Way Down Upon The Suwannee River

Two more GA State Parks and nine more caches today. One of the caches was placed right near the Suwannee River and its water level is way down giving the exposed roots of the trees a very otherworldly look.

My Santa Claus, GA cache did get published and someone has already found it. I wonder if someone will log it on Christmas Day?

Started up, went down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 921

Wednesday

$3.29 a gallon gas
226 miles
9 geocaches found
4 Georgia counties
3 GA State Parks
2 GA Delorme pages
1 tick bite

I was wrong about people mailing Christmas cards from Santa Claus, Georgia, it can’t be done, there is no Post Office. I think people mailed it to City Hall where they used a special postmark, then carried the cards up to Lyons for actual mailing. The city hall building was locked up at 2:00 o’clock on a Wednesday, so we couldn’t get a definitive answer on how it worked.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 919

Santa Claus, GA

Tomorrow morning we start a small trip to meet up with the Florida wing of the Morrison Clan. Aiken to St. Augustine is about 300 miles and in typical Bogardus fashion we will be taking 2 days to get there while geocaching through five Georgia State Parks on a slightly zigzagy route. Our path will take us right through the small town of Santa Claus, GA.

I have known about this place almost since we have lived here, because some people would drive there to have their Christmas cards postmarked there. Always thought that would be a cool thing to do, but it is 100 miles away and who looks at the postmark anyway? We’ll find out who, because Donna is finishing up a couple of late Christmas cards tonight which we plan on mailing from there tomorrow.

I would have thought that there would already be a geocache in town, but nope there’s not. We have a small bison tube lying around the house that is perfect for hiding somewhere, so I’ve attached a couple of little super-strong magnets to it and if we spot a suitable location, there will be one there tomorrow.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

More Car Shopping

On the way back into town after our unsuccessful attempt to rent a Sonata yesterday, Donna posed the door question, i.e. “Why does the next car have to have four doors?” My answer was, “It doesn’t. The only reason I’m so hot for a Sonata is that of all the cars in our price range it is the best looking (IMHO) thing for a second car.” Her timing was just right, we were approaching the Honda dealer outside of town, so I pulled in and pointed out an Accord Coupe and said,” It has two doors.” Her reply was, “That’s big.” The sticker was too, $30k. How about the Civic Coupe she asked and I said, “I’ve never been comfortable in a Civic Sedan. We’d have to try that one out.”

I love shopping, even if it is just an exercise, so I rounded up 7 candidates on the short list for the next car in the Bogardus stable to compare size and cost. All in all, you watch, when we finally do pull the trigger on a new car, it’ll be another Miata. For now let’s play. I spec’d the cars the way I would like them, mostly base models with little content and some would probably be hard to come by that way, but hey, it’s my party. There are quite a few returnees from similar speculation of 10 months ago, a couple new ones and a few drops.

Mazda Miata #1 Sport M/T w/ Convenience Pkg & Cargo Net
Mazda Miata #2 Touring M/T w/Cargo Net
Mini Cooper M/T w/ Cloth Sport Seats, Center Arm Rest, Carpet Floor Mats & Grocery Bag Holder
Hyundai Genesis 2.0T M/T w/ IPOD Cable, Carpeted Floor Mats & Cargo Net
Hyundai Sonata SE A/T w/ IPOD Cable, Carpeted Floor Mats & Cargo Net
Honda Accord Coupe LX-S A/T
Honda Civic Coupe LX M/T w/ Sport Suspension & 16″ Alloy Wheels

Here is the chart:

All numbers reflect the difference between the Emperor and the new car (except interior volume.)

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

Sorry Sonata

Well, it looks like the Emperor is going to Florida, we struck out at 4 different rental agencies at the Augusta Airport. It was actually three counters, Enterprise, National & Avis/Budget. The Enterprise guy answered no right off, the two ladies at National went the extra mile and looked up to see when the 3 of their Sonatas were due back off rental and the woman at Avis sent someone over to their service center to see if there were any hiding there. None available…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915

Mx, Sports Car #83

The Mazda Miata on Car and Drivers Periodic Table of Sports Cars.

We went Christmas shopping in the cold drizzle this morning and purchased several things off everyone’s list. Donna got a couple of pink shirts and I got a pair of khaki cargo pants. The futon got a new set of sheets and the dining room table got a new set of cloth Christmas napkins. The afternoon and evening was spent gathered around the dry warmth of a yule log that is the Panasonic Viera HDTV and plotting geocache stepping stones between here and St. Augustine, FL.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 915