I'm good with either starting time.

 

Just looking at the numbers says the early departure is best.

Assuming we stay at or near the legal limit puts our arrival in Astoria at 1pm. Thats allowing an hour and a half for stops along the way. (Even that is cutting North Head a tad short)
For those wanting a later start, we have delays/stops along the route that would allow a way to "catch up" to us.

Estimated stops.
McCleary (B) = 15min
SATSOP (C) = 30min
Raymond (D) = 15 min
North Head (E) = 30min+



Vince

 

Under a week out and only a few adventurous souls so far!

Come on all you PNW owners! Time to get your car out of its cozy winter cottage and get a springtime run under its feet! Good chance to debug any hiccups or annoyances before those awesome summer drives, all while in the company of good people that share a common enthusiasm for the brand! Join us, wont you?

Astoria 7-day forecast 54-57degs, overcast, and 30% chance of showers
Ocean Shores shows the same.

Better sky's both sides of that Saturday, so we'll hope the long-range forecasts shift more to our favor as the date gets closer.

Vince

 

I picked up a couple Cobra FRS radios at Best Buy.

 

Car to car communications always make the drive more interesting and enjoyable. Best to let your passenger handle the radio if you can, because it can get difficult holding the wheel and hitting the PTT (push to talk) button.
I chatter so much my thumb gets sore! And trust me, you can not use the VOX (Voice Operated Transmit) function in the car which is too bad.
I have several radios, (3 good, and 2 questionable) if anyone needs to borrow one.

Not lookin' like I'll have a passenger on this run... We'll see...
Weather looks like it is shifting to our favor so far.

Rahtok is still tentative... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the early start doesn't prevent his joining in...

Lots can happen in the next 6 days, so I'll just keep my optimism high and hope a few more gentle folk will join in on our trek!

V

 

Well I'm ready to go rain or shine.
I tried to drum up some interest from north of the border but alas, nobody has come out of their igloos yet.

On Friday I will stay somewhere in range of Krispy Kreme
(a whole new experience for me)
ready for an 8;00 am depature.

See you all then.

 

4 days out...
Me-thinks perhaps the weather is still moving in our favor! Looks like we are skirting a squall set to hit the coast Thursday-Friday, and taper off Friday night. We might hit a brief shower (20% chance) here and there, so come prepaired with a brolly!

Just keep our fingers crossed that the squall doesnt stall and hold the coastline captave an extra day, cause Friday looks nasty!

V

 

Well folks,

Can't say we haven't tried, but after a month of trying we only have 4 cars and a tentative.

Doug in Longview tells me he may try to hop over and join us for lunch, as may oceansonmars, but feedback otherwise has been pretty low.

Weather is saying a sunny day is out of the question. <sigh>
Worst forecast: 50 degrees, overcast and 40% chance of rain
Best forecast: 53 degrees with mixed sun and showers
Others are between the two.

As I've said in the past, I'm committed to this drive as long as I have willing company. The Washingtonian in me wont let occasional showers keep me huddled indoors. I just skipped one event (70% chance of rain and thunderstorms) only to hear it "sprinkled" and everyone had a great time! grrrrrrr

My big worry is Growler. I'm afraid you will take a beating driving south Friday as it looks like the rain will be heavy all day. All that for a half rainy day along the coast? (Ya might just want to reconsider that run my friend. In your shoes looking at that distance, I would be hesitant.)
Sunday however looks great for a return north!

Lets get one last shout out for folks to join in (or bow out) on our quest.

Still in?

1.) Me
2.) Growler05
3.) Marko
4.)
5.)

 

I'm in. What¹s a little rain. I've been rained on before. That¹s why I have a coupe.

 

No coupe, but well cared for soft top, so I'm in.

 

Opps ya got a free thanks from me when I thought I hit reply... ah well, sure you deserved one for something ya did this week! right Marko?....
.......................... uh Marko?..........................(he he he)

As for the soft top, you'll get to rub it in big time when the weather turns!

See ya!

V

 

Guys, this kills me because I've been looking forward to this trip, but I'm backing out at the last minute. An apartment popped up in my building and I'm signing the lease today. I have to be out of my current unit by Sunday. I tried every way to make it work, but every time I pictured my wife trying to lug a large piece of furniture into the elevator by herself I felt guilty.

 

Understood..... You'll be missed, but will look forward the next gathering!

