MMC

Hey! That Rhymes!

Saturday morning was the first Masters Miata Club Breakfast of the year at the traditional spot, the Steak & Shake in Augusta. Donna and I went with them the first time in 2013 and her eggs were served cold. This, on top of a couple slow or sloppy services at past visits to this franchise, made her swear off ever going the January MMC breakfast again.

My meal was fine back in 2013 and I was feeling bad about not going to a club event in a while, so I convinced Donna to go this year. Well, you can guess what happened, cold eggs. She ordered the bacon, egg & cheese biscuit, but asked them to leave off the cheese. Well, you guessed it, there was cheese on there and that is how she knew her eggs were cold, the slice of cheese was showing no signs of melting what so ever. You can now bet that if the only restaurants left on the face of the planet are Steak & Shakes, Donna will learn to catch wild animals with her bare hands or starve to death before going into one. The sign on the pole outside of our dining spot was the best part of breakfast.

I think the tradition for the Club is over as well because Donna’s wasn’t the only one who got cold food. My hash browns were cold, as were the ones served the wife of the couple who instigated the Steak & Shake breakfasts. As we were breaking up, I heard her say to her husband, “Maybe we should start going across the street to the Cracker Barrel.”

When we started the morning, the was top up because it was cold and we really weren’t thinking Motoring Challenge, so we didn’t bring the clue sheet. Not knowing just what to look for, except for the “Signs of Winter”, I choose a route to breakfast along a very commercial road hoping to catch a Winter Sale sign. No luck.

When talking about this year’s challenge over breakfast when asked what some of the challenges were, we came up a couple off the top of our memory, Roller Derby Rink was one and another was a Sign that Rhymes. Turns out that Augusta has a Roller Derby team and they practice at a rink over on Washington Road which was between where we were and home. A stop was planned to see if they had a sign outside the skating rink. No luck there either, so I started to drive off when Donna said, “No. Even though no roller derby, we still need a plain old roller skating rink.” A few miles from home we pulled into a strip shopping place near Walmart and found my Winter Sale sign at a The Shoe Dept store. So we ended up with a three point day even though we had zero expectations.

Chasing Steeples: The Fall Edition


After gifting the Club the use of his spot and tickets for the past two Aiken Spring Steeplechases, this time President Tom gave us the opportunity to attend the Fall Steeplechase. He donated to us the spot for one vehicle with two extra parking passes in case someone didn’t want to meet at our house and walk over, plus a dozen tickets to get in the gate.

Six club members claimed the tickets right off, us, Karol & Dennis Mason and Emilie & Kirill Skliar, and maybe because it was sort of last minute, no one else piped up. The six of us that were going started looking for guests to bring because we didn’t want Mr. Varallo’s largess to go unused. By Friday we thought we had all but one spoken for. But by Saturday we only had one guest use a ticket to get in, a friend of Karol & Dennis’s, named Lee. Sigh. Their loss.

On Thursday Donna and I had to run an errand, so we cruised by the field to see if we could eyeball where spot #262 was and were excited to see it was near a jump. It wasn’t until we got there Saturday morning to set up that we realized it was right at the jump. As before with previous steeplechases the Bogarduses and Masons arrived practically as the event gates opened to set up. Soon the other spots started to fill up too. As our direct neighbors arrived, we traded introductions and offered up food and drink. They reciprocated to be friendly and because everyone always brings way more than they need to these events.

We had two portable grills (one charcoal, one gas) setup for cooking the hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken & vegetable shish kabobs. There were Fritos and a couple bags of chips with about four different kinds of dip to nibble on. There were crackers, cheese, sliced ham and venison sausage for grazing, with brownies and an Italian raisin bread for your sweet tooth. To drink we had iced tea, soft drinks/mixers, beer, Jack Daniels, Vanilla Crown Royal and a bit of bubbly.

Spot #262 was not only right at the exit of a jump, but as it turned out, in 4 of the 5 races, the horses lined up to start right in front of us. Unlike flat races where the horses are slotted into a starting gate, in steeplechase they parade from the paddock and then line up in reverse start order behind a judge who then walks them in a line towards the rail. There they do a left face maneuver, so when another judge (on foot) waves the red flag, they take off sort of like they just came out of a gate. Because these are naturally skittish thoroughbred race horses it never goes smoothly, yet somehow they always end up with a reasonably straight start.

