Miata Mailing List: July 1997, Message #109
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From: 	Bill Bowser <webowser@fuse.net>

Subject: Calif. or Bust - Chap. 5

Date: 	Wed, 2 Jul 1997 22:45:01 -0500



Hi Gang,



This is the fifth installment.



Fri. June 27, 1997



Friday morning was cloudy, but it looked like a temporary condition (and

was).  Since I wanted to go to Dunlop Dave Shelton’s driving school

which was conducted at the Santa Ynez airport Ruth decided to go

shopping in Solvang for the morning.  I hoped her usual self control had

not been impaired by jet lag because Solvang appeared to be a great

tourist trap.  (Solvang is a Danish community which has all sorts of

what appear to be wonderful shops.)



The driving school was somewhat of a disappointment; not because of its

content, but because of the number of cars/drivers.  There were what I

considered to be too many.  Even after they were broken down into three

subgroups there were too many.  But, as usual, Dave did a great job.  I

wanted to stay all day, but I didn’t want to abandon Ruth all day so I

returned to the Farm about 1:00 p.m.



After parting with some MSUs in the vendor corral I let Ruth talk me

into driving the Winery Tour.  It was a great afternoon for a drive

through the wine country.  The scenery was great, the weather was great

and Ruth said that the wines she sampled were great.  We returned to the

Farm in plenty of time to get the buffet dinner (which was adequate, but

not great).



The primary activity for the evening (next to dinner, of course) was the

Grass Funkhana, which I had been reluctant to participate in because the

pasture on which it was to take place was very rough, and I feared for

my front air dam.  It was an imaginative course which had a section

which was to be negotiated while the driver had a bag over his head. 

Since others were able to participate without air dam damage I tried to

talk Ruth into trying the course, but she declined.  She had consumed

more Chardonnay (sp?) than was appropriate for such activities, so I

didn’t try to persuade her.



As I had hoped I met a bunch of Miata.Net folks and generally had a

great time.  Ruth and I left early in the evening because we were poorly

prepared for the unexpectedly cool evening temperatures, and we had to

get up early the next day for the TSD rallye at 9:00, anyway.



Regards

Ruth, Bill Bowser & Drifter