Drive event: Sonoma Coast - Sun. Nov. 2

[Rich]

Time for a late-season fun run and Sunday lunch. Let’s go over to the Sonoma Coast.

Tentative route starting at 10AM from San Rafael: North on Hwy 101, west to the Pacific via the Russian River, then south on Hwy 1 to Tomales Bay in Marin County and looping back to San Rafael. Lunch and several photo/picnic stops or viewing opportunities along the way.

Low-key and informal. Details to come within a week. Who’s up?

[Rich]

Reiterating date and start time: 10AM on Sunday, Nov. 2

[DavidProehl]

Great! Heather and I are in! Looking forward to it! I'll be triple checking my battery light circuit before this drive

[Rich]

Quick bump and update here for next weekend's event:
3 participants so far: Jon, David and me plus co-drivers. Room for more.

Route is north 101, west on River Rd from Santa Rosa to Jenner and south along Sonoma Coast with stops and sightseeing, lunch around Bodega Bay, then perhaps over to Lagunitas Brewing Co. in Petaluma completing a loop.

10AM start out of ~San Rafael or Petaluma. Time/meet-up/details will be PM'd to drivers this week.

Time for a late-season fun run and Sunday lunch. Let’s go over to the Sonoma Coast.

Tentative route starting at 10AM from San Rafael: North on Hwy 101, west to the Pacific via the Russian River, then south on Hwy 1 to Tomales Bay in Marin County and looping back to San Rafael. Lunch and several photo/picnic stops or viewing opportunities along the way.

Low-key and informal. Details to come within a week. Who’s up?

[Rich]

Here's a roundup of last weekend's drive along the Sonoma Coast in Northern California.

A loop took us from Petaluma over to Guerneville, down the Russian River to Monte Rio and Jenner, then south on Hwy 1 coastside to Bodega Head before looping back to Petaluma for some craft beer to cap the day. More on that bit later. Others in the party feel free to embellish here. Jon and David, I stole some of your photos for this. Thanks!

As usual here, give another click after a photo appears in order to go higher-res.

4 cars and crews met up in Petaluma: Kate and Jon, Kaylee and Brian, Heather and David and Kathy and Rich. The impromptu show 'n' shine was hilted by a cameo appearance by a very nice (John DeLorean-enabled) '65 Pontiac GTO convertible. The owner knew all about what JZD went on to do after his GTO success and, being a local, he shared some good route tips with us.
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First stop in sleepy Guerneville along the Russian R. included a vintage bridge excursion allowing a decent top-down view of the Ds as well as a group photo.
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When we got to sleepier Monte Rio it was time for a bite at a local hangout. As we enjoyed lunch on the patio our DeLoreans had a drive-by encounter with "The Libyans" - a couple of well-restored VW Samba microbuses that pulled over to do whatever it is alert people do when they see 4 DMC-12s at one time.
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From there it was on to the Sonoma Coast for a few highway twisties and stops at 3 or 4 overlooks along Highway 1 where we could stretch out and enjoy the 70degreeF sunshine on a crystal-clear coastal afternoon.
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When we'd suffered enough coastal fresh air poisoning it was a 40 minute drive east though the hills to Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma. We lucked out in disturbing Johnny "Lightning" (Branham), one of the Lagunitas staff, as he was handling visitors on a walking tour only to find 4 DeLoreans suddenly in his way searching for a parking spot. One thing led to another with our new best friend, Johhny - we ended up doing a photo shoot with 3 D's squeezed inside the old section of the brewery where the theme was Stainless (cars) meets Stainless (brew tanks). There was VIP parking for DeLoreans, a hosted round of noshing and beer (thanks, Jon and Kate!!), then free beer for the tour before the photo shoot. Johnny Lightning channeled Marty McFly for us, capping the capping visit before insisting that we each take several complimentary quarts of Lagunitas Sucks home with us. Yes, that's what they call it - and it doesn't suck.
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A fine day to show some stainless, hang out with friends and see even more stainless being put to good use - brewing quality suds.

Thanks all for joining in!

[DavidProehl]

Great summary, and thanks for posting the photos! What a fun day! Can't wait for our next adventure.

[jawn101]

This drive was amazing. Thanks to everyone who came out and made it such an awesome day.

[sdg3205]

Damn! My wife and I are driving the California coast this weekend! Wouldn't that have been neat to run into you guys.

[jawn101]

Damn! My wife and I are driving the California coast this weekend! Wouldn't that have been neat to run into you guys.

Isn't it just incredible?

I also forgot to plug my own blog post on the trip - it's here, with plenty of additional pics and such: http://www.8bitdmc.com/2014/11/ncdmc...rive-nov-2014/

[sdg3205]

We've done this trip a few times now - down to San Francisco via the coasts of Washington, Oregon and Cali.

This time we drove down to Phoenix via wa, or, Idaho, nv and of course az. Then we drove to San Diego and stayed with in laws for a while.

California and Oregon are breathtaking states. The coastlines are phenomenal. Highway 1 and 101 are one of a kind. Wouldn't trade 35 mph on those roads for 75 mph on the i5!