffed all my things back into their respective bags, checked out of the hotel, threw the bags in the trunk and headed north. It was 3:30 in the afternoon. At about 5:30 I would normally be thinking about getting din-din, but by then I was long past civilization. I kept thinking I’d see something I wanted in those small towns on this side of the Cascades, but didn’t. I got on I-5 just south of Eugene and really didn’t want to get right back off, so I was going to wait until I got north of town. Then with all the traffic I missed the only exit that had food listed on the sign. I had to stop and gas in Salem and by that time it quarter after seven and too late to eat a meal. I ate the second bag of a half apple I had brought along for afternoon snack.

I figure between the Lakeview round trip and the dash home I drove over 500 miles for the day. With Saturday’s 300-ish mile drive down to K-Falls it was certainly good practice for my upcoming Jumbo Road Trip.

K-Falls Weekend

Drove over the Cascades today to visit some friends back in Klamath Falls. When I got up to around 4,000′ there was snow on the pines and at 5,000′, the road had minimal shoulders because the snow banks were a couple three feet high. There was no snow on the roads, because the temperatures were above freezing so they were just wet.

Between getting off I-5 south of Eugene and before I got that high, along the way I stopped and took pictures of all the 5 Post Offices that are along OR-58.

Tomorrow I am going to take a couple hundred-mile drive to capture a post office that when we lived in K-Falls, I thought it was a California PO because that is what Google says when you type in the address, but turns out it is physically located in Oregon. I have no idea what the folks in New Pine Creek, California do for their post office, use the Oregon one with a different Zip Code or the same Zip and a different +four. I won’t know and can’t ask the person behind the counter inside because it’ll be Sunday it isn’t open.

This will still leave one last post office in this neck of the woods, the one in Crater Lake Nation Park. It is located at the visitor center, while it is open I’m not so sure if I could get the Miata, with its all-season tires, up there. I’ll plan another trip down to Klamath Falls in the summer for another visit and catch it then.

Another Day In Oldmanland

The highlight of the day was my once every second fortnight haircut. And when I say haircut, it is more like mowing a lawn, in that I have them put the #2 comb on their shears and just cut everything they can see.

The standard Senior Haircut is twenty-one bucks, but I’m not sure I’ve ever paid that. The first few times I went there I had a $5 off coupon, but ever since then it has been $15 or $16 dollars. They always say something like, “If the boss was here, I’d have to charge the full price.” And although I usually go to the same shop, it’s always different stylists.

Today’s haircut price hit a record low; she charged me just ten bucks. I don’t get it, what is the reason for the random price cuts? They are on a salary and it is so low that are “sticking it to the man” because they get to keep the tip? Maybe they found that the price cut makes the tip go up? Also, what’s with the “if the boss was here” thing? No one is keeping track of how many haircuts they do and comparing it to their money taken in? Whatever it is, I like it, its anarchy.

Club Badge

Back in October 2024 when I was adding a bunch of mods to the new blue Miata I was visiting the the local dealer’s parts department quite often, the same guy was always behind the counter. We got to talking as car guys do (he has a tastefully modded Mazda 3 hatch) and on my 3rd or 4th visit HE came back with the part I ordered and another item he thought I might find a use for, an official Mazda Miata Club badge. His manager had asked him to throw it out because it had been sitting around so long and there is really no demand for it anymore because it was on only certain Miatas in a 3 year span a decade ago.

The third generation Miata ran from 2006 to 2015 and in 2013 they replaced the Touring trim with a Club trim that was more sportier than the Sport trim (really the base car) and harder core than the Grand Touring trim level. The Club got a limited slip differential, some different shocks and a nifty badge that went on the driver’s side front fender. This badge was my gift from Mr. Parts Guy.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do it at the time. When the fourth generation car came out in 2016 the trim levels were again called Sport, Club and Grand Touring. The Club trim was the still the “sportiest” version of the Miata, but they weren’t putting the Club Badge on them anymore. This meant that I didn’t want to put the badge on the new car because it was the Grand Touring trim and that seemed a little like sacrilege to do so.

Fast forward to January and I was now the proud owner of second generation car and that version of Miata didn’t ever have any trim called Club, I felt that is the car I could put the badge on. After all I’ve added new shocks, springs and a freer flowing exhaust to make it more Club like. I put the badge on the left front fender like it would have been on those 2013-2015 cars. In Mazda parts bag along with the badge there was a template on where to put it on the car. Of course the different generations made the template not exactly right, but I fudged it and I think it looks good where I stuck it.

Those early cars only had the one badge, but I thought if I could find another one I’d have badges on both sides. eBay to the rescue, I found one for sale and bought it, it came today. Bucky is now ambidextrously badged.

Morning Walk

This morning’s sunrise appeared like normal, but after breakfast and I stepped outside to go for a walk, the unusual higher temps turned that into a lot of low level fog. By the time I finished my 2 mile trek around Salish Ponds the fog was gone. And the sun sort of came out, there was scattered blue to be seen. After making a coffee I hopped into a Miata and went for a short drive east of here where the roads have more curves.

After lunch I went back out and gave both the boys a bath, even though the rains returns tomorrow and will probably reverse the cleanliness in short order.