I was planning on going on an overnight drive to Fort Bragg with the Golden Gate Austin Healey Club on the weekend of July 25. It seems that things are cancelled at the drop of a hat these days.
I talked with Irene Medzyk and we decided to do our own drive. She decided on Monday, August 10, staying overnight in Fort Bragg.
I have a longtime friend, Larry, who lives in Templeton (just south of Paso Robles). He has a 1928 Model A Ford. Some areas of CA have been opening up. Templeton has been having a cruise night on Fridays for a few months now. My BT7 was at Russ Thompson’s having a new Pertronix FlameThrower distributor installed. I took my 1960 Bugeye. I loaded it into my new trailer and drove up there Thursday. Larry has a large piece of property. I stayed in my trailer.
On Friday afternoon, we drove about a mile down Main St. to downtown Templeton. Cars were already there and some were “cruising” up and down the quarter mile or so of “Main St.” We parked and got sandwiches at the deli/mart. After eating, we “cruised” down to the high school, turned around and came back. It was a first for me. I had never cruised before. There were classics, hot rods, and even a few tractors.
The next morning, Saturday, Larry and I drove the Bugeye a few miles up to Paso Robles to a “Cars and Coffee” at a shopping center. There were some beautiful Cadillac Limos. About 30 cars in all.
That afternoon, I drove the 100 or so miles up to Irene and Harry’s home in Prunedale (just north of Salinas). I parked my trailer on the pad at their garage area. On Sunday, I drove over to Castroville, to the Giant Artichoke, to satisfy my craving for deep fried artichoke hearts. Always a necessity when I’m in the area.
Irene and I spent the rest of the day getting our cars ready for the drive to Fort Bragg. We left on Monday morning around 8:30. We went along Hwy. 1 the whole way; through Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Daly City. We drove through the Presidio and a quick stop on the bay near The St. Francis Yacht Club. Then over the Golden Gate Bridge to continue our way up north.
After Sausalito, we made a left turn to stay on Hwy. 1. We made our way back to the coast and drove through Stinson Beach and got our first gas at Point Reyes Station. After that, we had to leave the coast until we got to Bodega Bay. We stopped in Bodega for photo op in front of the school house used in Hitchcock’s “The Birds”.
We had lunch in Bodega Bay and continued up the coast. We made a short stop at Fort Ross. We got to Fort Bragg in mid- afternoon and checked into our motel. We had dinner at a nice restaurant, that of course, had only outside seating. In the morning, we had breakfast and headed out. We drove back down the coast for about 12 miles and headed S/E on Hwy. 128. It is a not too windy road with a very smooth surface which made for easy driving. We stopped for a while in the Redwoods just S/E of Mendocino.
We had a nice leisurely drive down to Cloverdale, then onto Hwy. 101. We then got back onto Hwy. 1, back over the Golden Gate Bridge and back to Irene and Harry’s home.
We traveled through some of the most beautiful areas California has to offer. In 2 days, we drove 566 miles.
On Thursday, Irene had organized another drive with some members of the GGAHC from the Salinas area. There were 5 Healey’s in all - 4 big Healey’s and my Bugeye. We drove to the mission at San Juan Bautista, walked around for a while and then drove to Los Piños for lunch. The drive on Thursday was just over 70 miles. We stayed mainly on 2 lane rural roads.
On Friday, August 14, I trailered the Bugeye back home to El Segundo. In the week I was gone I drove the Sprite just over 750 miles and my trailer just over 650 miles. I got back late Friday night - just in time to make it up to the UA Theaters in La Cañada/Flintridge for the cruise-in on Saturday morning.