PACE CHRISTMAS PARTY A big thanks to Sue and Gary Boynton for hosting Pace Christmas Party 2010. Some of us, like the Lancaster group, even got a drive in by meeting and convoying to the party. Thanks to Joanne and Jim Walter for leading. A total of 44 Pace members showed up bearing goodies to add to the feast of roast turkey and ham. The fellowship was the best as usual and a lively group enjoyed the beautiful home and surroundings of our host couple. The event was a great way to close out a very busy and exciting 2010. Sorry you missed this outstanding event to those who were not able to attend, but fear not and just look at the growing 2011 schedule. Beginning on January 2, 2011 with the Annual Polar Bear Run, weather permitting, we will kickoff the New Year. Merry Christmas to all. "Fire Company, "4-B", Frosty Pumpkin Breakfast Drive trip report" OK, so you ask what is a Fire Company, "4-B", Frosty Pumpkin Breakfast Drive? Please let me explain. This morning at 8:00, 4 Miatas headed to the Christiana Fire company for their November Fund Raiser breakfast. So what is a "4-B"? Glad you asked! All 4 of the Miata drivers  Frosty pumpkin? Well, it was 30 degrees this morning. My Miata and any pumpkins in the field were covered with frost. Because of the frost I could not wipe the grime off my Miata from this week's commuting. And the Breakfast you ask?? WOW! Everyone agreed it was well worth the $6.00 it cost. So the Christiana Fire Company, "4-B", Frosty Pumpkin Breakfast Drive was a huge success. it took us about 20 minutes to get there, and about 45+ minutes to return. The trip was about 60 miles total, and all commented on the roads and route as to how much they enjoyed it. I was even asked to put this on the schedule for next year so all can participate. I just might do it! Thanks to those who went along! Bill Latsha Annual Fall Breakfast Meeting The Annual Fall Pace Breakfast Meeting was held on November 6, 2010 at the Brickerville House Restaurant from 10am to 12 noon. It was attended by 43 members. Before the meeting, at 9am, there was an officers meeting. Reports were made by President Bob Gresh, Drive Coordinator Joe Golesh, Treasurer Tom McEvoy, Secretary Bonnie Evans, Bill Latsha, and a report was read for Membership Chairman Ray Barner who could not attend. The food was good and never ending, the fellowship was enjoyable, and an impromptu drive, led by Brian Piersol, followed for those needing one last fix to end the year. Spooktacular Drive and Get-Together 2010  driven by some blonde, and there were pirates and gypsys there too. And hey, JoePa was there too! Even though we had these and other characters we all had a great time. After the drive we all gathered at the Lookingbill's for a great time of food and fellowship. Garry and Mary provided the meats and drinks and everyone brought a covered dish ( there were no duplicates). The food was great and the fellowship was even better. The Lookingbill's opened their house for the event with the deck, recreation room, and the living room set up for the thirty one members and of course Garry's friend Maurice who tended the food while we went driving. Fun was had by all and no one left hungry. Shady Maple Harvest Drive, Sweet 16! We held the Shady Maple Harvest drive on Saturday, 10-23-10. What's with the "Sweet 16" you ask? Well there were 16 sweet looking Miatas participating in the drive along with 30 participants. We also had several new members and 2 guests, with one member couple attending their first drive. (Welcome) :) We left promptly at 12:30 and hit some nice roads winding thru Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Along the way we saw a large harvester machine harvesting Soy Beans, and about an hour into the drive we stopped at the Middle Creek Wildlife Refuge Information Center. This gave us all a "potty stop" and a chance to see examples of wildlife found in our area. Then we hit the road again winding up and down thru the wooded mountains in that area and on to Shady Maple. We hit Shady Maple between main meal times, so the wait to get in wasn't too bad. Over 20 of us ate upstairs, and a couple ate down in tha cafateria. All agreed the food was a worthwhile and fitting end to the drive. My thanks to all who participated, and I was glad to hear from those who enjoyed it! Bill & Jeanette Latsha Lake Tobias Wildlife Reserve We enjoyed a wonderful fall day. The weather was crisp, the sky bright blue, the sun beaming, leaves were starting their colorful autumn show and the wind whipped through our hair on a perfect top-down run. We