January 2009 - First Sunday Drive - 1/4/09

[starlord]

The first First Sunday Drive (no that isn't a typo..lol) will find us traveling down to the picturesque destination known as "Carmel by the Sea" -- streets with interesting names, and the residential area goes by the name on the house instead of the number (try and map that out on your GPS!)

Ah yes, great beach driving and the tourist trap known as the 7 mile drive. But we all know what the ladies really want - it's to shop shop shop here, oodles of interesting cute little stores with all kinds of clothes, nic-nacks, etc! Plenty of guy stuff here too, so save the date and get ready for another leisurely drive with the Mercedes Benz Club of America joining forces with us smarties (SOCSF, SCOA) on a must-see road tour. Bring your cameras, I bet we'll be stopping at good photo ops along the way ;)

[starlord]

We're going to do Carmel in February actually, and drive more of Santa Cruz for January's run.

[From Robert E. Schilling, President, San Francisco Bay Area Section, Mercedes-Benz Club of America, used by permission]

Hello Sunday Drivers!

We've had some fabulous Bay Area drives in 2008! Thanks to all who participated in planning and driving and continuing to make these great opportunities for Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts to gather and enjoy their cars and their friends. The end of the year marks the third anniversary for the First Sunday Drives - yes - thirty six months with a driving event every month! It is amazing that what started as a casual experiment to see if a small driving group would form has turned into a mailing list of over 500 that stretches from the Bay Area to the East Coast and further - as far as Iraq!

But enough looking back - there are more Sundays coming and we're planning for them! I have some routes planned already, and volunteers have steeped up to plan a few routes during the year as well. There are still some open months, so if you have a route that you know and would like to share with the group - or if your willing to work to plan a new route - please let me know. I have about four months with question marks at this point and would love to have some help!

Some upcoming highlights from 2009:

January 4: We'll re-run one of the most popular drives in our library - the Cinnibar Hills and Southern Santa Cruz Mountains with a stop at the famous Corralitos Market. This drive was so popular the first time that I promised to make it an annual route - but we missed it in 2008 because of StarFest so it's first on the calendar for 2009. Meeting point and route directions are attached to this e-mail as a PDF file. For those that don't know, the Corralitos Market is one of the finest craft butchers and smoke shops in Northern California, so bring a cooler and plan to load up on some of the best meat available on the west coast.

February 1: We'll be further south - starting in Carmel and driving the full length of the Carmel Valley. This is a longer drive than usual (about 3.5 hours) and we end in San Juan Bautista. The day before this drive (Saturday, January 31) members of the Mercedes-Benz Club have the opportunity to attend a series of great events in Monterey (a behind the scenes tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a docent led historical walk of downtown Monterey and cocktails and dinner at the Monterey Yacht Club) so if you are not yet a member of the club, join now so you can plan a full weekend with you car in the Monterey area!

May 2&3: Drivers Maggie & David Retherford are planning another of our Weekend Sunday Drives to the north - in and around the Lake County area. Details will be provided a couple of months in advance to help you plan a weekend getaway.

June 7: We are combining the Sunday Drive with the Mercedes-Benz Club Member Appreciation Bar-B-Que. Our drive will take us through beautiful Western Sonoma County and we'll end at a gorgeous private estate where club members will be able to enjoy an afternoon enjoying great food, great company, great cars - and the pool. Again, if you haven't joined the club be sure to join before April so you are on the roster and able to attend this great event.

Nobody knows what the economy holds for 2009. I know our own travel plans have been scaled back for the year, but I look forward to a year great opportunities to explore the backroads of the Bay Area that seem to transport us far away from our normal lives for a few wonderful hours and only the cost of a tank of gas.

Thanks to all our group members for making the First Sunday Drives a success. I wish you all joyous and happy holidays and I look forward to seeing you in 2009.

Drive extra safe!
Robert

[starlord]

Wow, the holidays nearly gone and new years around the corner, look at that, this Sunday is the drive!

If you haven't made plans already, and are wondering what to do to start the year off right, then you need to go for a drive in your smart! Not only are we stopping at some killer stores along the way, we are traversing some of the funnest Santa Cruz roads at our usual leisurely pace with the classic Benz SL's and other friendly enthusiasts who often attend!

