Near perfect day........mini Dragon's Tail

[Fixer]

Sunday, Sept 10 2006.....a near perfect day for me.

First, being a true tifosi and huge Formula 1 fan, I get up early to watch the F1 race at Monza in Italy. My man Schumacher in a Ferrari wins and draws to within 2 points in the championship. Granted he does announce his retirement for the end of the season but it was expected. I've been a Schumi fan since '92.

Decided I needed to celebrate by going out for a drive by myself in my GG Si. Decided to drive down to Hocking Hills state park in southeastern Ohio. Not far from where I live but I've never been there! Will be back for sure. First I needed gas. Found premium for $2.37 a gallon. Wahoo!! Started my drive and decided to go back roads. Man did I make the right choice. Between the roads heading to the state park and roads within the state park, I would easily classify this as the mini Dragon's Tail. In all seriousness. These roads were paved perfectly and had so many twists and turns that I was in sheer heaven for about 90 minutes. There were no large vehicles and I had the Si cranked up quite nicely often - squirting in between hard rights and lefts. Crapped myself a few times on hill crests however. Felt like I was on the meanest coaster a Cedar Point more than once. And sometimes there were slightly off camber turns right after the crest - making it tricky because the suspension was unsettled from the crest just before. Challenging and definitely got the juices flowing. Deals Gap and the Dragon's Tail may have more turns within a short stretch but these roads were simply too much to ask for. No camera but will get some photos next time. Think I'm going to work on a Ohio Civ Meet for next spring to this area.

Got home in the early evening and grilled some steaks with the wife. Kids and I played with our 2 dogs after that. Certainly a day I will remember for quite some time. Then we come to Sept 11. A day I will always remember. Forever.

[atruhondagrl]

Just call it practice. Premium for $2.37. Dang. I'm jealous!

[striker_1818]

premium for 3.29 here in nyc

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by atruhondagrl

Just call it practice. Premium for $2.37. Dang. I'm jealous!

It may have been practice for the real Tail but I was able to run at speed the entire time. Well, maybe a little over speed at some points. Very, very little traffic anywhere. And NO police until I got on a 4 lane main road heading back home. I understand that the traffic around Deals Gap can be quite high.

Gas prices here have been dropping like crazy. Like 10 to 15 cents a week for the past few weeks. Seems to have bottomed out but I can't remember paying this little for gas in quite some time. Read recently that Chevron found some huge reserves in the Gulf which will eventually lessen our dependence on Middle Eastern oil too. Take some years to get it flowing properly however. That sort of equates to cheaper gas for fun mileage on the car.

[OHSiGuy]

Steve-o...sounds awesome! I was definitely getting some visuals of THAT drive. My Si pretty much sat in the garage all weekend...Mr. Mom duty.:rolleyes: I did manage to hit it with some Qwik Detailer though! I'm liking the sound of a meet down there.

[Skylinegtr06]

im going to miss schumacher, hey did you see todts face after the race?

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by Skylinegtr06

im going to miss schumacher, hey did you see todts face after the race?

I don't think Jean Todt knew what to think. It' my understanding that wasn't officially informed until just before the race. The last 10 years of his life revolved around Schumacher. I think the entire Ferrari team are concerned because it's the team that Schumacher built. Kimi cannot engineer and setup cars like Schumacher can and Ferrari knows it. I think there will be a Ferrari semi slump coming and a resurgance of former powerhouse teams. Possibly making for better racing all around. But that's what it's all about. Although I totally enjoyed watching Schumacher race and win, sometimes it was friggin boring to a fault.

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by OHSiGuy

Steve-o...sounds awesome! I was definitely getting some visuals of THAT drive. My Si pretty much sat in the garage all weekend...Mr. Mom duty.:rolleyes: I did manage to hit it with some Qwik Detailer though! I'm liking the sound of a meet down there.

Mr. Mom........errr Kyle! What's shakin' there brother? The drive was awesome. I think.....know........you guys would love it. Shame it's a bit far however. On a nice autumn day, it would be very nice. Windows down, sunroof open, changing leaves........swirling and churning beneath our tires. Or maybe a spring meet down there. I know many of my former Buckeye Miata Club friends went to Hocking Hills state park often because of he twisties. Sort of a well kept secret.