An old friend of mine, Rich Reed and I, along with another motorcycle riding stalwart, John O'Keefe got together every spring to make an inaugural spring motorcycle ride down the coast to California. The only goal was to get away from the dreary weather and work, and spend some quality "guy time" on the bikes, staying at "Cheap & Cleans", eating at whatever local restaurant was convenient. Often the menu included such familiar staples as meatloaf, which could be washed down with liberal quantities of cheap Merlot wine. Hence, the humble beginnings of the rally known as Meatloaf and Merlot.
This year, it took on a more alliterative theme, and emerged as the "Meatloaf and Merlot in Monterey March Madness." But, we didn't get to Monterey, and the only meatloaf seen was at a Marie Callendar's which shall live in infamy among the participants and the vehicles were all of the four wheeled variety. However, all that aside, we did manage to have a great time, in spite of rain, high fuel prices and even pricier meals.
I sent out an invitation to a wide range of cars and drivers, including everything from Laurence Smith with his Lingenfelter'ed 'Vette to Rich Reed and "his wife's" new Mazda Miata. After starting with a list of about 12 cars, it evolved down to a group of 8 who planned to join us for a March 1 launch. At the appointed morning, the group had dwindled further - Laurence suffered a debilitating knee injury and Rich (who lives in Woodinville, WA) was beset by the earthquake which struck the Seattle area. Jim Butler, a Pontiac TransAm pilot, got stranded in LA, due to the earthquake, so he had to scrub also. The final group departing the Yamhill Cafe was made up of an eclectic group: Skip Lahti & Karla Fisher in a canary yellow NSX, Randy Burress and Susan Post in a blue Audi S4, Jim and Sally Thomas in their pristine Acura CL, Mehdi Attaran in his awesome BMW M5 and Al & Charlotte Kinney in our Silver 'Vette convertible. With an 8AM departure time planned, we got off to a great start, only about 15 minutes late and a lot of curvy roads ahead.
Using back roads, we avoided touching I-5 until Curtin - about 30 miles North of Roseburg. Along the way, a few spirited straight stretches helped to clear the intakes and got a lot of chatter going on the hand held radios we were all equipped with. What seemed to be a good idea at the beginning, the radios were our lifeline for navigation, road hazard warning and humorous give and take for the whole trip. Really recommended for future group drives. Our first coffee and nature break came at the Lorane Cafe, one of my favorite off-the-beaten-path joints. Refreshed and restored, we continued South on the Territorial Highway to Curtin. After hitting I-5, we cruised at only slightly above legal speeds down to Ashland before gathering for lunch.
After lunch, we were ready for some fun and it came just South of the California border. A wonderfully scenic and very 'drivable' road, CA96 meanders for miles and miles through the Klamath River canyon, providing lots of 'play time' in the corners as well as a few straights for the occasional burst of super-legal speeds, finally dropping us out on US 101 at Eureka, our first night's destination. Along the way, we met the "station wagon from Hell" driven by a young man who (1) clearly lived in the area and knew the road well, (2) had never been passed on that road and (3) had no intentions of being passed on that road. It made it more interesting to get everyone around him, but somehow, we managed. We stayed at a very reasonably priced "cheap and clean" in Eureka, the Bayview Motel. Nice accommodations at a cost of about $65 per night. After all the hi-jinks, we were pleased to find that Rich and Denise had arrived at the Motel ahead of us, even though they had traveled at a more "sedate" pace, so they were able to join us for dinner. Dinner at the Sea Grill was excellent and fairly reasonably priced - recommended.
Day 2 started out with a venture to Samoa - the one located just about 10 miles out of Eureka, were we gathered at the Samoa Cookhouse. This has got to be experienced if you're traveling in the area. It's an old 'logging camp' style cookhouse, replete with long tables covered in gingham tablecloths and the food is served 'family' style - the menu is fixed and it is served in huge, steaming quantities for a fixed price. Our breakfast was scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, toast, juice and coffee for the princely sum of about $8 - and you eat 'til you quit or burst, whichever comes first!
After eating way too much, we cruised on down 101 to Ferndale, one of the best kept Victorian
communities in California (or anywhere, for that matter). Our intention was to make a quick
stopover in Ferndale to do a little peering at the beautifully restored and maintained buildings
and homes, then on down the Lost Coast, a little traveled Route 211 out to the coast and then
back into the interior via Humboldt Redwoods State Park. However, the quick stopover turned
ugly when the ladies got into an extended 'window shopping' mode and we frittered away good
daylight driving hours, ooohing and aaahing over various trinketry being offered by the
merchants of Ferndale. Then, a trip for a latte added another half hour. Quoting someone's book,
I decided the hallmark of leadership was flexibility and we decided to cutout the Lost Coast loop
and head directly down to Leggett for a picture session with all of us driving through the famous
Drive Thru Tree.
Finally, we headed from Leggett to Rockport on the Pacific Coast Highway (CA1). This is perhaps the most intense piece of roadwork you'll ever encounter, twisting maniacally for some 15 miles before you finally pop out of the trees to behold the Pacific Ocean. Of course, this was another photo op and we gathered to discuss the road and take pictures before heading to Fort Bragg for lunch. We stopped at the North Coast Brewery for lunch and I had some of the best "Texas Red" this side of the Pecos! Not a bean to be seen but mountains of tender pork simmered in a nice chili sauce! After lunch, we once again turned South along PCH, heading for Bodega Bay, where we would turn inland to reach Napa, our final destination. I won't spend a lot of time describing Highway 1, for if you've driven (or ridden) it, you'll know what I mean - if not, well, you owe it to yourself to do it! This road was built the way roads should be built - over, around and beside things rather than through them. The road is fairly 'draped' over the landscape and really makes a very enjoyable drive.
We stayed in the John Muir Inn at Napa, which is a nice place at a reasonable (~$100) price, with all the amenities for a vacation. Eating in the Napa area was an adventure in either mediocrity (Marie Callendars) or high prices. We had chosen a seemingly reasonably priced restaurant for our 'event dinner' but when the final bill rolled around, we were very near the $100 per couple mark - so much for Meatloaf and Merlot! Day 3 was a "free day" with nothing planned but it evolved into a winery tour by most of the group. My memories of visiting Napa valley wineries in the 70's was severely reset - gone are the days of free tastings, intimate tours and a general coziness about the place. This has been replaced by a very (big) business, upscale approach, charging for tastings, parking and tours. I'm told that Sonoma Valley, a short hop over the hills, is still the way I remember it, but how long will it last? And, if the traffic we encountered is typical for a March day that turned rainy late in the day, I'm afraid to think what the crush must be like in the peak season! Still, we managed to have fun, learned more about wine and bought some nice wine to bring home. At the Beringer's tour, for example, we learned all about violating Esther, an important step to fully enjoying your wine.
On Sunday, plans for a leisurely picnic in Sonoma gave way to heavy rains and wind. And, even though we'd planned two days to wander home, ther seemed to be a sense of "let's go home" in the group when we reached Eureka by mid-day. So, by 10:30 Sunday night we were at home, savoring the memories of a great time with a great group of people. The quote of the trip was generated when Susan (Thimbleina) called for a bathroom stop before we go to Eureka. Nobody else had mentioned it, but when we pulled into a park, there was a general mad dash for the restrooms. Once on the road again, Jim was heard to quip on the radios, "Susan, I love your bladder" which left us reaching for something to wipe away the tears of laughter.
We're already thinking about our plans for next year - maybe Death Valley in February...
Al