First Sunday Drive - August 3 2008

[starlord]

Whoops! Forgot to post this earlier! Well *this Sunday* it's happening!

Here's info from Robert E. Schilling, MBCA SFBA Section..

Hello Sunday Drivers!
Another great turnout for our July drive in the Santa Cruz Mountains! Thanks to Rick and Cherie for planning such a great route!

August has our group back in the north - starting in Santa Rosa and ending with a picnic lunch at Lake Sonoma. Either pack a picnic, buy some food along the way, or break away from the group and enjoy some shopping and a restaurant lunch in Geyserville or Healdsburg. There was a charge to reserve the picnic area at Lake Sonoma, so I will be asking for donations to cover the cost - $5 per person should take care of it.

Remember, our drives depart at 10AM, so plan to arrive early enough to check in, talk with friends and grab a cup of coffee before we leave. Just look for the blue and white balloons in the parking lot to find the sign-in sheet.

The starting point is:
Santa Rosa Marketplace Mall, Santa Rosa

From Highway 101 take the eastbound Yolanda/Hearn Avenue exit.
Turn left at the light to travel north on Santa Rosa Avenue.
After 0.3 miles turn right into The Santa Rosa Marketplace Mall
and an immediate right in the parking lot to find the Starbucks.
Drive safe!

(I know, I posted this twice, but want to make sure people find it, LOL!)

[starlord]

DIRECTIONS TO THE STARTING POINT:
Santa Rosa Marketplace Mall
approx. 2104 Santa Rosa Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95407

From Highway 101 take the eastbound Yolanda/Hearn Avenue exit.
Turn left at the light to travel north on Santa Rosa Avenue.
After 0.3 miles turn right into The Santa Rosa Marketplace Mall
and an immediate right in the parking lot to find the Starbucks.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE DRIVE:
DEPARTING @ 10AM

(if you get lost, or arrive late, here's the route so you can catch up!)

EXIT parking lot at east end and turn RIGHT on Santa Rosa Avenue.

LEFT on Colgan Avenue and enter Highway 101. Drive 8.6 miles.

EXIT eastbound at Shiloh Road. Drive 0.3 miles.

LEFT onto Old Redwood Highway. Drive 1.2 miles.

RIGHT onto Pleasant Avenue. Drive ~1.0 miles.

LEFT onto Chalk Hill Road. Drive 8.0 miles.

LEFT onto Alexander Valley Road/Highway 128. Drive 3.4 miles.

ARRIVE at Jimtown Store.

This is a great stop for coffee and restrooms – and maybe a little shopping for antiques, vintage toys and chocolate pudding. This is also a great spot to buy your lunch if you don’t have one packed. Parking may be tight so be creative and safe. We will try to limit this stop to 30 minutes.

DEPART EAST (retracing route) on Highway 128. Drive 0.1 miles.

STRAIGHT onto Pine Flat Road. Drive 0.1 miles.

LEFT onto Red Winery Road. Drive 0.2 miles.

ARRIVE at Robert Young Winery.

This beautiful winery makes some truly wonderful wines and hopefully we will have a chance to tour the magnificent caves! We should probably try to limit our visit to 45 minutes – but it might be tough!

DEPART continuing on Red Winery Road. Drive ~4.7 miles.

RIGHT on Highway 128 toward Geyserville.

RIGHT on Geyserville Avenue (north). Drive 0.9 miles.

LEFT on Canyon Road. Drive 2.2 miles.

RIGHT on Dry Creek Road. Drive 7.3 miles.

Along this stretch of road you will find the Dry Creek General Store. If you don’t already have lunch, this is an excellent place to stop and pick up a sandwich. We will not be stopping as a group.

LEFT on Stewart’s Point Road. Drive for 0.5 miles.

ARRIVE at the Lake Sonoma Overlook.

DEPART retracing route on Stewart’s Point Road.

RIGHT retracing route on Dry Creek Road.

RIGHT at sign for “Park Headquarters and Sheriff’s Office”

LEFT into first parking area and park as far to the north as possible.

ARRIVE at Juniper Picnic Area #3.

This picnic area has been reserved exclusively for our use. It is
shaded and has BBQ pits and tables to accommodate 75 people.

To return home: re-trace route back along Dry Creek Road to Highway
101. If you have a moment, make a quick tasting stop at David Coffaro
Winery at 7485 Dry Creek Road (on the right).

For those not interested in a picnic lunch at the lake please consider the
following restaurants:

Geyserville: Taverna Santi (very good)

Healdsburg: Manazanita
Zin
Dry Creek Kitchen
Charcuterie
Healdsburg Bar & Grill
Bovolo (very casual and excellent pizza)

[LittoDeviL]

I'm in!

First I gotta do an oil change first ;) I just reached 8000 miles.. lol... I'm going to fill it up with fully synethic 0-20w as what I put into the camry hybrid and see if I gain any mpg ;)

Larry

[Piccola]

We're in also! Sounds fun - see you Sunday.

[raiden658]

thanks for the late notice, us smart drivers in Florida just won't have time to get to California in time. Oh well, we'll just have to do our own thing this Sunday. Hope you all have a good time.

[starlord]

We'll give you more notice for the next drive.. though, due to Starfest they may not have a FSD (First Sunday Drive).

You can always live vicariously through pics and video. I took 18 minutes of video, some of it pretty nice considering the little camera was stuck between my two periscope gauge pods on the dash! Video coming soon... Here's 25 pictures from the drive that I posted to the usual Flickr site:

First Sunday Drive Aug 08 - a set on Flickr

[LittoDeviL]

Originally Posted by starlord

We'll give you more notice for the next drive.. though, due to Starfest they may not have a FSD (First Sunday Drive).

You can always live vicariously through pics and video. I took 18 minutes of video, some of it pretty nice considering the little camera was stuck between my two periscope gauge pods on the dash! Video coming soon... Here's 25 pictures from the drive that I posted to the usual Flickr site:

First Sunday Drive Aug 08 - a set on Flickr

Wow Chris thanks for the pics! It came out nice if there is no mercedes sunday drive.. why don't we have a SMART Sunday Drive? that would be nice.. just take a nice drive around the city or what not..

I finally filled up my tank today after that long drive.. i made an effort to try to conserve gas even though we were chasing that ferrari F430 on the freeway.. lol... I drove 339.4 miles before I filled up and when I did.. I filled up 8.655 gal.. 39.2 mpg actually I topped the tank off, if I didn't drop it off I'm sure it'll be pretty much 40 mpg I had A/C on all the way back so.. this tank had about a little city driving, a lot of freeway and a little less then half on A/C not bad! hehe.. it's my best tank ever considering the fact that I drive my car like a go cart =P...

Chris, your definitely a fun person to caravan with! haha.. had a blast and Anna had a blast too.. oh you did take a pic of Anna and I with your camera didn't you? I didn't see the pic on flickr.. can't wait to see the video!

Cheers!
Larry

[starlord]

oh --- the pics of you and Anna are in the 'friends' set, just go to my main flickr page and you'll find em

starlord's photosets on Flickr