September 2014 Newsletter
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InIn TheThe BreezeBreeze Special Head for the Mountains Issue! September 2014 Official Newsletter of the Bluebonnet MX-5 Miata Club Still Free! rguably the biggest event of the year, excluding our State- wide Round Ups and Christmas party, the Head for the Mountains 4 is upon us! Next weekend some 30 Miata’s A will depart Haby’s Bakery parking lot for a weekend of fun and adventure. Each year with help from many of you, I try to come up with different things to do so as not to get bored with the event. This year is no different. A trip to Boquillas, Mexico (For those brave and adven- turesome enough), a visit to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center, a return to the McDonald Observatory (There was no real planned trip there last year), and capping it all off we’ll have our very own impromptu Star Party on Sunday evening! I honestly was going to go to a bi annual format, but no sooner had we returned from Alpine last year, I was inundated with queries about this year’s trip from many of our new members that have heard about it, but also some of our vets that were anxious to get back out to Alpine! What’s a guy to do when he’s a guy who just can’t say no? This years t-shirt design Actually, I had planned to move the event to Ruidoso, New Mexico this year but was told the second largest motorcycle rally was being held there over our Labor Day weekend! So, I can- celled and reverted back to the plans of going back to Alpine. (I later learned that the big motorcycle Rally in Ruidoso was moved to another weekend! Arrgh!) So, back to Alpine we go. But, I am exploring plans to have the next HFTM in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. It’s close enough so we can get there in less than a day and still give us a full weekend there. The t-shirts are in and you should get yours if you make tonight’s meeting. This, the third year, more were ordered than ever before! I think the garnet red will look good on all of you! Goodie bags are being prepared by Ed And Barbara Smith for each Miata. North Park Mazda is also contributing with “goodies” from Mazda as well. I certainly appreciate Ed and Barbara for helping out. Let me also thank a few others for helping me put the entire weekend together. Dave and Marilyn Hamilton will be or- chestrating the venture into Boquillas, Mexico. I’ve never been and I am pumped! I have my very expensive passport and while I wasn’t able to convince Marilyn McCullen to join me, I’m excited to take this new journey! Speaking of Marilyn McCullen, she’ll be taking folks to the Chihuahuan Nature Center, which sounds like lots of fun! I’m looking forward to that too! Thanks also to Mark Hungerman for stepping forward and offering to lead the biggest group to Marfa, Presidio and the River Road to Lajitas. Giving the event a true State-wide flavor, we’ll be joined by members of the Tejas Club from Austin, Houston’s Miata Ma- nia Club, the Lone Star Miata club from the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex and even some folks that aren’t affiliated with any club but have heard about how much fun we have! The support and interest is humbling, indeed! I hope you all will forgive me for obsessing about what to take, what to do, when to do it and asking for head counts for meals, etc, but regarding the meals, I can’t get arrangements made just saying, “Oh, we’ll show with ___ people”. I have booked Friday evenings restaurant, Guzzi Up! Italian eatery for 30 minimum folks. Sunday evenings big dinner in Laji- tas will be for minimum 50 people! So, go where you want all weekend, or stick with the itinerary, but please, please, show up for these two dining venues. Feel free to call me about other details, but I’ll try to cover most of your questions in this months In The Breeze. I’ve tried to make it easy for all of you by making an Itinerary you can tear out from the center and take it with you for the weekend. Are you ready for some cooler weather? Well, then, let’s Head for the Mountains! AUGUST 2014 PAGE 2 2014 Club Officers New Members Donny and Cheryl Darbonne President and Newsletter Editor Crowley, LA George Lucas 2002 Sunlight Silver Metallic [email protected] Jerry Akin Vice President San Antonio Jim “Jimbo” Treat 2008 Brilliant Black [email protected] Garry and Bobbie Byerly Secretary Liberty Hill, TX Stephanie Turner 2010 Copper Red Soft Top [email protected] Treasurer Joe Knight [email protected] Membership Lisa Martin [email protected] Webmaster Don Privett [email protected] Inside this issue… Head for the Mountains 4………………......…………………………………………….Cover Story Officers, New Members.……………………….