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Miata & Del Sol Run - 2007
NOT QUITE RAINIER BUT A GREAT DAY ANYWAY!
April 7th, 2007
Article by: Cindy Smith
Hosted by: Dustin & Andrew Locke
Photo by Bruce Lewis.
I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about this run when I heard that Dustin and Andrew were going to use Stuart Sabel’s Run Round Rainier run for the event. However, I can acknowledge how these two Southern Californians didn’t quite understand mountain snow pack. I can’t count how many times Dustin and Andrew have shown up at the house in all kinds of inclement weather in their flowered Hawaiian shirts, khaki shorts and sandals.
Still, Tom and I thought it would be a safe bet if we threw a couple of maps in the trunk. Better yet, I zipped off an email to Dustin and asked, “By the way, have you checked for any road closures? Last we heard most of the roads weren’t due to open until after May 5th.” He assured me he had spoken with someone at the Ranger Station, but would double check just to calm my nerves.
What he heard from the second Park Ranger sent him scrambling to find a few alternate routes. I must say, he recovered just fine and put together a nice run for the 7 Miatas, 4 Del Sols and 1 Mazda RX-8 that showed up. One Miata even came down from British Columbia and another was rumored to be coming up from Portland. The prize, though, goes to Dustin’s parents, Bruce and Debbye, who flew in from San Diego to go on the run (and who we keep that spare Miata in the garage for!).
Photo by Bruce Lewis.
The run began on roads intertwining around the Enumclaw area. In fact, we went on roads that we have never been on before. That goes in the plus column for runs nowadays for Tom and me. For all the runs we’ve been on, it is always a nice surprise to see some new scenery. The first half of the run ended at XXX Root Beer in Issaquah, where we had a scheduled stop for Root Beer Floats.
However, because of a delay or two in the run (don’t ya just hate it when you lose someone?), people were ready for more that a Root Beer Float and wandered in to find something a bit more substantial. Of course, that’s one of the nice things about a PSMC run: everyone is flexible and you just roll with new developments.
And what developed for Tom, Bruce, Debbye and me was that we were able to finally have a one-on-one conversation where we had the opportunity to get to know each other even better. Every time we have had the opportunity to socialize, it has been a holiday or a run or a party or something to where we just didn’t seem to get enough time to sit down and talk. Unfortunately, it came to a rude halt when Andrew started herding people out to the parking lot to resume the run.
As we were all milling outside waiting for the stragglers, I suggested to Tom, Bruce and Debbye that since we were having such a great time and since that we had already been to Snoqualmie Falls (the next stop), why didn’t we zoom on ahead, meet the group at the Renton Ixtapa’s (the final stop) and continue our great conversation.
We were a bit hesitant to leave the run, but then again, it has always been the “policy” that you can always join a run in the beginning, in the middle or the end or you can branch out on your own at any time as long as you let your hosts know. Besides, we knew that Andrew and Dustin wouldn’t mind; after all, they had left our Veteran’s Day Run early so they could go finagle the final dealings for their 2007 Miata and therefore, knew how the “system” worked and wouldn’t take it personally.
Photo by Bruce Lewis.
Since Tom and I neither knew the location of the Renton Ixtapa’s, we followed Dustin and Andrew’s directions for the most part (Tom did make a detour here and there when he knew there were good twisties nearby). It was a good thing too, since we would have never found the restaurant if it had not been for their excellent directions.
All in all it was a great day: new roads we had never been on, an opportunity to get to know good friends better and the weather even cooperated so we were finally able to put the tops down. So, a big thank you to Dustin and Andrew for giving all of us the chance to beat the winter doldrums.