Dates are very soft. This may be too little time to coordinate with all the hotels and it doesn't look like the Presidion would be flexible with the 2 day minimum thing. I'm still playing with options, but time is working against us to sneak this in before the holiday season,

 

Staying in the City has limited appeal because I live pretty close, and getting in and out can be a pain.I did it for 11 years at my last job, and it was one of the top two reasons I I left. If that were the consensus, and if the dates worked for me, it wouldn't be a deal-breaker though. I suppose it depends on if we have more mass south of SF or north, and how many days total, as well.

 

Hey, yeah, I'm a JAG member too, always kinda forget about those drives. Gotta do one some day... Here is the one they did last month. Despite growing up around here ("west bay" although no one calls it that) I don't know much at all about east bay drives.



Here is one for Sept. in the Santa Cruz mountains on Sept 2. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be around:

 

I'll plot out some routes from Santa Cruz to SF. There are plenty!

 

It really depends on how you like your roads. There's everything from open highway to borderline goat path there. I've crisscrossed it rather extensively on a motorcycle, although not particularly recently. It also depends on if it's a weekday or weekend. I stopped going over there on weekends because of the knuckleheads on motorcycles ("squids"). They swarm over there and ride over their heads. That leads to helicopter transports, which leads to police presence.

I've been looking at maps when I get a chance and there are just so many options around here it's hard to narrow things down.

 

Alright, this is officially being pushed to Spring 2019. There just isn't enough time to coordinate with all parties involved (hotels that can accommodate ten+ rooms, event locations, etc) and miss the holiday seasons; however, I will perform some scouting between now and then and I'll send out open invites.On Saturday, I took 128 from Winters to Calistoga and hit a few places in Napa. The drives were darn near perfect and the stopping points over the top good.

I do not want this to fizzle out and die. I also don't want to do something half-***. I'll start talking with more venues to find an ideal time to miss the inflated tourist season and have a good chance of missing the rain, too. I am, as always, open to input and assistance.

 

I think 2019 is a good idea. If well planned more people will be able to turn it into a trip and attend.

 

Exactly. This is how I thought it would end up playing out, but I checked to see if I could make something happen. I had to keep lowering my expectations (number of rooms at hotels, quality of stopping places, etc.) and then the problem with that is you get exactly that...

 

Getting closer to a viable plan.
Doc

 

I'll try to work this in my schedule in the spring. Works much better for me, FYI. Would love to go up north and get out of the sand box for a few days.

 

I'm in depending on the scheduling.
Thanks for doing this. We did several short drives back around 2014 and 2015.

Wayne

 

Not sure if I should say I'm in the wine industry, but it's a huge part of my life, have many vineyard owner friends, winemaker friends, and one of our hotels makes wine. I've actually made wine too, and now I am thinking of opening one of those bottles tonight.... blended from Trisateum's Willamette Valley vineyards, and my nose led us to a FANTASTIC FREAKING PINOT.

And what's funny... I have about 4 beers a year. It's either outdoors work in heat that will snap that no-beer streak, or maybe sushi.

But the wonderful thing about alcohol is that we humans (and animals eating fermented fruits of all sorts) have been able to make alcohol out of just about everything, and we can all celebrate distilled liquors and raise a martini glass to salute the wonderful array of preferences. =)

I mean, when I found Cynar, and I realized we had even figured out how to make alcohol out of artichokes, that's the moment that I realized there's never been a moment of all human evolutionary history where we weren't trying to get messed up.

To your credit, it's suggested/argued that making mead / beer is what led to agricultural production methods that helped us grow food crops.... so the fact we're even chatting online might be to you beer drinkers paving the way. =)

 

I've lost my shirt to prove it, but I've driven the 50 from CA to Colorado. What a lonely highway, as it were. What a fun drive.... in a Jeep Wrangler? I need to do it again in this car to visit friends out there, or maybe to hit Amangiri again! wooooot. what fun.

BUT... if the 50 descends onto the 395 south, I'm getting a mono-cone in Lee Vining by Mono Lake!! =)

Road Tripping is just the best. Sharing my 40th bday trip from 2 years ago to a bunch of National Parks and what not.

A 2 week caravan perhaps? Anyways... use this if you need a 4000+ mile trip! =)
https://roadtrippers.com/map?a2=t!99...93936221832099

 

I can't forget this.... May 20th or so of 2012, we were staying in Eze, and after a dinner in La Turbie, decide to meander around in a rented Peugot..... I ended up at the bottom of the hill in Monte Carlo! It was a few days prior to the Grand Prix, and the entire course had been set up, and I was able to drive the entire thing. My wife always enables my joy, and I think it was two or three laps total.... it was so amazing an experience. It's a huge memory that drove me forward into my love of cars (I blossomed quite late), and likely something that tipped the scales in getting me into an F-Type.

 

Is there a poll function here, or a way to take a headcount without a bunch of replies saying "ME TOO"?? The only thing I can think of...

here's a survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZXZG3C2

 

 

That route is pretty good, except there are too many big roads ;^)

It also skips some favorites, but you'd have probably missed a few parks that way. I've done a similar loop on my Ducati 748. It was back in '99, and was 17 days and about 4300 miles. We specifically avoided some of the highways you racked up some miles on, and if you've ridden a 748 you'd know why the likes of I5 are anathema. I was younger then (and less damaged). Now, I'm not sure how well I'd cope given advancing decrepitude.

It's been quite a few years now, but breakfast at Nicely's in Lee Vining is worthwhile. For a couple of then-annual trips we stayed in Mammoth Lakes and hit Nicely's for breakfast. It gives a good foundation for a long day's ride.

 

The survey is RIGGED.

 

Ah, to be a gentleman of leisure. If both is too much to ask for, even one would be nice. If you did make a cross-country sojourn, where would you likely enter/exit California? I can see it being possible to work in something on the right edge of the state, or even a little over.

 

I have a friend who is quite fond of Cynar. It's not to my taste ...

I have my own theory on the invention of beer. Here's the scenario:

Mesopotamian man left on his own for a week while his wife visits her parents. She comes home and finds the sink full of dishes and a pot of barley mash on the stove that's clearly been there for days. She points out his abysmal housekeeping, and he ends up saying of the mash that "I've been saving that. O course it's still good." He then proves it by having some, getting drunk in the process. Great Moments in History. You were there.