Sunday, January 4, 2009
10AM Departure

DIRECTIONS TO THE STARTING POINT:
Almaden Shopping Center (SAN JOSE!)
Corner of Almaden Boulevard and Camden Avenue

From Highway 85: Take the Almaden Expressway Exit and drive south on Almaden Expressway for 2.4 miles. We will meet in the parking lot on the southwest corner of the intersection of Almaden and Camden. Look for the balloons to find the sign-in sheet.

We depart promptly at 10AM so please be sure to arrive in plenty of time to sign in, grab a cup of coffee and socialize with old and new friends.

There are usually a few cars at our start points by 9AM, so feel free to come early!

[starlord]

See the last post for starting point. Here's the drive..

Note this is not a 'loop' it's another Point A to Point B like last month..

Consider plenty of time for yourself to get to the starting point as well back home from Aptos..

From San Francisco that's about an hour to reach the starting point, then about a hour and a half drive to drive back from Aptos.. Shouldn't be an issue for us modern cars, but for the old garage queens that join us they may be breathing hard ;)

DIRECTIONS FOR THE DRIVE
DEPART driving SOUTH on Camden Avenue. Drive 2.7 miles.
RIGHT on Harry Road. Drive 0.5 miles.
LEFT on McKean Road / Uvas Road. Drive 16.2 miles.

(At mile 6.4 the road name changes from McKean to Uvas)

RIGHT on Watsonville Road. Drive ~ 3.6 miles.

RIGHT on Hecker Pass Road / Highway 152. Drive 9.7 miles.

(At the top of the hill we will make a brief stop for a photo opportunity. If
possible, please try to park by backing in to parking spaces along the
"view" side of the parking lot and stand beside your car for the photo.
Hopefully we'll have a great photo to compare to last years!)

RIGHT on Casserley Road. Drive 2.1 miles.

STRAIGHT on Madonna Road. Drive 1.4 miles.

(BE AWARE: Casserly Road veers to the left at The Casserly Store. Keep
driving straight onto Madonna Road and reset your odometer at this point.)

LEFT (veer) onto Hazel Dell Road. Drive 3.7 miles.

Continue STRAIGHT onto Brown Valley Road. Drive 3.4 miles.

(BE AWARE: Reset your odometer as you “come out of the trees" and
Hazel Dell Road becomes Brown Valley Road. At mile 3.0 Brown Valley
Road turns to the right, crosses a bridge and enters the very small town
of Corralitos.)

ARRIVE at Corralitos Market

(Park in the general vicinity of the intersection of Brown Valley Road and
Eureka Canyon Road. This is the time to open up your ice chest and fill it with some of the great meat from the Corralitos Market. Ostrich sausage, venison sausage, or any of the old standbys are made and smoked on-premise. And the applewood smoked thick cut bacon … I say no more.)

CROSS Eureka Canyon Road on Hames Road. Drive 1.5 miles.
RIGHT on Pleasant Valley Road. Drive <0.1 miles.
LEFT on Hames Road. Drive 0.6 miles.
RIGHT on Freedom Boulevard. Drive 0.1 miles.
RIGHT on Day Valley Road. Drive 2.0 miles.
Continue STRAIGHT on Valencia Road. Drive 2.6 miles.
Continue STRAIGHT on Trout Gulch Road. Drive 0.4 miles.
ARRIVE in Aptos Village

As we enter the town of Aptos Village we will pull into the parking lot of Village Fair Antiques on the right side of the road. This marks the official end of the First Sunday Drive.

For anyone interested in wandering around and exploring, Village Fair Antiques is considered to be one of the finest antique collectives in the country. There are also several restaurants in the area for anyone interested in organizing a no-host lunch.

To return to the Bay Area:
RIGHT at Soquel Drive. Drive 0.6 miles.
LEFT at State Park Drive / Sunset Way. Drive 0.2 miles.
MERGE onto Highway 1 North. Drive 5.9 miles.
MERGE onto Highway 17 East or Continue up the coast!

[sk8ndad]

Hi,

I'm picking up my smart this Saturday and am all jazzed. Will there be First Sunday Drive on 1 February?

Thanks