North Myrtle Beach Adventure

Yesterday, John took an hour to wash and check Miz B's vitals.  We are headed to North Myrtle Beach on Friday morning.  There will be a group of 11 couples going down to celebrate the successful event in Charleston.  One couple has generously arranged for three cottages, all lined up side by side, for us to occupy while down there.  

Our plan is to leave about 8:30 from a spot on the east side of Columbia.  We will then travel to Mullins for a great lunch at Webster Manor.  One couple will already be there waiting for us, they plan to spend tonight at the Manor.  Sounds like fun!  After lunch, we will continue on our way to North Myrtle Beach.

It is supposed to be very cold, by South Carolina standards, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, yet warm up to the low 50's during each of the days.  Definitely a trip with the side curtains up!

Speaking of side curtains - I made a small improvement to them.  I had noticed that where the curtain met the top rail of the door, the curtain was taking on a slight blue tint.  Not a good thing.  I think that the tiny dirt deposits on the curtains was rubbing a bit of the paint and adhering to the curtains.  I sewed a strip of the rip stop fabric across the area in question onto the curtains and that should eliminate the rubbing by the plastic curtain on the paint.  The rip stop fabric is very slick nylon.

Anyway, back to our trip......

Saturday will be a day open for anything.  Perhaps, John and Danny will play a little golf, while some of us go shopping, or to Brookgreen Gardens, or Atalaya at Huntington Beach State Park, or some may even go into Georgetown to the Rice Museum.  A relaxing day at the beach!

Sunday morning, we need to be out of the houses by 10, but our plan is to leave by 9.  Shouldn't be an issue.  Our lunch stop will be in a town named Scranton.  I've never heard of it, but there is supposed to be a great barbecue place for lunch.

I don't anticipate any issues with the car.  She has been running very well.  I took her, on Tuesday night, to a meeting in West Columbia.  The halogen headlights work extremely well.  The back country roads were well lit and the car ran beautifully.

So, tomorrow, North Myrtle Beach here we come!

Meeting in Prosperity

The morning dawned quite cold!  Siri, on my iPhone, told me "Brr, it''s 28 degrees."  Yep, Brr was right!  So, I bundled up and headed out to the garage.  I pulled the wool blanket out of the rumble seat area and climbed in the car.  True to form, she started right up.  I let the car idle for a couple of minutes, then pulled out and headed for the gas station.  John, with our daughter and grandson, were following me in the Town Sedan.  

After fueling up, we headed up US 76 for the little town of Prosperity.  We were meeting the folks from the Old 96 District Model A Club at Dee's Restaurant for breakfast and a meeting.  It was a little bit of a wait before the restaurant had the buffet line ready, so we started the meeting.  It was a good and informative meeting.  There were 8 Model A's in attendance with about 25 folks, some came in modern cars with heaters!

The meeting was relatively short, but we sat around for a while afterward enjoying each other's company until close to 11:30.  Then it was time to bundle up and head for home.

I decided it was time to try out the radio to see if my "rigging" was going to work.  I had the iPod in it''s own bag, with a clear vinyl face and the speaker in another bag.  The two were connected via a 3 foot cord.  I strung the cord up to the top butterfly fastening screw above the windshield and hung the two bags on the windshield pull.  I started up the car and turned on the equipment.  So far, so good!  I pulled out and decided I need a bit more volume.  Once I turned it up, I discovered that the reception was really very good.  Success!  Now I have radio for my long trips.

The side curtains worked very well.  I motored along with the outside temperature well below freezing and the interior never dropped below 52 degrees.  That is a temperature that is quite tolerable.  I think that I will be able to comfortably drive the A during the entire year.

It was a great drive in the A today.  I'm looking forward to the next adventure in Miz B.

New curtains and a Radio!

I had made a set of side curtains prior to our trip to Marquette, Michigan.  I knew we were going to need them, the UP of Michigan is never as warm as South Carolina!  We definitely needed them in the mornings and for the torrential downpours we experienced!  But, they just weren't quite right.  So, it was back to the kitchen table with them, new clear vinyl, and more blue rip stop nylon.  I decided that I needed to obtain the side curtain rods that are used with the purchased side curtains.  Now, I'm sure you are wondering why I don't just go buy a set of the already made side curtains from my local Model A dealer, Smith & Jones.  Easy - this car never had side curtains installed, hence, no fasteners on the body!  So, I had to get creative!

Now, velcro is a wonderful invention.  I have used velcro to attach the side curtains to the steel top rails.  Made a pocket for the curtain to slide on to the door posts and attached velcro to both and the smaller side pieces.  It takes me less than 2 minutes to "zip" myself into the A and enjoy a drive when the temperatures are cold to downright freezing or rainy.  I did discover that I do have a few wind leaks, but a hand towel stuffed above the rails seems to take care of that!  I need to find something a bit more permanent and will be thinking on it.  I'm sure I will come up with something!

For Christmas, my sweet husband gave me a new iPod.  I had been enjoying listening to the music I had downloaded.  About two weeks ago, he asked if I knew that it had a radio in it, too.  Nope!  So, I got busy with the rip stop nylon and made a couple of hanging bags for the iPod and the cordless speaker.  In order to listen to the radio, it needed a speaker or headphones attached via a wire.  It doesn't work over the wifi.  I guess it needs an antenna, hence the wire.  So, I can now listen to the radio!  The iPod is on the driver's side and the speaker is on the passenger side.  My wire is pretty long - about 3 feet.  I am hoping that will get me pretty good reception.  

I am going to take Miz B up to Prosperity on Saturday to meet with the Old 96 District Model A Club.  Not a very long drive, but far enough in pretty cold weather to see if I've solved the wind blowing around inside the car issue and far enough away from Columbia to see if the reception will be adequate to receive a good radio station.