MAFCA National Tour - Epilogue

Tour was 6 days, started in Paso Robles, CA and ended in San Rafael, Ca.  Two nights in Paso Robles, two nights in Monterey, and one night in San Rafael.  734 miles on my odometer.  Lots of good back roads.  Bought gas 7 times, 39 gallons, got the usual 19 mpg.

My new title is King of Closed.   Seems like every time I made a stop to see something, it was either closed, under construction, or no parking.  After about the fourth one, the group started to keep track and it became a running joke.  Follow Bob, he will find something that is closed.

Road closed on Airline Highway (small detour)
Estrella Warbird Museum, closed early before I got into all the buildings.
Mission San Antonio, back at 10:00AM  never happened. Walked all around the grounds.
Ranch House behind the barbed wire at Hunter Liggett, looks like increased security.
Agricultural Museum at King City closed on Thursday.
Lighthouse at Point Pinos arranged tour only.
Butterfly grove, monarchs not yet in residence.
Pt Lobos Parking lot full, no place to park.
Shell station in Marina, every pump out of order.
Big Antique store closed in Marina.
Pie Ranch on Hwy 1 closed, no apple pie for me.
Pigeon  Point lighthouse under construction (grounds were open)

Oh well, just became a list of places to go back to someday.  Despite all of the above, it was a great tour, lots of pretty back roads, and plenty of things that were open and fun.   You know where the next Model A Club National Tour is?    Kanab, UT in 2019.    We may do a return to Kanab, it has been a while. 

In the meanwhile, new brakes in order for the little black coupe.

MAFCA National Tour - Day 6

September 29, 2017.  San Rafael to San Francisco by boat (15 miles), San Francisco to San Rafael by bus (20 miles), San Rafael to Los Altos Hills by Model A (62 miles).  Early start, you know Model A people like to get out early.  There was a large group waiting for the bus when it arrived, also way early.  Folks climbed on and the driver says, "we'll go early and you can walk around waiting for the boat."   So we did, to the wrong ferry terminal, unloaded, found out it was the wrong terminal ferry terminal, climbed back on and arrived at the correct terminal still in plenty of time.  Sometimes serendipity does work out.  Our boat was one of the golden gate sightseeing fleet and they gave us the full tour, both bridges and Alcatraz, about an hour and a half.  Really nice day on the bay.

This was our boat,,,, (ship?  vessel?)

And us,,,,,

Under the Golden Gate,,,,,

Around Alcatraz,,,,,

Under the Bay Bridge,,,,,

To the madness of Pier 39.

Pat's favorite sign for today,,,,,

Lunch with a view of Alcatraz and the Bay....

Returned to San Rafael and picked up the A and did 101, 19th Ave and 280 home, took an hour and a half in heavy traffic.  The Model A was dauntless.     For the trip home, Ray opted for the big yellow truck instead of nursing the puffing head gasket, good decision.    We got home at 6, they got home at 8.    Eldertons got home at 2.  

Catch the Epilogue tomorrow.

MAFCA National Tour - Day 5

September 28, 2017, Monterey to San Rafael, 152 miles.  Headed north on hwy 1, through the farmlands, artichokes, strawberries, brussel sprouts, and hit the morning commute on hwy 1.

This required a breather down to the wharf at Santa Cruz.   Holy cow, the advisory is not to touch the water at Santa Cruz, that must be good for business.

Walked the wharf, Ray almost got hired by a repair crew,,,,

Took the Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz,,,,

Stopped at Pigeon Pt lighthouse,,,,,,  fog was shrouding the top,,,,,

Lunch in Pescadero,,,,,,   and pressed on to the Golden Gate.  What foresight, the designers had back in the 1930's to be able to handle the volume of traffic today.

Visibilty in the Bay was unlimited, I swear you can see Mt. Hamilton in this pic.

Sign of the times at the Golden Gate Viewpoint/

Had the wrap-up dinner tonight rather than tomorrow night,  tomorrow is a ferry to the city,  new experience, on the ferry at least.  Troubles: Ray has a leaking head gasket, stay tuned on that one.  Chuck E. had a flat tire. 

MAFCA National Tour - Day 4

September 27, 2017, Poking around Monterey, 40 miles.  Blue sky day, started at Lovers Point, little boy pointing at Ray.

Monarch Grove in Pacific Grove, only butterfly we found was this big steel one (bench).  Actually, we did see one Monarch as we were leaving, they will be arriving in the next couple weeks.

Point Pinos lighthouse, closed, I must say our luck is consistent.

Now here is a guy who can turn around anywhere.  Actually this was at Pt. Lobos, and guess what, the parking lot was full and closed to more entries.  

