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April 10, 2005
"I told you he would be driving before he crawls..."
A couple of weeks ago I had posted to the Miata.net website that it would be nice to have a meetup where we could all "ooh" and "aah" over each others cars and then go for lunch somewhere. After a few posts here and there we agreed to meet up on Saturday.
While Fabulous Babe wrestled with Sir Drip A Lot, who's battling a slight cold and cough, I took the Baby car out for a wash. When I got back I took Jack outside with me:
That's our boy behind the wheel. The wind tossed hair and up to something grin came almost immediately after I sat him down. He played with the steering wheel and brake some but wasn't able to reach the stick.
If you're wondering his shirt has little Tikis on it. He looked very much the tacky tourist on Saturday. (Even wearing dark socks.)
After leaving Jack with the neighbors we headed off to the Capitol building in St. Paul. When we got there a number of Miatas were already there. This is what it looked like:
You can tell the folks with aftermarket engines and parts: their hoods are up. (I'm so green with envy. *chuckle*)
The crowd was pretty evenly split. Some were from the Miata group that loves to Autocross and race and their cars were really something to see. This is tempting to both of us and on Saturday Fabulous Babe was asking me about Turbochargers. (Her grandfather used to race automobiles and my dad used to race MG's.)
A few were from the group that's older and likes to drive and eat. The group has a reputation for being a bit stand offish and snooty that one of them lived up to on Saturday with Fabulous Babe. Most of the members weren't which made things easier on the whole.
The majority of the people who showed up were pretty easy going people, close to our ages, who just wanted to use the day as an excuse to go for a drive and see other cars. We met a lot of great people: call signs Daan, Boozer, Bionic and the more normally named Steve, Vincent and Jeff. (I've left some people out but I am crap with names.)
Here's another shot of the line up. That's ours sitting front and center with the stripes and the license plate that reads "Got Zoom". Fabulous Babe liked the license plate to the right better: "SPF Zero". When the capitol police car pulled up one guy scrambled to put the new tabs on his license plate which caused a chuckle.
I can't stress how much fun a Miata (MX-5) is. Mazda has made over 750,000 of them and if you can find one on the cheap you should buy it. (1994 or later. The 89-93's have a weaker motor and some other bugs.) Easy to own, fun to drive and, in Jack's case, his wheels for prom.
The best part is that you get to share the Miata wave which is where you wave at other Miata owners and you both grin because you know how much fun it is.
Posted by Jim at April 10, 2005 11:33 PM