Miata Washings

Two Posts In One

Port of TacomaThis is yesterday’s and today’s all wrapped in one because we got in at 12:30 last night (which is technically today) and it was too late to do anything but fall into bed at 1:00 AM (although it could be argued it was only 10:00PM west cost time.)

After breakfast on Wednesday we took a short walk along Tacoma’s waterfront (where today’s picture was taken) before hopping in the car to do some last minute sightseeing. We started out at Point Defiance Park and it’s views of the lower Puget Sound. We could have visited Fort Nisqually, a living history museum based on the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading outpost built in 1833, but it didn’t open until 11:00 AM (it was only 9.) Or we could have visited the Camp 6 Logging Museum, set up to look and feel like a logging operation with an operating railroad, but it didn’t open until 10:00 AM. So we just drove the 5 mile loop through the part and headed towards the Glass Museum. As we battled the mid morning traffic a decision was made to table the Glass museum and just head for the airport, we did take the scenic route instead of I-5 and we ended up dropping off the rental at 11:30 with just an hour to go before we started boarding our plane home. Good thing we left that much time too, because security at SeaTac took a whole heck of a lot longer than at Charlotte. We did still have time to buy a couple books and wolf down a small pizza from Pallino Pastaria (it was actually quite good.)

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
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The flight home was not nearly as pleasant as the one out. We had already seen the movie, The Break-Up, and screaming babies echoed through out, including the 3-year old behind Donna who threw, basically, a 4-1/2 hour tantrum. We will be petitioning the airline to consider that all children under 7 be treated as animals, ie. caged and kept in the baggage compartment.

When we got to Charlotte we were treated to temperatures in the 70s (it was lucky to get to the middle 60s out west) and some humidity (which I never thought I’d miss) to go along with a nearly full moon for the drive home.

Today was sleep in, grocery shop, wash clothes, wash the car and one last big meal out (it was the MMC monthly meeting and we met at Olive Oils, a very nice Italian place here in town.)

I took a hundred and twenty-four pictures and I’ll be separating the wheat from the chaff this weekend and try and get a gallery of about 30 photos online.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
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Andy Jones

Andy JonesWashed the car this morning in preparation for today’s MMC gathering for the Sno-Cap Drive In’s 42nd Anniversary. We had a pretty decent showing of cars, six, but all of us were late arrivals, so we were beat to the shady spots under the awning by the Corvettes and the VWs.

I was a few minutes late because I stopped for an impromptu photo shoot at the empty Andy Jones car dealer lot. Andy Jones opened a Mazda dealership in Aiken a year or so after I bought my first Miata. A couple years later they moved 15 miles west to this shop in North Augusta. Now they have packed up and moved 20 miles further west to Augusta, GA.

Started up, went down, still down.
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How the Mighty Have Fallen

Mickey D'sLadies and Gentlemen, Bob Dylan is playing in Lake Olmstead Stadium right now. Yep, the real Bob Dylan is playing tonight in a Class “A” Minor League Baseball Stadium in Augusta, GA. But he hasn’t fallen far enough for me, maybe I’d pay an Andrew Jackson, but they want 48.50 for a ticket. I never was much of a Dylan fan, the only CD of his I own is “Blood on the Tracks.” I’d probably be more interested in hearing one of his opening acts, Junior Brown. I love his Surf Medley…

Washed the Miata this evening in preparation for Saturday’s Bug Splat Rally. Didn’t get done until it was too dark to take a photo of the shiny car, but I did manage to take a picture in the McDonald’s parking lot where we went for one of those fabulous $1 sundaes.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
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Can We Go Back To Interleague Play?

The FRS were 16-2 against the National League East and now that interleague play has ended, they have lost the last 2 games to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who are in last place in the American League East 14-1/2 games behind Boston. The only saving grace is the Yankees have lost the last 2 games against Cleveland, so they are still 4 games back.

Washed the car yesterday and I waxed it today. If it wasn’t for a last minute night-time drive for a Micky D’s Hot Fudge Sundae, the Emperor wouldn’t have left the driveway today.

