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As you read through this journal, be sure to click the images to not only view larger photos but also to read the captions below these enlargements. The captions contain many important, interesting and humorous parts of the story being told!
GoF West 2008
July 6-10, 2008, Monterey, California
Page Three of Five
Day Four
Day four started a bit slow for us, so we didn’t get to the start of the rally until the rush had already arrived and the line of cars was quite long. After a lengthy wait we were finally on the road for a test of navigational skills, clue finding and marital strength. These rallies are famous for creating tension in otherwise healthy marriages but we always resolve to stay relaxed and care-free about it. This was the typical GoF rally, where you follow a set of almost accurate directions while looking for the answers to clues along the way. They are usually a play on words, so you’re looking for street sings, items in people’s yards, etc. Now and then something will have disappeared since the rally organizer had been by, and that’s when you see a cluster of confused MG’ers driving up and down the same street and parking along the side of the road. But remember, you don’t want to give away the clues when you see them so if there’s another car just behind you, the trick is to not slow down and point at it!
We always see at least one good fight during these things and sure enough, as we were following one T-car down the street you could hear the wife screaming at her husband 50 feet ahead of us. To add to the effect, she was hitting him on the head with their rally sheets. I thought for sure he would drive off the road but he held his course. This gave us such a good laugh that we were set for the rest of the day, unphased by even the worst mistakes.
Another challenge in this rally was accurate distance and time. Your distance traveled, and time to do it, had to match the rally organizer’s time and distance, and the farther off you were the more penalties you would accumulate. To prevent cheating by using GPS devices, the rule was that you had to match the odometer in his T-Series M.G. None of this mattered much because our Speedometer was hopelessly out of calibration so we figured we were already sunk. I calculated the error of our speedo to the best of my ability, and then we kept track of mileage.
This was all fine until we came to a small town with duplicate street names, some missing signs, road construction with detours that weren’t there when the organizer came through, and lots of one-way streets. Now THIS was a real test of skill and patience. We spent the next 20 minutes trying to find the route while I drove Linda crazy with tracking mileage driven versus mileage I thought we should have driven, as well as how much time we spent driving in circles and stopped on the side of the road looking at maps. We subtracted the time and distance as best we could and continued on until a few miles later when we missed yet another turn and got lost again. We turned around and subtracted more time and distance. This was hopeless! We were still having fun though, and didn’t take it too seriously.
The route was really beautiful, following the coast at times and driving through quaint seaside neighborhoods at others. We continued on around Pebble Beach and other sights before ending the rally at the Maritine Inn, a charming bed and breakfast owned by an avid vintage M.G. buff and member of one of our clubs. The Inn sports a great collection of vintage M.G.s from the 20’s through 40’s and some other cars as well. We toured the Inn, enjoyed snacks and beverages and eventually headed back to the hotel.
That night, a member of one of our clubs hosted a small party at their home just up the hill. We had to drive through a bit of wildfire smoke to get there but we survived and had a great time visiting with friends both new and old.