In between the first and second race we had some special guests arrive to liven up our tent with youth and conversation, Courtney (Lee’s daughter), along with her friends Little Courtney, somebody possibly named Bridget and a couple others. We fed them some of our food and we helped ourselves to some of their liquor. They watched the carriage parade with us, then the second race, and just as quickly as they came, they disappeared. Left behind the booze though, so we knew they’d be back.

In between the third and fourth race a fellow MMC member Chip was on his way to somewhere when he noticed the Club sign in front of Dennis’s truck, so he stayed long enough to say hello before he too disappeared. In between the fourth and final race Emilie & Kirill headed over into the infield to walk through the shops and take in some of the pageantry that is steeplechase, which Donna and I and the Mason’s had already done earlier.

Emilie & Kirill came back after the fifth and final race finished. Not long after, Little Courtney and Bridget popped back in to join us as we all whiled away some time waiting for the crowd of hurry-homes to disperse some before attempting our own exit. Bridget got Dennis to pop the cork on her bottle of sparkling wine and the nine of us toasted another fantastic day at the races in Aiken. We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a better spot to watch the races. Thanks Tom!

So That Explains It

Nearly every year since 1999 Donna and I have been running an event for the local Miata club called the Bug Splat. Regular readers know what I’m talking about because almost every year I have blogged about it here. If today is your first visit, read a few and come back.

It has seemed to me that with each passing year, the quantity of bugs smashed on the front of Miatas each summer has steadily decreased. I know this hasn’t really bothered the participants, they are in it mostly to be led on a drive around the local back roads with the ice cream finish, but it has bothered me. I have contacted an Entomologist at a local university, changed routes several times and even tried adjusting the starting time to optimize our interactions with insects, all to no avail.

Turns out that it doesn’t matter how often I monkey with the setup of the Bug Splat Rally, because German scientists have actually proved my Diminishing Bug Hypothesis – Warning of ‘ecological Armageddon’ after dramatic plunge in insect numbers

Miatas, Muffins, McBee, Mcleod, Museum & Big Meats

Hard to believe that at one time I had two blogs and wrote in each every night. Plus for a while there I was posting a picture a night in a photo blog as well. Now if I write something twice a week I’m lucky, so for the second time in 2 weeks here is more or less a repeat of my rally wrap from the past Saturday’s MMC event:

Cars, front row from left to right, Dennis & Carol Mason, Mike & Shirley Dyer, Don & Kaye Boltz, Daryl & Sherri Shipman, Karl Splan, Hal & Trudy Scott, Tom Varallo and Brian & Donna Bogardus. Second row from left to right, Joe Varallo, Random Customer #1, Random Customer #2, Barrista and Trash Dumpster.


Donna and I were first to park at our breakfast spot and when Tom backed in next to us the first thing he said was, “You’ll have to put Joe behind you otherwise he’ll get lost.” “He doesn’t follow close enough and if we lose him he won’t know where he is.”

A little back story. Joe is Tom’s younger brother and every year he comes down to help with the Steeplechase (he is an Aiken Sertoma Club member) and when he came over to the tent last week we got to explaining what we were doing this weekend, he thought it sounded like fun, so Donna invited him to come along. Trouble is that Joe is about 6 inches taller than his older brother and would be uncomfortable in a Miata for that length of a drive. We told him we would be happy to have him along even if he was driving a white Chevy Blazer.

Joe didn’t want to interrupt our conga line of Miata and insisted, in spite of of what big brother said, to bring up the rear. The first and third thirds of the drive were on little trafficked 2-lane roads so he should have no issue keeping track of the 8 Miatas ahead of him, but the middle part was on busy I-20 and a stoplight filled US-1 around Columbia where it might get difficult.

We were all together at the exit getting on US-1, but sure enough, somewhere around the 5th traffic light we started to get broken apart. Because we would be on US-1 for for around 25 miles there would be a good chance that the group would come back together. About 10 miles after exiting the Interstate a lot of the cars pulled into a quick stop for the second rest room break. A couple of stragglers pulled in a minute or so later, but that left one car missing. Texts and phone calls were met with radio silence.

After about an uncomfortable 7 or 8 minutes of wondering what might have happened, our wayward driver checked in. Somewhere in a mass of traffic he got off course and before he realized it, his GPS had led him towards the Interstate.

Tom told us he’d just get on I-20 and meet us at the destination.

