Randy
12-17-2006, 07:58 PM
"RoadGlue.com, the PCBA, and the Northern California Audi TT/S4 club have came together to for full day of scenic, adventurous driving though some of California’s most beautiful and challenging roads. I was woken up that morning by a South Bay'er wanting to know the current weather in Santa Rosa. The sky was cloudy and I could rain had fallen earlier that morning. Maybe the rain would hold out for a bit? Dominique and I left for Petaluma (just a 15 minute drive) at around 8:15am. Right as we were entering the city limits we were rained on just a bit then it stopped.
We were the first to arrive at the fairgrounds, but Tim Perry and his son arrived not ten minutes later in his Black 1971 1.7. A bit later an Audi arrived, then another Porsche or two, and Acura NXS, a few more Porsches and by 8:20, a total of 26 cars had arrived (six of which were 914s). Then the rain started.
The group gathered in a circle and we discussed the driving plan shortly. Radios were passed out and we hurried to our cars. Leaving the fairgrounds our group was immediately divided into two or three clusters of cars. There was no concern though, for this was anticipated and we had already agreed on a reunification shortly after turning onto D street. Our group must have taken up at least a good block and a half of D street as we waited for the entire group to come together.
We continued out on Petaluma / Point Reyes road, but were once again divided up into three groups do to some of the more daring passing by some of the members of our group. My group was stuck behind a large van (looked a little like the van from the A Team) for probably 8 miles. Luckily the van turned left in Point Reyes while the rest of us turned right on Hwy 1. But alas, we were once again stuck behind a VERY SLOW and CLUELESS Jeep Cherokee from Point Reyes to the Town of Marshall. We honked, we flashed, we tried to intimidate, but he didn't budge a bit. We rejoined with others in the group in Marshall, but over half the crowd was still quite a ways ahead of us. In the town of Tomalas, we were once again completely reunited. We didn't socialize much during our stops though due to the non-stop rain. As we headed out of Marshall, the group was split up again do to a bad intersection near Freestone. By this point I had decided that trying to keep twenty-six cars together for more then a quarter mile on public highways was impossible. All six 914's were together still at this point and we regrouped with a few other cars at Coleman Valley Road.
Coleman Valley Road was breath taking and somewhat enchanting as we drove up into the low hanging cloud. Our group was about ten cars strong at this point. As we approached the town of Occidental, Coleman Valley Road hit a T. Turning right puts you on Joy road, while turning left continues down to Occidental on Coleman Valley RD. There was confusion and all of the cars ahead of me turned right. I got onto my radio right away and tried to get them to turn around, but they were gone. My group of three cars headed down into Occidental. That's where I discovered that my radio had been accidentally switched from the correct channel and that my yelling had been in vain. Ten minutes later, the strays figured out the something was wrong and turned around. From Occidental we raced back to Santa Rosa where we ate lunch at Round Table with the rest of the group and watched video taken from inside one of the cars.
All in all we had a good time. The rain came down the entire time. Next time, we'll plan the meet on a dry day!"
Photo taken by Randy Wentzel:
We were the first to arrive at the fairgrounds, but Tim Perry and his son arrived not ten minutes later in his Black 1971 1.7. A bit later an Audi arrived, then another Porsche or two, and Acura NXS, a few more Porsches and by 8:20, a total of 26 cars had arrived (six of which were 914s). Then the rain started.
The group gathered in a circle and we discussed the driving plan shortly. Radios were passed out and we hurried to our cars. Leaving the fairgrounds our group was immediately divided into two or three clusters of cars. There was no concern though, for this was anticipated and we had already agreed on a reunification shortly after turning onto D street. Our group must have taken up at least a good block and a half of D street as we waited for the entire group to come together.
We continued out on Petaluma / Point Reyes road, but were once again divided up into three groups do to some of the more daring passing by some of the members of our group. My group was stuck behind a large van (looked a little like the van from the A Team) for probably 8 miles. Luckily the van turned left in Point Reyes while the rest of us turned right on Hwy 1. But alas, we were once again stuck behind a VERY SLOW and CLUELESS Jeep Cherokee from Point Reyes to the Town of Marshall. We honked, we flashed, we tried to intimidate, but he didn't budge a bit. We rejoined with others in the group in Marshall, but over half the crowd was still quite a ways ahead of us. In the town of Tomalas, we were once again completely reunited. We didn't socialize much during our stops though due to the non-stop rain. As we headed out of Marshall, the group was split up again do to a bad intersection near Freestone. By this point I had decided that trying to keep twenty-six cars together for more then a quarter mile on public highways was impossible. All six 914's were together still at this point and we regrouped with a few other cars at Coleman Valley Road.
Coleman Valley Road was breath taking and somewhat enchanting as we drove up into the low hanging cloud. Our group was about ten cars strong at this point. As we approached the town of Occidental, Coleman Valley Road hit a T. Turning right puts you on Joy road, while turning left continues down to Occidental on Coleman Valley RD. There was confusion and all of the cars ahead of me turned right. I got onto my radio right away and tried to get them to turn around, but they were gone. My group of three cars headed down into Occidental. That's where I discovered that my radio had been accidentally switched from the correct channel and that my yelling had been in vain. Ten minutes later, the strays figured out the something was wrong and turned around. From Occidental we raced back to Santa Rosa where we ate lunch at Round Table with the rest of the group and watched video taken from inside one of the cars.
All in all we had a good time. The rain came down the entire time. Next time, we'll plan the meet on a dry day!"
Photo taken by Randy Wentzel: