Kewl

Just an FYI to say that I'm planning on being at the grill at 10am...

Barry Abel

Thanks - me too - see you there (and anyone else who shows up!) Hope you'll also have time for the drive up to the crest!

tyrchon

Just got off work, hope I wake up.

Omicron

Sounds like this is gonna happen... be sure to let us know how it goes, and of course, post the obligatory mini-meet pics! :D

Kewl

Will here is proof that there are some RX8s in New Mexico. A small number of owners from around Albuquerque got together for breakfast and a drive up to the Sandia Crest East of ABQ. Here is a picture of the drive to the crest. For other pictures go to http://home.flash.net/~fredp/rx8/rx8.html

Now for you Colorado folks...the crest is at 10,600+ feet. The drive up to the crest was great fun and the 8s handled the twisty two lane road just fine. I think I will be visiting the crest often.

It was nice to meet the other RX8 owners. Very nice folks...and nice cars too! Food was excellent....another place I think we will have to visit again. Hope to see many more New Mexico RX8 owners in Colorado this June 5th.

Omicron

Very KEWL! (Pardon the pun!)

So who all showed? How many of you are planning on coming to the meet? And is this the only pic you've got? Do tell, do tell!

Kewl

RonD-NM, Tyrchon and Barry Abel were the other owners that showed up. Tyrchon won't be able to make the June meet, but RonD-NM, and myself will. Barry is going to try.

I put a few more pictures at the URL shown in my first post on the Crest meet, but here is another....

Left to Right...Kewl, Trychon, Barry Abel and RonD-NM

Barry Abel

Great fun! Terrific road up - too bad there are things like cops and such.... Still, enough hairpins and <180 degree turns to see that sway bars would help if you want to drive this thing more seriously.... :-) Really enjoyed meeting everyone and hope I can make it to Colorado for the gathering. Thinking it would also be fun one day to find a dry lake bed - perhaps in Utah? - where we could lay out a race course and have at it with little wear to rubber (the lake bed material gives way before the tires do) and no risk. PSCC used to do such a thing out at El Mirage Dry Lake Bed in SoCal.... Anyway, great to meet the others and looking forward to doing it again!

MadDog

Hey guys! I've been checking out the Mountain Forum for a while now - checking to see how active the 8 owners are out there. I'm going to be moving to ABQ in the coming months to work for Sandia. I wanted to see if my "fraternity" had a chapter out there! :D

Glad to see you guys are in to mini-meets! We do a lot of that here in the Richmond / DC area. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you soon!

MadDog

Barry Abel

Well, MD, you sure won't be the first member of the "local chapter" with Mid-Atlantic ties! We found out Sunday that several of us have lived in the area - DC, MD, VA. Be sure to let us know when you're getting here and we'll have a welcome get-together for sure!

Kewl

Hey MD. We look forward to seeing ya in the NM area... Like Barry says let us know when you arrive so we can have a welcome meet. Any good excuse works! Excellent color selection for you're 8 if you don't mind my saying so....

Have a safe trip out.

tyrchon

Heh, like he said, I think that out of the 5 of us that where there, only one person had not lived in that area, give us a shout when you get here. Oh, and I did not say it before, but great fun last weekend guys. I will be making that trip again lol.

Barry Abel

Terrific, Tony! Still now cria born - getting nervous about whether I can get away to Denver. Sure hope so! I'll let you know....

MadDog

Hey guys! Thanks for the welcoming words. So, I've really enjoyed taking the 8 around the Appalachains here on the East coast. I hope the Sandias offer a similar selection of twisties...Are there any auto-x tracks out there?

I think that I'll be making the move in August / Sept. I'll surely let you all know. It'll be nice to meet some like-minded folks. I can't decide whether to drive out, or fly and have the car shipped on an enclosed carrier...hmmm...

Barry Abel

well, we've got lots of mountains around here but you do need to go a ways. We drove up to Sandia Peak at our first local meet - nice twisty road, rises more than 3500 feet in about 14 miles. Fun!

