228 replies to this topic

[Rap]

So I have figured out this weather. As soon as we walk outside it rains. Walk inside it stops. Walk outside it rains. Took a while but I think I've got this down. Wine and cheese downstairs we are good to go! Lol how youse guys didn't tell me how it works?

[ds968]

Re hwy 25 .. Took it several times, agree that it's as beautiful as drives get, but as I recall it really adds closer to 45min-1hr to the trek.. Up to the majority, I'll go along with whatever route is chosen..

[ds968]

Rap, your fault for not reading the Ca. owners manual ..it's on page 3 under "rainmaking tips" right below the first one which is : "wash and wax your car"

[Chris Vais]

My recollection is that it added about 45 minutes to the trip home. If we want to do this, we would need to leave our departure point no later than 7:45 - 8:00 AM. Bill, you and I need to leave Alameda at 7:00 AM. We should check road conditions and make sure that the road is clear of washouts and the like. We have had significant amount of rain in the past two days. Speaking of which there is photo on the net today that was taken by a guy is SF that shows a simultaneous lightning strike on all 4 towers of the Bay Bridge.

[lbpesq]

Mapquest has 25 adding 42 minutes. In my experience, mapquest times are fairly liberal and seem to reflect driving the speed limit or slower. I would suspect that we could easily do the "42 minute" drive in 35 minutes or less. Heck, if we had Flash leading the way, (like last year's fun run), I'd bet we could break 30 minutes! I'm certainly willing to trade another 1/2 hour of sleep for 60 miles of 25 vs. 101.

Bill

[Chris Vais]

I'm game, Dan is in, anyone else?

Bill, lets leave Alameda at 7:15 latest and leave our gathering point at 8:00 AM.

[lbpesq]

Chris:

I meet you at Lincoln Middle School on Fernside tomorrow morning at 7:15. I'll be the guy driving a Porsche 968. lol



I found a bottle of MaCallan 15 year old in my cupboard. Or, if people would prefer, I have a big bottle of Remy Martin Extra. Preferences?

Bill

[ds968]

Ok, I'll be at the Edgewood parking lot at 8 am , in preparation for whichever route we take .. Btw Bill, "flash leading the way" may be the norm for those slow SoCal guys, lol , but it pales by comparison to NorCal standards.. Talk to Trevor about our hwy 25 runs returning from Paso. :-)

[94SilverCab]

How's the weekend going folks? We need pictures and updates!!!

Jay

[ds968]

I'm already back, sorry I did not take any photos though I do have some video from part of the fun run and as soon as I can figure out how to work downloading stuff from this ( relatively new ) camera - may take a week to read the instructions - I'll see if I can post. That aside, awesome weekend !! Details to follow but for now I have to attend to some work related " fires " ..

[Rap]

So, marvelous weekend. Good food good wine and certainly the most important good people. I am sooo embarrassed I drove like such a wuss! Liz decided to mapquest our route home. We took 46 to 5 to 405. Desolute wasteland. Tail end were some great sweepers. Bob could you please slow down. Gez I'm not going that fast! But best for last. Jay your recommendation for Shade was great except for. I drop the car off to Valet and make arrangements for Black and White to pick it up there tomorrow. We go to the room. I call down because I forgot to get the mileage. Mind you it is .65 cents a mile. This cost more than the 4 days. The young lady at the front desk says let me go get that for you Mr. Piccone. Must have been because I was leering at those marvelous ta tas. Then she says again, Mr Piccone my manager needs to speak to you. Catholic guilt trip makes me wonder not only what I did wrong but of course, how could I have gotten caught? Manager gets on and I know I'm screwed cuz her voice is all wrong. She tells me that she is so sorry but that my car has been in an accident. I drive like a wuss all weekend, give my car to someone else and voila, an accident. Seems someone backed into the left rear end with the Valet driver in it. Oh mr. Piccone, I hate this Mr. Piccone crap, we are soooo sorry we have called the police and the car rental company. It's our fault and we will take care of it. The last time a woman told me its not my fault and she will take care of it was because she forgot to take her birth control. So after driving, well I just followed others, the car gets crunched. So of course we have to eat. I ask for a recommendation. Couldn't get us into the first choice but get us the second. We sit down waiter comes over and makes a wine recommendation for wine in the $100 range. Then recommends the most expensive items on the menu. Let's step back, before we entered the restaurant, I said to Liz that if these people were good they would comp the meal. We select a different wine and food range. The waiter then says you must try this dessert wine. It's nectar. 20 bucks a pop. Finally I ask for the check and he says after she drops the check off hang around for a sec. She comes over and graciously comps the meal because of the accident. Hey folks listen to Jays suggestions cuz he da man! Lol it's wonderful to see things done properly. The waiter comes over and says hey I was in on it and was trying to get you to get the absolute best and most expensive! We had a great time and will be back.

