Nothing like a camping adventure to make a Solar Eclipse Totality even more epic. Since this past January, I'd been planning to travel to the path of totality for the Aug. 21 eclipse. My love had been planning to join me ever since then, too -- since before we were engaged, let alone married. But being married made it a lot simpler, in a sense: Only one tent meant just enough room in the Miata to go camping in it. Again! You might recall a previous camping trip  where I experimented with packing everything I'd need into the tiny Miata trunk. That experiment proved successful, but I wasn't entirely sure if it'd work for two people. More things and a little less space to pack in, right? Can't stick the picnic basket on the passenger seat this time! And then it got even more complicated -- I'd start the journey without him, picking him and his gear up on the way. He was bringing the tent and an additional sleeping bag, not to mention his backpack of clot...

OK, so we didn't exactly elope. We just got married a whopping 12 weeks (to the day) after our engagement, around 12 hours from home, with 12 people watching. Close enough? Circumstances being what they are, we had decided to get married in Canada. No, I don't live anywhere near Canada. No, we didn't go to Niagara Falls. It was just a little family gathering in an uncle's back yard. But when you're planning a drive of several hours -- you make it fun. Miata fun! It worked like this: He drove through the night to reach my house, where he parked and we got into my convertible to embark on the journey. I drove most of the way to Canada so he could nap -- we stopped at a Checkers fast-food restaurant for lunch on the way. It's one of my favorite chains, though I know it as Rally's. He'd never heard of the place, so I introduced him to Rally Fries. Mmmmmmrallyfries. Of course, when you're in Canada, you get Tim Horton's. W...

You're not supposed to drive with the top down on Dec. 12. But if it's 62 degrees out, how can you resist? I took the Miata out for one final spin of the season on that abnormally warm day, just before topping off the tank and parking it in the garage for the winter. Clad in leather coat and a matching gray and black hat, I zipped here and there through the city streets, enjoying the unseasonably comfortable weather. Before leaving, I texted a friend to see if her three daughters - all ages 10 and under - would like a ride. "I just asked the girls if they were interested and their eyes bugged out with huge smiles," my friend texted back.  So a little later that afternoon, this little red car could be seen - and heard! - making loops round and round a quiet little residential block, carrying a couple of blondes.  It's fun to leave the car in second gear and rev it up just so the kids feel like they're racing. And you can take corners more quic...

Let's visit Mammoth Cave, she said. Let's try to pack all the camping gear into the 5.3 cubic feet of trunk, she said.  So that's what she did. Yes, believe it or not, all items needed for a weekend camping trip - including food - fit into the tiny trunk that can barely contain a guitar case. That's tent, ground mat, camping chair, clothes bag, grocery bag full of food and snacks, and incidentals. Oh, and a hefty camera case for a DSLR. Those summers working in a shipping warehouse come in handy when you need to pack like you're playing Tetris.  It had to fit, you see. Because yours truly decided to plan a detour specifically to enjoy a scenic ride through Brown County, Indiana, with the convertible top down and in high gear around the corners. (Well, not the absolute highest gear. But the pickup ahead was percipient enough to pull to the right to let this driver pass.) It might not have happened that way, but it did. Despite unceasing rain for ...

I've been warring with a pair of rusted-on rear license plate screws since Tuesday. This is Friday. I tried everything in my arsenal -- every screwdriver that was even close to the right size, WD-40, silicone spray, a screwdriver borrowed from a friend, even a screwdriver borrowed from the local AutoZone. The one from AutoZone was finally a tight fit in the slotted head, but resulted in halfway stripping one of the screws. It was to the point where I considered getting a friend to drill out the screws. (Or zapping them with my sonic screwdriver.) But I tried one last time. Another squirt of silicone spray, several taps on each screw and a couple hours' wait. And then, the last straw: A pair of combination pliers with teeth that might either wear down the edges of the screws or sink into them tight enough to provide some leverage. So into the cold garage I went, at about 8:45 p.m. No more daylight left, but I finally had the energy to give it a go. Setting the pliers ...