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Contacts: Graeme Kinsey, President Mary Diamond, VP/Secy Linda Derby, Treasurer Bonni Weatherwax, Tech Dir Connie Kellner, Newsletter Ken Christensen, Webmaster |
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Note from the Prez DMC Members Celebrating Birthdays in September Membership Report Delta Miata Club's 2003 Picnic Keeping Fun Runs Fun Miata For Sale |
Note from the Prez August 2003
Here it is, almost Labor Day weekend (or later, if you’re reading this on the website in a few weeks…)
How was your summer? Did you get outside? Did you see our wonderful state? Did you join friends and discover new places you haven’t been to before, or see them again in a different light thanks to the Miatas included? I hope so.
We DMC folk did, huh! Delta Miata Club had its GREAT picnic (thanks again to the super dedicated efforts of Mary and Shirley plus their picnic BBQ masters and helpers)
We also explored the Street Fair in Vallejo, where ˝ block of Miatas blended nicely with ˝ block of customized street rods and classics. And had a wonderful dinner by the river in Stockton, thanks to Mary. And we just kicked back and enjoyed the summer. Family, friends, warm weather.
On our own, I know we also explored events with other clubs and individually – the picture above is about as individual as you can get, at about 8,000 feet after crossing a pass from the East Sierras – can anyone name that place? (As to the car, of course, it’s Gina. I parked, hiked up the road, and saw this so-so picture of a tree with a Miata behind it. I couldn’t move the tree, so… trust me! I was very SURE I was in reverse as I nudged Gina back for another take!)
Earlier I’d traveled
to Bodie, and crept along in 1st gear along the last 3 washboard-dirt
road miles of the 15-mile road to this wonderful and very serene ghost town.
SUVs were flying by me! (But I got revenge! See below…) Would I have even been
here, if not for my top-down Miata? I doubt it. By taking it slowly, I was able
to go 100 years back in time and see how folk lived in this famous and rough
town of 10,000 hardy fighters, families, saloon-keepers, children, school
teachers, blacksmiths, miners and entertainers.
I was able to stay with friends up at Convict Lake,
south of Mammoth Lake, and discovered
a deer very curious about Gina…
I hope you’ve enjoyed your summer and have sought the company of your friends in the Miata community. Whether it’s local, in Delta Country, or with some nearby neighboring club, it’s all fun! Plus, sometimes you have a chance to even the deck – this last weekend I joined a group of about 40 Miatae to go stargazing on Mt. Pinos (one of the SoCalm club members is an astronomy professor), and along the way to the mountain roads we Miatas DOMINATED I-5, much to the consternation of this SUV. We may be small, but we’re plentiful! It was a sight to see, and brought smiles to us all…
As we head into the
fall, we have our Delta Columbia trip to look forward to, thanks to Barbara and
Larry, along with our November Blackhawk Museum event (date tbd) with John
Diamond and me. We have a few holes in our calendar, so please step forward and
consider leading an event. You know I’ll help if you ask.
In the meantime, be sure to keep checking our calendar for events from Delta and from our sister clubs – we often go on each other’s events. For example, there’s the Scrabble Scramble with SAMOA (several Delta participants are going, but it may be full), the Twisted Weekend with SJVMC/SoCalm, and I’m leading a Stone Forest Run for SAMOA (Delta welcome, of course!) on Sept 20th (dry run to the winery on the 6th). I’ll send out a reminder summary of upcoming events, as usual.
Gina carried me by
this lake two weeks ago – can anyone name it?
Most important, consider stepping up and supporting this great club directly, as our current leadership will be stepping down in December after a year of sometimes hard work but almost always FUN and a sense of satisfaction that we’ve helped good folk and ourselves have a nice time. We need volunteers for all of the positions – and we will transition the new folk in, so don’t worry about anything being dropped on ya.
Remember, life is NOT a dress rehearsal.
Graeme
DMC Members Celebrating Birthdays In September
Barbara Beach 9/3
John Pearson 9/2
Sam Rabara 9/16
Ray Derby 9/28
Connie Kellner 9/13
Barbara Mensch 9/14
Happy Birthday Wishes From Everyone At DMC !!!
DMC membership includes 46 active memberships and 71 members. Come on everyone put out the word and the flyers, let’s get some new members!
*******************The flyers can be downloaded from the website*******************
Delta Miata Club’s 2003 Picnic
It was time for Delta’s
first “Old Fashioned American Picnic” and we had a great time! Mary and
Shirley had changed plans frantically at the last minute as ice chests suddenly
became Not Available but came through with a great picnic at a super spot.
The morning started with the decorating committee putting up decorations at the site after ordering a cleanup by the park personnel. This delayed the setup so a frantic call went to Graeme to “Delay the run” … he’d met a half dozen or so Miatas over in Brentwood and was leading them on a scenic run through the hills, to arrive just in time for the picnic start. “Oh well”, he thought, “Who’d notice another U-turn?” The mobile group swung on by the original model of the power generating wind turbines at Altamont Pass.
After a few delays, u-turns, and photo opportunities, the roving band
expressed their opinion as this photo was taken -- now the challenge to
you, the reader, is, can you identify the members by their tushes?
When the wanderers arrived, all was perfect. Tables covered
with clean cloths, two pavilions of
shade, everything was inviting us all to sit down, relax and have a good time.