When we moved out here, we rented an RV and drove out - it was a great drive - just 81 down to I-40 and then West til you get to where you're going (Albuquerque). Had two cars - shipped one (a Miata) in the moving van with the stuff and had the other brought out on an open truckload. It was far the cheapest and the thing is, it's a car - it's designed to get outdoors. Worked just fine and saved us some bucks.

Barry Abel

Say, if everyone has the time, maybe when MD arrives we can do a meet anywhere for breakfast, then do the about four hour drive out 550 to 44 to 4 through the Jemez Rez (up the box canyon on 485, maybe to the lake) through Jemez Springs, and up through the Kit Carson National Forest, past Los Alamos and then maybe to Harry's Roadhouse for a mid-afternoon lunch.... Lovely drive and show off the state just a bit. (Am also looking forward to seeing that antiquities site we talked about over breakfast - maybe driving up to Chama one of these days.) What do you folks think?

Barry Abel

hi, everyone! tell me how the meet went! I'm so sorry I couldn't make it. (still on "cria watch" waiting for the birth of the alpaca - mother couldn't be any larger - never seen anything like it - anyway, was it as much fun as it sounded like? How were Paul and the others? And when are we getting together again here?

- barry

Omicron

Hey Barry! Sorry it took so long to respond to this... I was kinda hoping some of the NM folks would jump in.

Meet was AWESOME! Did you read about it on our club website? It's pretty well documented there.

And Paul was the coolest guy you'd ever want to meet. :D

MadDog

Hey guys! I just got a contract on my house here in VA. It looks like I'll be in ABQ during the first week in September. It'd be great to get together with some fellow enthusiasts!

BTW, do you guys consider tinted windows a necessity out there in the desert?

-MD

Barry Abel

Hey, great news, MD! We'll all look forward to seeing you. In fact, it will be a great excuse to have another get-together!

I don't know about window tints - don't have them. The sun's sure hot but remember we're up there in altitude as well so I use a sun screen when I leave the car to sit and haven't had a problem. Maybe someone who has tinted windows can tell us all how much better it is!

See you when you get here!

Kewl

Hey MD....look forwarding to seeing ya in NM. Keep us posted and have a good trip. Congrats on the house contract.

I tinted my gray 8 first thing. I think it makes a huge difference. With the black seats I was worried they would burn my legs off during summer, but so far that has not been any kind of issue. If you decide to tint just remember what Barry said....at this altitude the UV is much stronger....be sure you get something with strong UV block....

See sy soon.

Kewl

So Barry, what is the update on the little one - cria?

We need to get everyone together again soon....any ideas?

BTW the RX8 meeting in Denver was terrible. Just a bunch of 8 owners showed up and all they wanted to do was talk about their cars, and then, can you believe this, they wanted to drive up some narrow two lane mountain road! On the second day they wanted to drive the car on a race track. Of all places....a track!

I said hey enough is enough I didn't go to the track. Stupid me! I sure want to go next time. And you need to go to the next meet...what a bunch of fun people. And some of the mods they did to their cars were really neat.

Well, let me know what you think about us all getting together again....

Barry Abel

Cria was finally born! June 16th. He was 8 days late by the calendar and probably three days premature in reality. (Alpacas and llamas are unique in that they will arrest development of the fetus if something is wrong with the mother - cure the mother - then the pregnancy picks up right where it left off! Amazing.) Anyway, after some sleepless nights he's doing just fine, looks great! Now to sell him.... We're away until the 20th but any time after that. We could meet in Madrid at the Mineshaft for a lunch if you'd like. Or up in Santa Fe area at Harry's Roadhouse for breakfast or lunch. Or someplace in Albuquerque - Garcia's? El Pinto?? (Pretty place, that.) Can't wait to hear all about the mods and how they work really! As to UV, I believe they say you get four times the UV rays penetrating every 1000 feet altitude! Hope to see you and all soon! I'll talk Holly into coming next time!

RonD-NM

Welcome to NM MadDog, PM me when you are ready to get a tint job. I can hook you up for $120.oo with lifetime warranty.

RonD-NM

Barry..Barry..Barry… WHAT!!! no tint yet, are you East Mountain Loco or have you just been smellin the alpaca po-po to long. LOL

I can hook you up with tint too.

Ron :D