V

 

Hey all you Jag owners!
You know you had nothing really "fun" to do Saturday the 20th! Cant mow the lawn, play a round of golf, or clean the gutters....

Break that mold! Light a fire under your Cat, grab your family, and take the drive to Astoria! Lets show some brand camaraderie! Your Cat deserves to be seen!

Join us, wont you?

 

Hey all. In preparation for meeting you guys in Astoria I checked the XJ-S to make sure it was still working as its been moved to a storage facility while I am building my home/B&B. The power door locks didn't work because the battery was dead from siting for a month, alarm draws power constantly. So ran back home to get the other set of keys with a door/gas door key got the battery out and charged. Started right up.

Took it and my dog for spin. The car is running great, spent last summer working on the ignition and replaced a lot of rubber fuel lines. The dog however didn't do too well, has been fighting something the last week and a half, two stool samples to the vet showed no signs of parasites. During my drive my dog let me know it was time to pull over. Without being too graphic one bm later and I'm convinced my dog has some worms, and needs to go the vet tomorrow. My vet is in Portland and I'm in cannon beach.

So even though I was really looking forward to lunch, and hopefully a close inspection of a few nice jags I'm not going to make it.

Tell you what next time you guys do this trip I can have a barbeque set up and ready for you guys in Cannon beach, about 25min south of Astoria. I can time it with someone and have some BBQ fare ready to eat. Just putting that out there.

Hope you all have great drive plan on part of the main drag in Astoria being closed, I think there still working on that.

Brent

 

I needed a "Thanks" bad, so that worked out good! So where in Tacoma Mall are we meeting tomorrow? And has 8am been confirmed?

 

Yup 8 AM departure from Krispy Kreme at the Tacoma Mall
4302 Tacoma Mall Boulevard, Tacoma, WA 98409 - Google Maps

Our count has fallen to three. I have to assume Rahtoks tentative hasn't been upgraded to a "in". We can talk in the AM about the route, as it becomes more flexible with less cars. Slight possibility of a forth in Astoria, but lesser numbers usually draw lesser numbers. (<sigh> Planning drives for Jag owners, doesn't seem to be one of my stronger skill sets)

I think the weather will surprise us with some dry roads and patches of sunshine!

Vince

 

<sighs> Sorry I missed it folks. I was in Alaska Tue through Thurs, and was in Boise yesterday. Flight was late and I ended up not getting back until quite late last night after getting up at 4am to catch the flight out there -- I was just too pooped to party.

Hopefully y'all had a great time -- look forward to seeing pics!

 

Wow....
Are there other words to describe the day? Definitely, and they would all center around "awesome".

We started the day as advertised, enjoying a Krispy Kreme and coffee. With four of us then set out for the days adventure... Muddydog, unfortunately was obligated to a day of back breaking labor, while the remaining three were geared for something a tad more fun (sorry my friend, but we know your labors were a "win" for you this weekend!).

Weather was surprisingly cooperative as we saw only the occasional heavy mist on the way to the coast, but were greeted by dry sky for 80% of the run and nearly all for the afternoon.

The jewel of the drive to me was highway 4 and 411. 411 north from Longview gave us backroads through field after field of farmlands and the occasional lead-footed pickup (we probably should have gone back to make sure he didn't really go in to that ditch... ah well.....he shouldn't have been trying to keep up with Jags in the corners.)

With my poor leadership and navigational skills, I set us in the wrong direction once or twice, finally convincing Growler and Marko to put me at the back of the pack. Thankfully they didn't pull away and leave me, so I happily followed along enjoying the sweet exhaust notes of the Jags ahead.
In the end we found ourselves sitting down for a good steak and pint, and plenty to talk about.

Wow..... Days don't get much better in my book.... Time to think about May!


As I feared, overcast didn't make for great photographic shots of silver, grey, and black cars, but here are a few...
(Note, if thumbnails don't open to full size pictures you need to change your forum preferences... Read here>> https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/j...-images-92192/ )













Vince

 

Awesome day indeed! Best trip for me yet, beautiful roads, landscape, but also 2 great companions (we actually had some good conversations going, besides the driving!).

Clevername, don't be too humble, without your organization this thing would never have happened!

I have a few more pics here, also pretty crappy (from my phone, and the light was bad anyways), but hey, it's for memory. Let's do this again soon!

Thanks Clevername & Growler!

Marko