[lbpesq]

Ouch! Too bad about the accident.

As for this weekend, it was a blast! I also sustained a casualty, though relatively minor, as I screwed up and hit the parking curb with my splitter on its maiden voyage and sustained a small crack! Oh well, another weekend project. Some excellent wines on Saturday with some great "fun run worthy" drives between the wineries. Dinner that night was a great feed after the minor hassle of a little "tetris" with the tables to accomodate our group. I was ready to pass out when we got back to the hotel at around 10:00, but I went for the scotch tasting (about 14 different varieties) followed by a nightcap cigar out in the smoking section by the parking lot. Breakfast was also great - enough food that I skipped lunch entirely.

The fun run took us through some gorgeous countryside between 101 and 1 by Lake Nacimiento. I appreciate that some of us enjoy driving in a "more spirited" fashion than others. Personlly Flash rarely got out of my site and it was a lot of fun to put our cars through their paces. Perhaps next year we should break into two groups (the relatively normal vs. the certifably insane?), and make sure the lead car in each group knows the way.

At the end of the fun run we all drove off in three different directions. I took 198 on my way to Fresno where I am currently. Some great roads and spectacular scenary on that route too. Driving around California in these cars sure is fun!

Thanks to Flash for putting this all together and thanks to all the great folks I got to hang out with the past couple of days.

Bill

Edited by lbpesq, 15 April 2012 - 11:39 PM.

[tamathumper]

Sorry to hear about all that drama, Rap. Hope you (and everyone) had a great time otherwise!

[ds968]

@RAP... sorry..I meant Mr Piccone ;-) that was some adventure ! But how about that silver lining : no better time to have had a rental.. :-) And I can only imagine the mangers' reaction to learning about the accident : " - we damaged a WHAT ?! " ( for the other readers here, Bob rented a Boxster ) .
Bill, sorry to hear about the splitter. Ironically when we were at our interim meeting spot I pulled my car in just a bit too far and heard a loud scrape as I went over that concrete parking block / stopper . And pulling back, produced an even more frightening sound, I thought I surely must have ripped the plastic underbelly off of some of its mountings. If I had a splitter it would have been in pieces; mind you, it will survive driveway and road dips if it gets hit from underneath, but if you drive straight into a concrete block or curb with it, it probably won't do very well. Also, too bad you did not take the same route with Chris and Erni and I, you might have been able to stop and represent / save what appeared to be three very sad and worried young farm workers ( I have a feeling their immigration status might have been in question ..) stopped by two Sherriff SUVs , with another police car quickly approaching the scene.
Another minor casualty - someone helped themselves to Trevor's valve stem caps , which I think probably happened during dinner, because our parking spaces at the hotel were right in front of the lobby where surveillance cameras are in place so I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to take a chance there. So check your cars ! Mine fortunately does not seem to have anything missing.
A side note to the wine tasting tour - at the second winery Trevor turns to me and says something to the tune of " : you look like you might have had a bit too much wine..your eyes are kind of glazed .." Trevor apparently missed the young lady who was pouring our wine at whom I was leering during the entire time we were there, while day dreaming : " ...If only I was 30 years younger..and not married. Or at least, one of the two .. " Here we were at one of the most beautiful winery venues in Paso, perched on top of a hill with a splendid vantage point of the surrounding hills' flora and fauna, and the only vantage point I cared about the entire time was tje spelndid one right behind that counter.. Hmm I wonder if her name was Flora and what her fauna may have looked like.lol, Drop dead gorgeous young lady !
Anyway, great company, a lot of fun, and thanks to Bob for having the energy and desire to keep organizing these events. If you just look at incredibel detail of the agenda and route handouts you can imagine how much time and effort he puts into this !

[Rap]

Ds are you sure you didn't mean the third winery? Two of the silky creamy young well I digress were catching my eye as they talked about their bunches of grapes! Either bunch would have done for me. Course Liz always says to me, couldn't you be less obvious? I'm like whatttt?

