JANUARY_2015_NEWSLETTER 7.6 MB

THE MIATA CLUB OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA http://www.miataclubofsouthwestflorida.com
JANUARY, 2015
______________________________________________________________________________
Board Members
Jean Fischer, President
305-389-7864
[email protected]
Jess Dunham, Past Pres.
239-731-8226
[email protected]
Jerry Williams, Vice Pres.
864-436-2902
[email protected]
By Jean Fischer, President
Lisa Hammond, Secretary
239-339-7050
[email protected]
Noni Cockrum, Treasurer
239-278-1729
[email protected]
Donna Noyes, Membership
And Events Coordinator
239-454-5665
[email protected]
Sandy Bowers, newsletter
Editor
I hope everyone had happy and healthy holidays with family and
friends. I’ve shopped too much, ate too much, spent too much, now
I’m tired and poor.
I’m ready to return to my normal life and everyday routines, and
more time in my Miata.
I have an idea for a perfect Miata run you can do on a clear and cool
day. Drop the top, find a road you’ve never driven on before, out of
your area and county. Set a time limit in your head of one, two, or
three hours, and just get lost.
239-567-2149
[email protected]
Gary Blessing, Webmaster
239-910-4610
[email protected]
Dealer Liaisons
Steve Bowers,
Palm Mazda, O’Brien Mazda
239-567-2149
[email protected]
Ruth Brewer, Cox Mazda
h
517-331-4618
[email protected]
NEWSLETTER DEADLINE 25th OF EACH MONTH
Along the way you can stop at a restaurant you’ve never tried before. After eating, turn on your GPS and find a completely different
way home.
If you had a successful and fun journey, let us know, and we will
share it with the club at the next meeting.
P.S. The Christmas dinner and White Elephant gift exchange were a
complete success once again.
EVERYONE NEEDS A LITTLE SUNSHINE
By Sandy Cole
New Year wishes and news from “Sunshine Sandy”
Actually with all the excitement, joy and hectic schedules, we have had minimal needs for additional Sunshine during the month of December. We sent thinking of you and get well wishes to Carol Ross who continues to experience issues with her back, and a card to Patricia Serio as she was ill over the holidays. I am
also very sad to report that Rishi Mohabir died Dec. 11th from cancer. Although he was not very involved in
club activities, he was an interesting man and a great friend. Although experiencing a loss is tough, it is
more difficult to accept when that loss occurs during the happy and festive holidays.
On a happier note, we have several birthdays to acknowledge: Fred Bassnet, Gary Bedwell, William Dunstone, Jean Espenschied, Bill Faris, Jean Fischer, Dee Golob, Parker Moore, Charles Parker, and Ernie
VonDerLancken. Please join me in wishing them a very Happy Birthday.
I really enjoy spreading sunshine. So, please be sure to keep me posted as the need arises. Until then, we
wish you each a very Happy New Year!!!! May you stay healthy and enjoy great times with your friends in
the Miata Club in 2015. Hope to see you soon.
Sunshine Sandy
RIDE TO LABELLE
By Donna Noyes
Members—Get ready for the first event of 2015! Paula and Larry Larson will be leading a ride on Saturday,
January 17. Here are the details.. Please contact Paula or Larry directly if you want to sign up.
We will meet at Panera Bread at 1830 NE Pine Island Rd., Cape Coral, 33909. We will meet between 9:15 –
9:30 a.m. for those who want to get coffee, etc. Drivers meeting will be at 9:45, and we will leave promptly
at 10:00. We will have one of Larry’s cool rides, all back roads. We will end up at Pancho and Corleone
Mexican/Italian Restaurant in LaBelle (675 West Hickpochee Avenue). I know it sounds strange, but it’s
good. After lunch, there are antique shops and other cool things to do in LaBelle. Paula will have a sign up
sheet at the January 8 monthly meeting or you can email her at [email protected].
Come and join us for what should be a fun ride!
NEXT MIATA MEETING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2015
WHERE: Victory Lane Café 239-995-0340
4120 Hancock Bridge Parkway on the southwest corner of
Orange Grove Blvd., next to CVS, N. Ft. Myers 33903
TIME:
Meeting at 6PM, dinner preceding
REPLY TO: Donna Noyes 239-454-5665 or email [email protected]
PLEASE RESPOND BY TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2015
SAVE THE DATES !!!!!
