Trying not to over use the age old cliché, “ Even the Best Made Plans ……….. “ even go awry ! This month’s outing was a bit unique in many ways, a new route, brush fire emergency re-route, CHP road block ( More on that later ). To begin, the planning team & I had no previous legacy routing to go by. Our prior routes had always come to Carmel / Monterey from Hwy 101 via Arroya Seca Road to East Carmel Valley Road. This road has deteriorated over time and is not Porsche friendly. Previous Runs using this route had received a lot of negative feedback, and probably contributed to some bent wheels that had to be repaired. The Planning team then came up with a new variation using parts of Loma Prieta Region’s recommendations and our own ( Google earth ) research. Feeling pretty good about our new found passage, off it went to the Pre-Run team. Remember the “ Best Made Plans “ concept, our local Los Gatos team member / Scout Subby Ghosh took action and ran the new route on a Pre-Pre-Run. A definite No Go. Similar to the Carmel Valley Road challenges – way too rough, non maintenance, narrow passages, etc, etc. Therefor back to square one. Some of you may know I am a sailor, and as the saying goes, there is more than one way to the watermark. Our Aug 3 Pre-run gave good scores to the new – new routing, and the route went to Ashod Donikian to creat the Track Attack and Google Routes. All is well ?? At least that was what we thought at that moment.
The day of the event came and what a fun turn out. A bit surprised as only a few days before the event we still had several spots open, a key team member ( Lead ) was struck with Covid. Yet a few factoids for this event………………
- Our Past Motoring Director ( Gilbert Bouzeid ) stepped in to cover the missing lead spot. Another last minute change, the missing Lead was able to make it. Merci beaucoup for still coming Gilbert!
- Membership Director Wen Shen would be with us, and even better driving with her family, George & Shirley Neidel . Surely PORSCHE NA & PCA GGR national treasures ! If you have never met them please reach out at the next event.
- The group had ( 6 ) new members / families join us for their first time. New member Pavel Shilin had less than 500 miles on his new 2024 911 Carrera which he had just taken delivery.
- We had 5 Porsche 992 Targa’s, and a well kept and driven 1989 Cabriolet. One of the Targas had logged less than 250 miles.
- From an historical perspective, kind of unique to have two 912’s divided by 9 years ( a 1967 & a 1976 ). The 1967 driven by Robert & Carrie Ross, 45 year PCA Members.
- There were ( 5 ) families; drivers, wife, sons and even a pretty large Golden Retriever
In total, one of the most unique mixes of cars, personalities, rookies and long time pros, and don’t get me started on the stunning GT and Spyder crowd in attendance.
Remember the part ( again ) about the those “ Best Made Plans “ ?
At 9:00, Group 1 took off. Within 10 minutes into some really good twisty roads we came upon a CHP blocking the road. As lead driver, I knew we hadn’t broken any laws, but was concerned, as most people would be, when confronted with a roadblock on a road that was clear last weekend. The officer asked me if I knew the speed limit. When I answered 55, he said “You got me! There’s a fire ahead and we had to close the road”. Whew! So we alerted groups 2, 3 and 4, and turned back to the starting point to regroup. By the time our Group 1 could return to the Start Point, our amazing Volunteer Team had re-routed us around the fire and we were on the way, albeit a bit out sequence.
To wrap, this was a challenging outing beyond those “ Best Made Plans “. Yet spirit, participation and camaraderie made it a fun day. As I have posed many times prior, our members and volunteers are always supportive, creative and gracious in time of challenges. Truly August 10th GGR Pacific Grove outing was one of those times.
Special thanks to the volunteers who stepped up! Kurt Kruger, Subby Ghosh, Jamal Boudi, Gilbert Bouzeid, Abu Taghizadeh, Birgit Heinz, Krish, Ashod Donikian, JB Ellis and George and Shirley Neidel!!!
Our next run is The Lost Coast Run September 13-15
http://msreg.com/LostCoast2024
and October 18-20 we’ll do Santa Barbara
http://msreg.com/SantaBarbara24
I hope you will join in, And Never Stop Driving.
Cheryl Spott
Motoring Director
The images here kind of say it all. People enjoying the Day. Families, the dog, car guys chatting, etc. A picture different from the usual stuff we see in Panorama.