Lunch at the Baja Cantina (it was open!!!) made us all feel better.  Lots of automobilia to look at.

Polished off the day strolling on the municipal wharves.  Mob of people fishing and reeling in mackerel two and three at a time.

And lastly, had to get a shot of our B and B high on the hill above town.

MAFCA National Tour - Day 3

September 26, Paso Robles to Monterey, 153 miles.  North we go on the back roads out past Lake Naciemento, pretty country, oaks and oats makes it golden.

Took a side trip to Mission San Antonio (1781) which takes you through Hunter Liggett military base, where we met this guy at an intersection.

Photo ops at the mission.

Mission museum was closed (strike 1), but the grounds were very interesting to walk around.  One of the neat things was this grinding mill.   Top floor had a grinding stone that was driven by this water wheel in the basement.   Fascinating.

Back on the road north, to King City and lunch at a Castro's Deli & Bakery, no English here.  Patti had to tell me that torta means sandwich.    Duhh.    Tried for the Agricultural History Museum in King City, but it was closed also (strike 2).   Drat, on north,  now in the farmlands,,,,,,

Took the backroad through Carmel Valley to Monterey,  Motorcycle Museum in Carmel Valley also closed.   {3 strikes). Seems like all that twisty turny up and down roads leads to a nap or two.

After recovering, found fish and chips at John Steinbeck Plaza in Monterey.   Good way to finish off the day.

Two strange sights on Cannery Row.  Vitality Aqua Massage and O2 Bar.    Lie (float) in one of these tubes with full body massage jets,  look it up,,,,,,,,,

and a double decking parking garage,,,,,,,   What next????

MAFCA National Tour - Day 2

September 25, 2017, Paso Robles to Hearst Castle to Ragged Point to Paso Robles, 119 miles.   Started day right with a trip to NAPA.   Ray replaced his noisy alternator.   New alternator plus move the pulley from the old one to the new one, 58 bucks, I think that is a heck of a bargain.  Tried to recruit the ladies to do the work, to no avail.

Stopped for gas and saw this rather unusual sticker, this station has obviously had a problem in the past.

Took 46 over to the coast, and up hwy 1 to Hearst Castle.

As always, the Hearst Castle is a fascinating place.  W. R. Hearst started building it in 1919 at the age of 56 and construction continued for 28 years until his death.  Castle is 1600 feet above sea level, has 165 plus rooms.  At one time, Hearst had 250,000 acres.

Loved the statues in every nook and cranny,,,,, Click on any one for a larger picture.

Had lunch at Ragged Point, didn't get to park on the grass this time,,,,,,   On the way back south, lots of wildlife,   Zebras (no pic), elk (lookit the rack on that guy guarding his 35 cows) and piles of seals at the elephant seal beach.   Population is on the order of 23000 seals, up from 1 in 1992.  Male elephant seal can be 5000 lb and 16 feet long, there were a couple of monsters down there on the beach.

Looked for antique rust in Cambria, but all we found was apple pie.

Called it a day and took the Santa Rosa Creek Road (which had been cancelled as a return route),  14 miles of roller coaster, 40 minutes to go the 14 miles.   But it sure was scenic and occasionally very steep,  had to go to low gear once, lots of second gear.  Great road, narrow, treesy, dippy and curvy.

Finished off the day with wine and cheese tasting in the lobby of the hotel.   Tomorrow, we trek to Monterey.

MAFCA National Tour - Day 1

September 24, 2017, Los Altos Hills to Paso Robles, 202 miles.   8:00, on the road, 8:15 damn radiator cap leaking, changed it.  8:45 2nd cap leaking, changed back to the original cap and cinched it down good, finally, no more spray on the windshield.    Picked up Fontaines and Eldertons at the Coyote exit on 101 and headed south.  Picked up Gas and Togo sandwiches  and Jones in Hollister and on the road down CA route 25 again.  Stopped for a picnic lunch at Pinnacles, which was a comedy of errors.    First off, yellow jackets by the swarm.    Second, Nora and Chuck discovered that the rickety picnic tables at Pinnacles won't tolerate two people on one side with no one on the other.   Table did a slow motion tip-over and deposited them on the ground.  Fortunately, only their dignity was damaged.   Hasty lunch swatting at yellow jackets and back on the road.

And then a detour showed up and we are thinking, "oh, no, hope it is not a dirt road."  Fortunately it was paved and short.

This back road to Paso Robles is real neat and uncrowded.   We went one stretch for an hour and a half and did not see a car.

This afternoon and evening at the Estrella Warbird Museum,,,,

and,,,,,

I got to fly an F-18 flight simulator.

but my flying put Ray to sleep,,,,

Early departure tomorrow for the coast,,,,,,  zzzzzz,,,,