THURS., JAN. 8, 2015
MONTHLY MIATA CLUB MEETING
SAT., JAN. 17, 2015
RIDE TO LABELLE
THURS., FEB. 5, 2015
MONTHLY MIATA CLUB MEETING
FRI.-SUN., FEB. 6-8, 2015
SUNRISE-SUNSET; ORMOND BEACH,
FL TO CEDAR KEY, FL
THURS., MARCH 5, 2015
MONTHLY MIATA CLUB MEETING
SAT., MARCH 21, 2015
ANNUAL PICNIC, LAKES PARK
KEY WEST CHRISTMAS PARADE
BY JESS DUNHAM
Another Southwest Florida Miata Club Key West Christmas parade event has come and
gone. What a great time we all had. It all started on Friday morning with most of us
meeting at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Naples. Strange things happen when you have a
deadline. As Sandy and I were leaving to meet everyone (I was leading the group down to
the Keys) the low tire warning light came on. I pulled over and sure enough, I had a flat tire
on the left rear. I turned around, went home and aired up the tire (it was a slow leak).
Knowing O’Brien Mazda opened up at 7:00 a.m. I made my way there to have the tire repaired. I pulled in and told them my story of woe. Within 20 minutes we were on our way
again (we had picked up a screw) and made it to the Cracker Barrel with time to spare.
Our trip down to the Keys was made with stops at the smallest post office in the USA
(Ochopee Fl.), the Oasis rest area on US 41 where we walked the boardwalk and saw the
gators, and RaceTrac in Florida City for fuel before turning on Card Sound road for a little
different route to Key Largo. Our lunch stop in Key Largo was at the Buzzards Roost where
all refueled their bellies before our next stop at the Bass Pro Shop in Islamorada. With no
room in our trunks, very little was bought but we did get to stretch our legs. Our next stop
was at the Sugarloaf Lodge for our weekend stay. All of our rooms were on the first floor
and backed up to the water with great views and lots of wildlife; a very relaxing setting.
Our dinner Friday night was at Mangrove Mama’s, about three miles from our hotel, where
we had good food and live music.
Saturday we all went our own way, toured the island and met up at the staging area for the
parade at 4:00 pm to decorate our Miatas. There were many different ideas; one Miata
even had three people in it??? The parade took a little longer this year because a float
broke down and we had to wait for them to tow it away. After the parade we went to the
Pasta Garden for a late dinner with more food than we needed. We like to end our parade
at the Pasta Garden because they are in a little shopping mall with free parking (a rare commodity in Key West); best of all, it allows us to take our decorations off the cars. After dinner it was back to our hotel for some much needed rest before our trip back to the mainland and on home. Those in attendance were: Gary Bedwell, Dana Breda & Sandy Rusin,
Dick & Ruth Brewer, Jess & Sandy Dunham, Dick & Jean Fischer, Butch & Cindy Reynolds, Jay
& Leslie Schmitt and Steve Potter and his wife who joined us from Bradenton. You can
check out pictures from the weekend at https://www.facebook.com/mcofswf.
Our Miatas may be bigger than the Ochopee Post Office!
Three in a Miata? It can be done!
Dick and Ruth Brewer’s white beauty
Sandy Dunham and Jean and Dick Fischer at Mangrove
Mamas
Jess and Sandy Dunham’s car
Ready for the parade
THE MIATA CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY
By Sandy Bowers
The Miata Club had its annual Christmas party and White Elephant gift exchange on 12-13-14 at the Herons Glen Country Club’s
private dining room. 48 members attended, bearing gifts of all sizes and shapes. After socializing and enjoying cocktails, dinner
was served by the Herons Glen staff. I think everyone will agree that the food and service were excellent.
And then it was time for the gift exchange…..always a fun event. Some gifts were beautifully wrapped, leading one to believe that
there was actually something nice inside. Well, some gifts were quite nice…..almost too nice for a white elephant gift exchange!
The members lucky enough to select one of those gifts quickly got them “stolen.” The picnic set got stolen too many times to
count. Other gifts, however, met the true definition of “white elephant,” giving the recipients and everyone in attendance a good
laugh. But isn’t that what this gift exchange is all about? Surprisingly, some of those gifts also got stolen. As they say, one person’s trash is another one’s treasure!
We want to thank Jesse and Sandy Dunham for the wonderful job they did to organize the event again this year. Thanks also to
Dick and Ruth Brewer for the great job they did conducting the white elephant gift exchange. If you were unable to attend this
year, we hope to see you there next year!
The gifts
And Pam Wilson loves her seal!
Debbie Conrad loves her lizards!
Donna Noyes can’t contain her excitement about the photo albums
Parker Moore wonders where the wine
bottles are that go with this box of corks.
Gary Bedwell got these beautiful deer
book ends
Bob Cockrum will look great in these
flamingo slippers, but they later got
stolen.
It was a fishy night for Noni and Bob
Cockrum.
Jolinda France got a bikini, and Jim France
was thrilled!