We all had our drinks, more folk showed up, more conversation… some games popped
out… the BBQ was fired up, the first round of food was laid out … this was
GREAT! Salads, hot dogs, hamburgers,
sweets, drinks . . . the All American
Picnic was underway. Bocce ball moved some teams out into competition, and
Italian horseshoes, where two boxes are tied together, with holes in them, and
one slings washers instead of horseshoes, was a great hit with John and Graeme
as Tom professionally and knowledgably instructed them in the rules that they
swore he made up as we went along but we just couldn’t catch him in a slip!
Then they handed out some of the
prizes for the games – it was too hot to really compete so, what the heck, hand
‘em out. Bottles of bubble
blowing solution with wands, wooden paddles with rubber bands and balls, and
squirt guns. We were kids again!
Barbara resorted to firm language but the paddle wouldn’t do its thing for her; Tom held a squirt gun for the first time in, what, Tom – weeks? – and I blew bubbles. Meanwhile, someone brought out the balloons for the balloon toss, where you stand in two lines, toss the balloon back and forth, stepping back each time…
Ron, gentleman that he is, offered to help fill the balloons. All was
fine, for a moment. Then we all got into it! Water
balloons!!!!
Just like high school, pretty soon the
guys were chasing the girls,
threatening to throw the balloons at them.
Graeme, innocent person that he is, discovered he was standing next to Ron, who was planning on launching a balloon at Mary. Graeme had a stick in his hand -- Ron was suddenly wet! The action continued. Later on Graeme scored the same trick on the same poor Ron, this time with a squirt gun. Some guys never learn….
After a lot of fun, and several trips back to the house to pick up more delicious food, we all relaxed, dried off and enjoyed the day. Some took nearby strolls, some sat and chatted. Then we all drifted off, some over to John & Mary’s new house for further company and relaxation.
A premier event with a score of 10 for this Delta Miata Club’s First All American Picnic!!
Group Drive Safety by Bonni Weatherwax, DMC Tech Adviser
So, how’s your summer been going so far? Been on a group “fun run” lately? I can only hope you can answer this with a resounding “YES!!!” While some of us remain inundated with work, the fortunate ones have been out tracking the twisties, enjoying what the Mazda Miata was created to do – enjoy top down drives in.
One thing I have noticed, and been guilty of myself, has been the lack of discussing fun run safety points. We might have a run of twenty or more cars, which in and of itself can pose a road hazard if we are not careful with how we drive on these public roads that we must share with others. From my past years of going on fun runs, a few things have popped-up that I believe are worth discussing to keep our paint unscathed and our cars’ body parts in tact. I hope that you will take from this a brief understanding of safety on fun runs, and that you will keep it in mind the next time you go out to play.
First of all – simple car condition. Fun runs tend to put your tires through more of a workout than would simple daily driving. When was the last time you checked their air pressure and their overall condition? On fun runs we tend to do a lot of revving up of the engine, followed by brisk slowing periods – when is the last time you changed your oil and filter? Your fuel filter? How about just a quick check on your belts? Fun runs put your engine and its associated components through a lot of stress – keeping it well maintained will keep it happy longer. Don’t forget to check your brakes, your brake fluid, the level of your radiator and its overflow reservoir, and your clutch fluid. These are very simple tasks, but are almost always overlooked.
Next, group safety in general. Some folks drive at a quicker clip than others prefer. We need to remember those slower drivers, as we do not want to push them to go faster than they feel is comfortable. If you wanna go like a bandit, I recommend you get a roll bar and visit a racetrack for a fun day. Also, I have in the past seen folks going over the yellow line in turns. If you must enter the opposing lane, then you are taking the turn too fast for your personal driving ability. STAY IN YOUR LANE at all times – you never know what’s around that next corner. Another problem I have seen is passing OTMs (Other Than Miatas) while on fun runs. This is something I just do not recommend. Once one of us passes a car, the other drivers might feel compelled to follow, and it might be at the expense of others. A solution here might be to simply keep in touch over the family radios and regroup up the road a little bit. There are likely other safety points to talk about, but these are a few to stimulate one’s mind a bit, I feel.
Finally, we need to watch our etiquette. I know other cars are far inferior to the Miata’s handling ability, and that the zip and zoom is really hard to resist. However, we are not the only cars on the road. If we come up behind a group of motorcyclists or slower vehicles, we need to remember that they have just as much of a right to be here as we do. We need to respect them at least as much as we would respect a fellow club member. If the slower driver refuses to pull over and let us by, then just take a deep breath and deal with it. You will do no good by tailgating the vehicle in front of you, and the last thing I personally wanna see is the Miata get a bad rap.
So get out there and have a blast, but remember that these fun runs are not amusement park rides. We must remember to maintain responsibility for our actions and our roadside manners. We can still have plenty of fun while being safe! Zoom on!
93 Miata White/Black interior. 90k miles, 1.6L, 5 Spd, AM/FM Cass. PS, PM, cold AC, new top with glass rear window, new tires, alloys.
Very good condition. Asking price $4600 O.B.O. Contact Ron Smotherman at ronsmotherman@aol.com or (209)577-4905 weekdays after 5pm or any time on weekends.
Tell your friends about this great deal and give them a chance to own one of the best cars ever made and join a great club as well.
