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GoF West 2008

July 6-10, 2008, Monterey, California

Page Five of Five

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Day Six

The first order of business was the Winner’s Circle and breakfast.  Next, the route home had to be planned around the wildfires that were still moving along the coast.  A big group of drivers converged upon one of the TCs from our caravan and maps were studied in great detail.  After we all pretended to know what we were talking about for a while, we had our route.

Our trip home was uneventful for the most part.  In King City, one car developed a rather alarming oil leak during a fuel stop, which was remedied on the spot.  We fueled up in a different gas station by ourselves and found ourselves sharing it with an Edsel Citation club.  And here I thought a TC-only club was unusual!

In Paso Robles we ran into an unexpected sight – Al Moss on the side of the road, bonnet up.  He borrowed a spare coil from one of our caravan but we later found out that did not fix the problem, which turned out to be a loose connector elsewhere in the car.  After lunch, we got back on the road, following route 101 back toward Southern California.  We made a “jackets on” stop as we neared Morro Bay due to a bit of fog rolling in, then continued to Santa Maria where we stayed the night.  One last group dinner was enjoyed by all, preceded by our usual hotel happy hour.


Day Seven

The last day already!  These trips go by too fast, especially when GoF West is held so close to home.  We gathered in the morning and got on the road early.  It was a beautiful drive along country back roads to reach Solvang, a small Dutch community in Southern California’s wine country.  From there we turned further inland and up the back side of the Santa Ynez Mountains on an old stage coach trail, since paved.  A brief lunch stop was enjoyed by all and we took in the history of the old stage coach way station built in the 1860’s in which we sat.

Onward and upward, over the mountain and down into Santa Barbara for fuel.  Then it was a turn south to once again follow Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) south to Malibu, our last stop.  at the base of Malibu Canyon we enjoyed ice cream and final farewells to our friends who had been glued to us at the hip for much of the past week. There was one last opportunity for trouble of course, when our group jester thought it would be funny to write a note for a police officer who had parked rather  poorly, taking up more than one spot in a crowded lot.  I believe there was some reference to a farm animal in his message.  Unable to dissuade him from his plan, we watched as he left the note and then turned around to find the car’s owner, a Los Angeles County Sheriff, standing right behind him.  Fortunately the officer was good humored and we all had a great laugh.  Had there been an arrest, I don’t think his wife would have bailed him out!

It always breaks our heart to turn away from the group as they continue down into the heart of Southern California, watching them disappear down the road.  But we can’t stay on the road forever so we climbed into the hills and eventually reached home.  Another GoF West had been enjoyed and another great adventure on the road in our MG TC had reached its end.

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