enjoyed the company of eleven other Miatas and a twelfth joined us at Lake Tobias. It was our first run as leaders as we zoomed over great winding mountain roads, and it was so much fun. We encountered few OTMs to slow us down. There is a wonderful freedom of the soul when you zoom through nature in a Miata. Lake Tobias is great. We had lunch there and then toured the park. It puts Denali Park to shame. Elk, llamas, bison, all manner of cows and deer come right up to the safari bus to greet you, but mainly to mooch a cracker or corn cob. We left Lake Tobias at 3pm. Five zooms followed us most of the way home, while the others left the park at their leisure. We stopped for ice cream about twenty minutes into the home-run. All together the run took about seven hours. Thanks so much for joining us and making the run a great success. Carol & Brian Piersol Lots of bridges on a beautiful fall day Grand Canyon of PA Wagon CLUB MEMBERS IMPRESSED WITH 2 HP RIDE A combination of great weather, great roads to drive, great food and an experience involving 2 large horses greeted PACE members. They call them Percheron and we learned that they were first used in France. Six cars started the day from Dauphin along the Susquehanna River and traveled up the east shore to Sunbury. After crossing the river and traveling 20 miles on Rt 15 the group returned to the 2 lane for the rest of the trip to Wellsboro. The weekend featured every PACE members favorite things, driving their cars and eating. The frosting on the cake was a ride through the Grand Canyon along Pine Creek in a wagon pulled by 2 beautiful Percheron draft horses. Check out the photos. ANOTHER PERFECT PACE WEEKEND EVENT
OCEAN CITY , NJ WEEKEND "TYPICAL" PACE EVENT
PACEmaker Event Visits County's Oldest Brewery Nine cars enjoyed the perfect driving conditions and made their way over some great roads to Pottsville and toured the 100+ year old brewery. The highlight of the tour was sampling some of the final products. Each participant having a choice of tasting 2 of the 7 brewery products. In spite of finding 2 bridges closed for repairs or rebuilding the group adjusted and found their way. The best of the driving was found on Rt. 125 after leaving Pottsville and heading to a lunch stop at The Red Lion Restaurant. This road is known for its great curves including a number of climbing switchbacks that require downshifts all the way to second gear. Thanks to Jerry and Lynn Long for taking the time to put this event together and leading us on this great 2 lane driving experience. The group was unanimous in the best word to describe the day WOW!! A RAINY DAY IN YORK COUNTY AND 13 PACE MEMBER CARS SHOW UP A little bit of liquid sunshine didn't dampen the spirits of the PACE group that gathered at the Rutters Store near Wrightsville Sunday afternoon. Thanks to Jay and Bonnie Evans for putting on a clinic for driving on wet and curvy 2 lane. The ZoomZoom had to be tempered with good judgement and caution so no one ended up in the bushes. There was no chance for top down in spite of the weather man telling us the rain would be gone by 10 AM. The decision was unanimous, in spite of the weather, that everyone would rather be out driving their Miata instead of sitting at home. For those who had not ever experienced Brown's the time spent there was well worth the rainy trip. There was interesting shopping good food and even live music in the outdoor pavilion. The return trip was as good as the trip there with some great roads that left the group thinking how much different it would have been without the wet conditions. The day proved that there is driving fun to be had even if the weather does not cooperate. Buggies, Bridges, Windmills & WIne SWARM OF MIATA MX-5s SEEN TOURING LANCASTER COUNTY COVERED BRIDGES
Check out the pictures... PACEmaker Mystery Drive The route had everyone fooled for most of the trip with guesses focusing on Maryland destinations till the group got close to Gettysburg. We had new members and potential members join us and even had a new member complete his application and join the club during the trip. The visitors center at Gettysburg is a must see attraction. One cannot help but be moved by the video about the battle, viewing the Cyclorama painting, and visiting the museum. Havre de Grace Seafood festival Compliments to first time drive leaders Bill and Ruth Donahue for a taking 14 cars on a well directed drive. We had a collection of members, new members, potential members and even a former member returning. The roads were classic Miata most of the way with twists and turns with little traffic most of the way. Kathy Howard called ahead and reserved space for the group at McGregor's Restaurant. Thank you Kathy for taking this responsibility for 2 years in a row. The group split up once lunch was finished with some exploring the many shoppes and others checking out the festival. The return trip home was "on-your-own". Talk was that the group lead by Garry and Mary Lookingbill on the trip home would be stopping for ice cream. 