A Horse, A Horse...My Kingdom for a Horse...

 Or at least 225 horses in an in-line 6-cylinder engine. One of BMW's finest engines.

When I was growing up in the wilds of South Carolina, my mother was what I am today – a car nut.  In retrospect, I suppose I learned that passion at her knee. She traded cars every year, with some excuse or another, but I think she just liked having a different car when her passion faded.  Her favorite was Mercury made by the Ford Motor Company and now a defunct division.

Once, she had a 1964 burgundy Chevrolet Impala Super Sport with really fancy wheel covers.  The style at the time was to remove the wheel covers.  That was cool. So, cool that we were two girlfriends and I borrowed Mom’s SS and headed to Myrtle Beach to cruise the strip.  We didn’t meet any boys at ‘where the boys are’ but we had a wonderful time.

My particular affliction is the sports car, which love was fostered when my Dad helped me buy a Jaguar E-Type at the ripe old age of 18.

Does anyone remember "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan and Dean?

  Well, the last thing I remember, Doc, I started to swerve

And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve
I know I'll never forget that horrible sight
I guess I found out for myself that everyone was right
Won't come back from Dead Man's Curve.

The car they were talking about is, I believe, the E-type Jag.

That love affair has persisted to today.  I had 4 Miatas, (this is the last):

 then fell in love with the BMW Z3   (probably my favorite of all time).  Z3PO was my best buddy.  I then bought a 135i 

that I didn’t really love.  A new Miata came next, but my libido began to stir, and I started doing on-line searches for a Z4.  Wings here was the result.

When I wrecked my SUV (brief stint as an SUV owner), I did a search on a Z3, exactly what I wanted.  He popped up in Macon, GA.  My aunt and I drove down (about 4 hours), and I drove Zippy Z back.  He's  a 2002 Sterling Gray Z3 3.0i, and the love of my life. Zippy is an exact replica of Z3PO, except that this time I opted for an automatic transmission.

Happy Trails and Happy Holidays until we meet again...

Linda N.

~*~

I write across the genres in romance, particularly otherworldly heroes, and invite you to check out my books on my Amazon Author Page. 

Three Twisted Sisters: Texas Hill Country’s Most Famous Trio

While you can legally drive 80 mph on Texas State Highway 130, also known as the Pickle Parkway, motorcycle and sports car enthusiasts flock to three Hill Country Ranch Roads.  SH 335, 336 and 337, are known throughout Texas as the Twisted Sisters.

A stretch of one of these seemingly pleasant curvy roads starts off pretty straight, but then bucks, snorts, twists and turns in an effort to throw us like a bull in a Bandera rodeo. This is whitetail deer country, and they will pop up at the most inopportune times, like in the middle of a downhill, off camber, decreasing radius turn! Then there’s the occasional cage…they can be as unpredictable as a deer and seem to show up at inopportune times, as well.

I hail from South Carolina and from the time I got my first sports car drove the mountainous curves of North Carolina, Tennessee and northern Georgia.  These curves wind so tight you can almost hear them whine.  Recently, I returned from a visit to my son in Yorkshire.  Let me tell you there are curves in ‘them thar hills’ where you can say hello to your own arse coming around a sharp bend!

The second weekend in June, along with a friend and fellow author Toni Sweeney, I drove the Twisted Sisters with my car club.  My license plate surround says it all:  ‘Houston Miata Club – Our members love to go topless’.  Toni navigated on this epic adventure.  I trusted her to know left from right—which I do not! Luckily, the HMC go as a 'convoy' around the twistys and turnys.  We drive to have fun not to set any records--a good thing for one who doesn't know N, S, E & W as more than letters of the alphabet

So here’s to Black Magic, his Momma and Toni Sweeney—On the Road Again…

You might enjoy this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOjO3HSqD1Q