2014 IN REVIEW
BY Sandy Bowers
While working on the January, 2015 newsletter, I started thinking about what kinds of activities the club
participated in during 2014. It was a busy, and fun-filled year, as usual. We started the year with a Rally
and lunch. We had a soup cook-off, and a chili cook-off. We howled at the moon (well, we tried, but
mother nature didn’t cooperate). We attended a barbeque at Cox Mazda and a Tech Day at Galloway Mazda. Much to our surprise, Galloway Mazda was sold to O’Brien Mazda shortly thereafter. O’Brien quickly
became one of our sponsors. We attended an event at another club sponsor, Southwest Florida Clear Bra
And Tint, followed by lunch in Alva. We went to the Classic Car Museum in Sarasota and the Rev’s Institute
in Naples, beautiful cars with great lunches following both. We had our annual picnic at Lakes Park, and
went to the Bok Tower and Gardens in Lake Wales (the Bowers Miata never made it to either!).
We had two rides to Sanibel, the first to see the Sanibel Historic Museum and Village with lunch at Doc
Ford’s on Captiva, and the other ride for lunch at the Blue Giraffe. We had breakfast at Biggie’s, lunch at
the Linger Lodge followed by ice cream in Bradenton, and dinner on Pine Island following a tour of the
Wicked Dolphin Rum Distillery. And there was our almost annual mini golf tournament followed by lunch.
We concluded the year with the ride to Key West for the Christmas parade and the annual Christmas dinner and White Elephant gift exchange.
I noticed a common thread through all of our events…...eating! It was a good year! We gained many new
members this year as well. I hope they will all stay with us for a long time. I’m sure 2015 will be a funfilled year as well. Let’s keep zooming on!
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on your purchase of any of their products. This is
available to all Miata Club members.
SUNRISE—SUNSET
ORMOND BEACH, FL TO CEDAR KEY, FL
FEBRUARY 6, 7, 8, 2015
BY JESS AND SANDY DUNHAM
We will leave from the McDonald’s on Jones Loop Rd. Punta Gorda @ 9:00 am on Friday, February 6, 2015.
We will stop in Haines City for lunch at Egg City, then proceed up I-4 to I-95 and take exit 268 to the beach
and the Best Western. After we check in at our hotel we will have dinner at the Charlie Horse Restaurant,
810 S. Atlantic Ave., Ormond Beach.
Saturday morning, we will watch the sunrise (7:09 am) over the Atlantic Ocean. Since our hotel is on the
beach we don’t have to go far. After sunrise we will have breakfast at the hotel and check out. From there
we will proceed to Cedar Key on the West Coast of Florida to watch the sunset (6:15 pm) over the Gulf of
Mexico. It is about a three hour trip, which we will stretch into several hours since we have stops planned
along the way. Our route will be from Ormond Beach going west on Fl. 40 to Fl. 326 to U.S. 19 to Fl. 24 Cedar Key. If we see something interesting we will stop. Time shouldn’t be an issue since sunrise is at 7:09 am
and sunset is at 6:15 pm so that gives us a little over 11 hours to make the three hour trip. One stop we will
make is at the Barberville Aluminum and Ironworks. Lunch on Saturday will be at Lena’s Sea food in Silver
Springs, then a stop at Sweet Jane’s Candy Store for some Whoopie pies for dessert. Dinner on Saturday
will be at the Pickled Pelican.
Just a reminder, I haven’t driven this route so it will be just as surprising to me as it is to you, so things can
be added or deleted as time permits.
You must make your own reservations at each motel for Friday and Saturday night. Please check their cancellation policy.
Friday, Feb 6, 2015 - Best Western Castillo Del Sol at 205 S Atlantic Ave. (A1A) Ormond Beach (386) 6726711 (reference the Miata Club when making your reservation); currently we have 10 rooms blocked but
more can be added. The cost is $79.00 + tax for an ocean front room which includes breakfast.
I have had some trouble getting motel rooms in Cedar Key for this event. There weren’t enough rooms at
the mom and pops for all of us to stay at the same motel so I have included the Dockside Motel in case we
use all the rooms I have blocked at the Island Hotel in Cedar Key. Note you will want to make your reservations asap in Cedar Key because rooms are limited.
For Saturday, Feb 7, in Cedar Key the list of hotels is as follows:
1) Island Hotel and Restaurant @ 373 2nd St. (352)543-5111 (Dunham’s are staying here). We have
blocked the whole motel (10 rooms) so reference the Miata Club and make your reservation early before
the rooms are gone. Prices range from $90-$135 + tax per room.
2) Dockside Motel @ 491 Dock St. (352)543-5432 (doesn’t have a calendar that goes into February so you
will need to call them in December)
When you make your reservations, please contact Jess Dunham at [email protected] or call me at
(239)731-8226 so I can keep you updated via email. Please make your reservation no later than January
28, 2015.