Started down, still down.
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828 Miles Later…

828 Miles Later?…we are home again. Maybe 275 of that was today (I didn’t keep track) on the way home. Half the trip back was mountainous twisty and only about 1/3 of that was spent at “speed.” It is during the 4th of July week and high tourist season in the mountains. Most of the time I was stuck behind a car from Florida or an old man in a hat driving a Camry. Secretly there were times when Donna was happy to have a slow poke in front of me for some of the trip, by mid-morning she had had just about enough of being tossed around, bless her heart.

The Blue Boar Inn is a mile and a half into the woods on a dirt road and after about 8 trips on that surface, the car was ugly dirty, so I washed it this evening. Much better.

One last story from the trip. On Friday when we went out to see the Milky Way, but were thwarted by the bright moon, we did get a substitute show. Right across the Skyway from the overlook we stopped at was a big old hill full of trees that spread from left to right traversing our whole view. The hill side was alive with fireflies. It reminded me of people flicking their lighters at an outdoor stadium rock show. We sat on a little wall and watched for about 10 minutes oohing and aahing, until some animal snorted in the woods behind us. Being city folks this noise made us get up quickly, dust off our butts, walk to the car and head back to the Inn.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up to wash, down again, still down.
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Practicing My Parade Wave

Put the Vampire Teeth back in the mouth and washed the car. Tomorrow is the Ridge Spring Peach Festival and the MMC is in the parade…

Started down, went up, still up.
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Aiken

As Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.”

US1 runs through Sanford, NC and Aiken, SC too, so we decided to just follow it home. This caused Donna to remember that 42 years ago when her family moved from NJ to New Orleans the traveled down via US1 in a station wagon. They drove straight thru with Mom and Dad splitting the driving, figuring it was easy to remember what roads to take by picking one and sticking with it. They folded the back seat flat and the 4 kids rode down in the back of the wagon with their sleeping bags. No minivan with child seats, seat belts or DVD players, just sleeping bags and some kiddie books. I then shared that my mom and one of her male friends took 2 weeks to travel the whole length of US1 from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida. She asked how old I was thinking that perhaps in some weird coincidence her family and my mom had crossed paths, maybe saying hello at a gas station or sat in adjoining booths at a roadside diner. No such thing happened though as my parents were still together when I was nine. Mom and Leo did their trip some 4 or 5 years after the Morrisons, because I was in my early teens when my mom and he were an item. Kind of strange that our parents passed through Aiken long before Donna and I lived here.

Around Camden, SC we actually got tired of the back roads and feeling the pull of home, jumped on I-20 to speed up the trip. This is also about the time the car started to make a loud rattling noise. It seemed to happen when shifting between 2nd and 3rd, but was entirely restricted to just then. It would occur between 2500 to 3000 RPM. I suspected it was somehow exhaust related, but wasn’t really sure. It didn’t sound life threatening, so the plan was to get home and take a look underneath the car. We made a detour into Columbia for lunch. Donna wanted spaghetti and meatballs and we remembered a restaurant in downtown called The Old Spaghetti Factory. We drove around where we thought it was, did I mention that the last time we ate there was 8 or 9 years ago? We finally gave up and asked someone. They remembered it, but was sure they had closed some time ago. We ended up at Subway where Donna got her meatballs, just in a sub, not on a pile of pasta.

With all the city driving the noise was getting a lot louder and a lot more frequent. We decided to head a few miles back and stop in at the Mazda dealer in Columbia. They were open and said they would get a technician to look at it. We retired to the waiting room with thoughts of possible expensive repairs floating in our heads. About 45 minutes later the service adviser came over and said it was fixed, they found that a bolt had come loose on an exhaust hanger up near the front of the car. When I asked how much we owed them, he replied, “Nothing.” Cool. We thanked him and finished the trip home in quiet.

At home the Emperor got a well deserved bath. I want it to look good because tomorrow we go back to the body shop for them to fix their errors when they repaired it earlier this month.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
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