………………………………………………………….2 Velocity Read (President’s Message).………………………………………..……………………….3 Peachy Keen Run.…………………………………….………………………..……………………….4, 5 Real Ale Brewery Run....………………………………………………………………………………….6 Quickly, Robin, to the Bat Cave!..................................................................................................7 Dash and Splash.………………………………………..………………………………………………….8 Special Clip Out HFTM4 Pocket Itinerary……………….………..…………………………..9, 10 Get Well, Linda.…………………………………………………………………………………………...11 Upcoming Events..…………………………………………………………………..…….….Back page AUGUST 2014 PAGE 3 Velocity Read… The mountains are calling me, I must go. That’s the motto I adopted last year and for the years to come this time of year. I was given a sign bearing those words and I love them! I pretty much covered the HFTM4 information on the cover story, but, like last year, allow me to remind you all of a few things you just must bring. Sunscreen Water and an insulated glass so you can keep hydrated all weekend. Fill it with ice from the hotel. Binoculars! You are sure to see things you never saw before and will want a close up look. Camera. You may think you don’t need this reminder, but don’t forget the charger for your camera in case your battery runs low. Flashlight Snacks. Beyond what is in your goodie bags, you’ll want snacks for the road. Groceries in Alpine are much more expensive then your friendly HEB, so get what you need now! 2-way radio(s). We’ll be in large groups and I’ll be asking for help on the road from various locations in our line so as to stay together as much as possible. Chargers for phones, iPads, 2 way radios, etc. Batteries, AA and AAA Cleaning supplies for your Miata! (Gee, did I even need to remind you???) Light jacket or sweater. Don’t laugh, it may be 99 here but Alpine/Ft. Davis temperatures can be as much as 20 degrees cooler, especially in the evenings. Optional items: Personal fan (Walgreens has these) Go Pro or similar action camera. Zoom Zoom! George Lucas, President and Editor The Lone Star Miata Club of Dallas/Fort Worth is proud to be hosting the Texas Miata Roundup on the 25th Anniversary of Miata production. More than one 25th Anniversary edition Miata have been reserved by our members and we hope that they will be delivered in time for y'all to come up and get a look at them. Of course, the Roundup is not just for Texans! We are hoping to see Miatas from all the nearby states and wouldn't it be nice to see come Canadi- ans, eh? Denton, TX, north of DFW has been selected as the official site for the Roundup. We will be adding additional information as it becomes available. Take a moment and sign up for email updates and you will get regular reminders about our plans. The dates have been set. Mark your calendars and plan to come to North Texas: October 23rd thru 26th, 2014. For accommodations and more info... Visit: http://www.internetcarclubs.com/Events/NorthTexasMiataRoundup2014.aspx for all the details!!!! PAGE 4 AUGUST 2014 ome years back, I had heard of our club having a peach picking run. This was before my time, but I was in- trigued nonetheless. S Let me digress for a moment. Recently, one of the many residents that spoil me where I work, gave me some home made peach cobbler. She started out saying, “I apologize, because these peaches are from Alabama”. I graciously ac- cepted the cobbler, which was very good by the way. Deter- mined to give her some real Texas peaches from our very own Hill Country, Marilyn and I took a little trip up to near Freder- icksburg to get some peaches for my friend at work. Oh, now I know what you’re thinking...give her more peaches so she can make me more cobbler, right? Well, not at all, my intentions were purely showing my appreciation to that sweet lady. Marilyn is truly the pioneer, the adventurist at heart, so we take off, going up via some of our favorite roads, i.e. Marquardt Road and other fun roads as well. We came upon a very small peach orchard called Tuscany on the Pedernales. Now this name is a bit pretentious considering the name as this place was downright down home kind of place! We were greeted by Dennis Neffendorf and his sheepdog and we just knew this was a really cool place! Peaches were everywhere! He had peaches stacked up in baskets inside and you could look into his or- chard and see lots of peaches on the trees! We hit pay dirt! While selecting my dozen or so peaches for my friend, I told Dennis about what our club used to do and told him that, ac- cording to folks in the club that told me that the orchards no longer allow people to pick their own, he exclaimed, “Hey, you can come up here and pick all you want!” Well, that’s all I needed and the Peachy Keen Run was born.