2010 PACE Picnic Lots of good food and fellowship were present at the annual Pace Picnic hosted by Mary and Garry Lookingbill. Special thanks to Mary and Garry for all the hard work and planning that went into providing a really special event for a large gathering of club members. Garry's very complete collection of chairs, tables, tents, canopies, coolers and food provided a comfortable atmosphere for the afternoon's activities. We even had a DJ providing music. The weather was perfect and in spite of the heat and humidity the trees and Canopies provide shade and made the day ideal. Miata Mountain Mania 2010 Two things that characterize Miata owners are love for a little car and an easy way of making new friends. Kudos to the West Penn Club for organizing and putting on a great weekend. They are truly lucky when it comes to great Miata roads that lend themselves to Zooming. PACE member's cars numbered 14 and was likely one of the largest club Other event photos: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v11/miatamight/MMM%202010/ TROPICAL TREAT DRIVE REALLY A TREAT If we had an award for the best drive of the season the New Tropical Treat Drive would definitely be a nominee. Gary and Mary Lookingbill really out did themselves laying out this drive. There were many new roads that most of us had never been on. We drove past rolling farm country and through tall cool forests on nice windy two lane roads with outstanding twists and turns. The day started at The Rutter's Store on Cool Springs Road, near Wrightsville, with 12 member cars and 1 potential member car. The drive had 2 destinations, approximately 60 miles to Tropical Treat for food and another 38 miles to Mack's Ice Cream. One highlight of the day was a "pottie" stop at a flea market to use the many port-a-potties available to bargain hunters. The drive was ideal and although it wasn't a long drive in terms of distance covered it had a lot of road miles within a small geographic area. To sum it up the day was outstanding, pleasant, thrilling, relaxing and it ended with ice cream. SIXTEEN CARS ENJOY PERFECT DRIVE AND ANDY NELSON'S BBQ Saturday morning at the Burger King in Columbia found an enthusiastic  GRESH FAILS TO DEFEND TITLE  The weather couldn't seem to make up it's mind but the PACEr's Knew what they wanted.........to drive. There was some light rain and a stop  PACEmaker Southern Lancaster County Covered Bridge Drive. Well, Tuesday didn’t cooperate at all, but Thursday was a different story. We finally lucked out and had a fabulous day. Seven Miatas left the park ready for a 2 hour drive through 7 covered bridges. The beautiful weather put us in a great mood as we cruised the back roads enjoying the farms, scenery, wildflowers and the twisty traffic-free roads. Traffic-free except for Amish buggies and horse drawn farm equipment, that is. We didn’t even mind passing that picturesque manure spreader! (Right, Jack?!) Couldn’t make it? No problem. We may do this again since it’s being considered as a drive for the 2011 Regional Buggies & Bridges event. Hope you can make it next time! Bushkill Falls Weekend Three Phrases describe the Bushkill Falls Trip, Teamwork, U-Turns, and 20 people in a motel room. We think we may have set a record for the number of u-turns on this trip, but more on that later. The trip got interesting when a turn was missed and the group ended up crossing the I-80 bridge into New Jersey. We quickly stopped on the  construction, possibly cast iron, with a wooded deck, and at the Pennsylvania end of the bridge was a lady standing in the middle of the 2 lanes collecting one dollar from each car going in either direction.  