South Carolina Breakfast Club

Apparently Miata owners aren’t the only ones who like go to a destination for no other reason than to eat breakfast, aircraft folks do it too. Since 1938 (with a couple of years off for WWII) every other weekend private pilots from all over have met at various airports in South Carolina on Sunday morning for breakfast and fellowship.

There are several folks in the MMC who have, or have had airplanes, and with there being no official Miata Club breakfast for the month, one of them invited the car club to come out and dine with the plane club. And we did. Seven Miatas come out for breakfast, which was more than they had aircraft fly in. While the low overcast skies and threat of a storm front passing through kept the planes at bay, the unseasonably warm December day brought out the cars.

From the South Carolina Breakfast Club home page: This is a club that has no dues — you join by attending your first meeting, and “the only rule is to fly safe.” So, just like that, Donna and I are members in another club. Maybe we should buy us an airplane…

Where The Bugs Are

This past Saturday was the Annual MMC Bug Splat Rally that Donna and I put on since 1999. Over the years we have noticed a steady decrease of bugs available for knocking out of the air with the fronts of Miatas. After the first 7 or 8 years we ran the same course up and over the dam at Clarks Hill. Since then we have moved the loop around to a couple other spots in the hopes of find a more dense insect environment. We haven’t had much luck. Every time we have a bug free or near bug free run, which seems common now, I say that maybe it is time to ask an bug expert where the bugs are.

Saturday was the clincher, so today I Googled “South Carolina Entomology” and it led me to the web site of the South Carolina Entomological Society. So I wrote an email to the President:

Rizana Mahroof,

Hello. My name is Brian Bogardus and I am a member of a car club located in the Central Savannah River Area that is centered around the Mazda Miata.

So why is a car club member writing to the President of the South Carolina Entomological Society you ask, it is about insect extermination. Specifically about killing bugs with the front of Miatas. For the past dozen years or so I have run an event called the Bug Splat Rally where the Club gathers in a spot somewhere in the CSRA, goes for a 40-50 mile drive in the summer evening/night and ends up at a Sonic for ice cream and the awarding of prizes.

When I first started doing this we would meet in Augusta, GA and drive up over Clarks Hill Dam and back into Augusta. After a few years it seemed like the amount of insects and their related death signatures decreased, so I started varying the start times and routes hoping to change that. The last 2 years we have met in North Augusta, looped up to Edgefield and then back to Exit 5 off I-20. While it was a lovely drive on back roads it left a lot to be desired in insect activity.

So, enough background, my question to you and/or your membership is, “When would be the best time of the year and the best time of day to do a back roads drive that would have the best chance for splatting big bugs on the noses of small sports cars?”

Regards,
Brian

Not long later I received a reply:

Hi Brian,

This rather an interesting perspective that I have not seen before. By any means it sounds like a successful 2-year event that attracted some people. Here are my views about where you may find highest numbers of insects.

1. Roads that goes through wilderness, marsh land, ponds or woods. If road goes through cultivated crop lands like corn, cotton or peanuts, these days we use mostly genetically modified varieties and crop varieties those are resistant to insect damage, you may not find lots of insects. Besides farmers spray agrochemicals to kill them too.

2.Summer is the best time where insects are active. Insects are cold-blooded creatures, they need optimum temperature for flight. When it starts to cool down, flight activity declines.

3. During the day insects do not fly much at peak sun hours or if the temperature is too high during mid day. Most of them fly when temperature in a day is optimum.

4. Some insects are called “nocturnal” like moths are active at night, dawn and dusk. They are attracted to beams of headlights and may be you can kill them easily.

5. Insects have certain period of life cycle, you will not find all types all the time, but at a given time there are plenty of them available. After all, they are the most successful organisms on the face of the planet.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Rizana Mahroof

Wow, thanks, but most of that stuff is not really news to me.
1. That is why I started with a loop around the lake. All the other routes we’ve changed to have been through 2-lane back roads. The farm info I hadn’t thought of before, but it is a non-issue around here.
2. This is why we run the event in August.
3. Start time has always been near dusk and
4. Finish is always after dark.
5. Don’t want all kinds, I’ll take any kind as long there are lots of them.

Maybe I should ask an exterminator…

It Rained All Day & Its My Fault

Not only did I wash the Emperor yesterday, but later in the evening we went out for some ice cream and on the way there ran the Purple Whale thru LuLu’s.

No real post here tonight because I used up all my words writing the Rally Wrap Up of last week’s Bug Splat with the Masters Miata Club.