[ds968]

Was it at Tabllas Creek ? Oh well, I was so mesmerized I may have forgotten which winery it was.. About 5'4" , brown hair, amazing eyes which were blue but had a green-ish tint to them as well, amazing lips.. Well I could go on, but I'm starting to drift away again with that same glazed look in my eyes. Too bad she was probably no more than in her early 20s. Well, too bad for me but not bad at all for her boyfriend.. I was going to tell her that I know his initials : L.B. ( lucky bastard ! )

Edited by ds968, 16 April 2012 - 06:28 AM.

[flash]

okee dokee - i'm back and up and running again.

the weekend was a ton of fun. i had worked out a number of things in advance that took a big load off of the schedule. that reduced the stress levels quite a bit so i could enjoy the trip too.

we had a really nice and very quick drive up. banditsc's car had issues i'll let him talk about. it was hilarious though.

most of us were able to complete our paperwork at the hotel before going off to lunch, which left the rest of the day for the real fun. we started out at tobin james for lunch, and then went in for tasting there. they had a couple of wines this year that peaked my wife's interest, so we brought them home.

leaving there we got to see the first scrape of a splitter. no damage, but clearly a learning curve in the future for that driver.

we then went off to calcareous. on the way, i decided to hop up the pace a bit, and just as i got going, the detector went off, and i passed a CHP going the other way. i had just enough time to peel off enough speed to get away with it. not 3 minutes later, his buddy was coming up behind him. we all thought i was dead for sure, but he just kept going. he didn't have his radar on when i passed him, but apparently he switched it on as i blew by him because those behind me had their detectors going off. all averted being stopped, and nobody got a ticket to the dance.

we had a great little drive along a really fun road to get to calcareous, where we saw some incredible views of the paso robles area. some of the group played bacci, while others were playing with the dogs. truly one of the best locations in the area, which is why i chose it.

from there we again hopped onto a great road and headed to tablas creek. they had some really interesting wines, and we actually joined their club. some great tasting. they kept the place open for us after hours, and i think it was well worth it to them.

leaving there we had a quick run along another great road and went back to the hotel.

from there it was off to dinner where we all stuffed ourselves. those ranchers know how to eat. HUGE portions.

by the time i got back to the hotel i was toast. my sinuses had been killing me all day, as it was breezy and blowing pollen everywhere. that headache wore me out and i missed the scotch tasting AGAIN. very bummed about that.

sunday morning brought us another breakfast that my arteries will be complaining about for a while. great food though.

the fun run afterward started out on the same roads as we had driven the day before, so we got to pick up the pace a bit. i still had to keep it down, partly due to not wanting to get a divorce, and partly because i was in the white car, which doesn't have the torque to push as hard. the tires are aging out too, so i didn't want to push them too far. i also had to keep the people behind me in sight, so that meant that over all i had to peel it off quite a bit more than if i were blasting around in the blue car. it was probably for the best though. if i had gone at full tilt, somebody would have eaten it. a lot of the road had rises that dropped off blind, often into a turn. that could have been tragic.

we cut the run short at the half way point, as most everybody needed to head back home. it had already been a long weekend, and the idea of more driving was just too much for most everybody.

in the end, it was a great weekend. we got back a couple of hours earlier than we had initially thought we would, which allowed us to grill dinner here, rather than stopping at a restaurant, so we got a chance to spend some more time with banditsc.

so, another event under the belt. i am already planning next year's event. it will be the 10th, so i am going to pull out the stops and really do something special. more news on that soon. start putting it on your calendar. it will not be one to miss. it will probably be the last one i do though, as i think i need to pass the baton on this.

[Chris Vais]

It sounds like everybody arrived back home in good shape. It was a great weekend. I think the Fun Run, even though shortened was probably the best one I have been on. The roads were challenging, especially since none of us had actually driven them before, but the route passed through some of the most quintessential Central California Coastal Hill country as you are ever likely to see. And has been observed, the runs between wineries were not bad either.

On the run down from the north we took CA Route 25 which runs around the back side of Pinnacles National Monument and down a valley that runs parallel to the Salinas Valley.

A great weekend spent with good friends, can't ask for more than that.

[Langley968]

Can't wait to see some pictures.
Very interested in making plans for the "10th" event...

[flash]

lol - next year is already shaping up. i think i have a great concept for the 10th event. i'll put something up about it as soon as i have more confirmed details.

i am also looking forward to seeing pictures. i didn't take many this year. not sure why. i think i was having too much fun.