We then proceeded down the Pennsylvania side and everything was going great until we turned off Rt 209 and began following Jay and Bonnie's GPS until we literally ran out of road. The GPS said it should be there but it was pretty obvious it had never been completed. Then continuing with the teamwork theme various members ended up in the lead with ideas out of the maze. We were so close but so far. We did arrive at the Falls eventually after more u-turns and a lot of laughs. The falls were beautiful with a lot of water crashing over them. The group had dinner at Chili's a short distance from the motel and afterward everyone (all 20) gathered in Joe and Sandy's motel room for wine, snacks and a great time. Sunday morning the group departed the motel at 10 AM and only had to make 1 u-turn before finding Rt 209 and heading south. We stopped at  The day ended at 3-B's Ice Cream just outside Dauphin. IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS Sunny skies and 16 Miatas with tops down met at Wendy's parking lot at Prospect Rd. and Rt 462 for a gorgeous ride on the 2 lane twisties along the Susquehanna River. Spirits were high with everyone excited about this season's first PACEmaker Drive. The conditions were ideal but some thought it could be a little warmer, with dress being anywhere from t-shirts to jackets , sweatshirts and maybe even a winter coat. The group made stops at Conestoga Park The scenic Pinnacle Overlook, with fabulous views high above the river, and a new one for this trip The John Wright Store and Restaurant in Wrightsville where lunch was enjoyed by the group. Some of the group elected to make a final stop at Mack's Ice Cream for dessert. It was a great day and a great start to the PACEmaker middle of the week drive season. There is however one thing still missing. We need some more drives to be scheduled. We would like to have a least one PACEmaker drive every month so we need some of you retired folks out there to get to work and help us out. There are a lot of 2 lane country roads out there to drive. The comment was heard from more than a few folks, "when is the next PACEmaker Drive". Spring Kickoff Dinner - March 20th Forty two Pace members gathered at the Brickerville House Restaurant to officially start the new driving A new slate of mostly "old" new officers was elected. Bob and Sue Gresh, are repeating as president, Gary and Mary Luckingbill, Vice President, Jerry and Lynn Long repeating as Newsletter Editors, Bill and Janet Anderson, Webmasters, Ray and Cheryl Barner, repeating as Membership Chairman, and Joe and Sandy Golesh as Events Chairpersons. These "new" officers join Jay and Bonnie Evans, Secretary and Tom and Joan McEvoy, Treasurer. Special thanks to members who brought things to share, mostly wine, but also a tasty box of Wilbur Buds compliments of Gloria and Jack Higdon. Our new Vice President Gary Lookingbill donated a selection of colorful Miata hats that were given away as door prizes. Thank you Gary and Mary the hats were a big hit. We heard from the secretary Bonnie Evans with minutes of the last meeting and an excellent treasurers report from Tom McEvoy. Membership chairman Ray Barner got us up to date on membership and reported on plans to make all renewals the same date. The events chair Joe Golesh reported on some of the driving events coming up and we heard from our Webmaster Bill Anderson on the continued improvements to our new and exciting web page. Bob Gresh did a presentation on the upcoming Buggies and Bridges II in September of 2011. This will be a club sponsored regional meet at the Eden Resort in Lancaster. We expect that 120 cars will attend the event. The major thrust of the presentation is the need for members to plan on being involved. The club last did this event, Buggies and Bridges, very successfully in Sept 2007. This kind of event takes a lot of planning and work. Many hands are needed but meeting fellow Miata owners from all over the country makes it a lot of fun. What was the best part of the day? Why the top down ride to the event of course! Snow tires have come off, storage covers and hard tops removed. See you at the upcoming drive events. ZOOM-ZOOM Large Gathering of Pace members cancels the blues   PACE MEMBERS GATHER FOR FUN ON FAT TUESDAY It was a cold windy night in Lancaster and surrounding areas but 29 Pace Miata Club members braved the elements for dinner with fellow club members. The group gathered at Florentio's at the Lancaster Airport for a great evening of fun. There was a $10 bottle of wine special and foamy glasses of beer to help lubricate the conversation and the laughter. Overall it was a noisy group. A special thanks to Jim and Joanne Walter for generously supplying a desert for the group commemorating Mardi Gras. Polar Bear Ran - January 2nd Brrrr, Baby it’s cold outside.  Joe and Sandy led the way for a short jaunt around Lancaster   Check out the Photo Gallery for some event pics... |
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