Okay lads and ladies, looks like Saturday April 23rd is the date for this year's upcoming Grand and Glorious event known as Gold "Rush to Gil's.
Looks like the team roster consists of Mike, Alan, Terry, and Alan's two sons.
Let's meet, again, at the Starbucks located at:
392 Elm St just off Interstate 80 in Auburn.
Leave at 8 am with an arrival time estimate between 11 am and 11:30.
So show up 15 to 20 minutes early, fueled up. There's a Shell gas station a half block east on Elm.
I'd like to infringe on Terry's time to establish the route again this year. Perhaps this year participants would enjoy the return trip together. Let me know.
We need to finalize a few things with respect to the 2016 Fun Run.
1) Route: Georgetown or Salmon Falls Rd? See posted routes.
2) Meeting place (assume Star Bucks in Auburn)
3) Departure time
4) Regroup points
5) Food
6) Departure time from Gil's
7) Head count
8) Designated sitter for Mike to make sure he doesn't go solo again.
Hey guys. I'd love to attend again this year but wanted to alert you to the fact that there are still 2 different dates floating around online. The issue of The Blitz that was just published shows April 16th whereas in an email sent out by OGTS a few days ago an attached flier showed the 23rd as the date. I know the dates were switched a couple of times. I had the 16th marked on my calendar.
I believe the date is the 23rd. That's probably a typo in the calendar section of the Blitz as the Tinyvette has another engagement on its social calendar on the 16th.
The April 23rd date is noted in the Upcoming Events section on Page 4.
As I said earlier, I won't be able to be there but Mike had offered me a ride in Tinyvette (actually, the word he used was "stint" so I was hoping it meant "drive" but that date was for the earlier 4-16 weekend). I'll have to check my schedule to see if I can make it on 4-23 (not too likely as I have to be near Los Angeles that same day!).
I talked to Gil for a few minutes today. There seems to be some confusion about our departure point and time. Unless I hear otherwise, we will rally at Star Bucks (392 Elm Ave.) in Auburn with a departure time of 8:00 am with a full load of fuel and caffeine. This is the same spot as the last few years. From there we will descend into the N. Fork of the American River Gorge on CA 49 to Cool. Turn left a Cool on CA193 which will take us to Georgetown were we can stop on Main Street and snap some pictures. Then we descend into and out of the S. Fork Am. R. and come out at CA49 on the north edge of Placerville. There is an Italian restraint on the corner with a big parking lot that we can regroup in. We then follow CA49 through Placerville and Diamond Springs. About a mile outside of Diamond Springs is a gas station that we can stop at for caffeine deposit. After that we just follow CA49 to Sonora. I have not picked any more rally points but there are plenty along the way. Probably something in Jackson or San Andreas. Then on to Sonora.
For the return trip the mapped route is through Copperopolis up to CA4 and west to CA99. We then take CA99 to Grant Line Rd in Elk Grove where we can say our farewells in the parking lot of the new shopping center. I will look for rendezvous points on the return as well.
The trip down will take about 4 hrs of driving. Links to maps are posted above. I will have printouts for the event. Heh, we drive vintage cars, no gps's allowed.
Gil will have the grill going and ready when we get there. He is providing the meat.
We still need side dishes. I did an experimental run of German potato salad last weekend so I will offer that as my contribution.
Please chime in here with your ideas, comments, food offerings, etc.
I am anticipating another great Fun Run. I tried to maximize the curves and elevation changes this year.
I disagree Terry, I have a terrible sense of direction (Worse than Mike's!!) and if Neil can't make it as my co-driver/navigator then I'll have to bring a GPS, just in case.
If you mean Roy and me, I'm out also. Without Gil's, I'll be over 3500 miles in road trips this month and have cancelled another 2000+ (in addition to this one, which is over 1600). :sigh:
Doug
PS - I don't know about Roy, but he was originally going to ride with me.
I talked to Gil yesterday and he is expecting a lot of people. He had sent out invites using his customer mailing lists and was able to contact a lot of people. I have no idea who from that list will be cruising with us.
Add Paul Kaman to the list of people joining us. He's coming down from the Seattle area to join the fun.
I will be joining in on the run. Not driving an Opel but still a German car. A bit late in the game for my vote......but i REALLY disliked that longer route we did last year. Too long and it really cut into the time we had to hang out at Gil's.
OK so I probably sound a bit (a lot) bitchy here but we've been doing this run for numerous years now and still can't seem to grasp how to coordinate the driving portion. Six years ago or so Al Olmo and I drove his GT as guests on an MG club run on a VERY similar route. The MG club had no problem losing a single car even when they had over 20 cars in the run!!! The HEAD CAR would set the pace and when the route had a major change like a turn, stop light or stop sign, the entire group would slow down and or pull to the side while they waited for the LAST CAR to catch up. NO ONE GOT LOST!!!
We've had some success with this, but we need to remember this is a club run together. Not smokey and the bandit. Can we make this year a great success in moving in the right direction? Let's designate a Head Car and a Last Car and leave no Opel behind I will be happy to volunteer to be Head Car since I've been last car before and I won't be driving an Opel, so anyone following behind can focus on enjoying the run instead of being distracted by staying on route.
Neil, I posted the route several weeks ago and asked for comments. The comments have been few. We can try to do a better job of keeping the pack tight. It would be best to have someone riding shotgun in both the lead and trailing cars to handle the communications. Mike has offered to bring his radios so we can communicate easier.
I do have a cell phone but no longer have a blue tooth so I try to avoid handling the phone when on the go. It is also clumsy to be dialing and driving at the same time when trying to watch traffic, navigate and keep an eye on the trailing cars. It is often difficult to spot the trailer because of the curves and hills.
I have not printed the maps yet so will try to find rally places where we can schedule regrouping and kidney breaks for us mature individuals. (Our cars are old but not us.)
I would encourage everyone to post their menu items here so we can avoid duplication.
I will be driving on my own. If anyone not driving an Opel wants to ride with me. Radio walkie talkies would be excellent since cells don't work well. I'd be happy to lead the drive or be the last in line with a radio.
Also I doubt anyone wants it however I have a 3Speed auto trans that appears to have been rebuilt along with another auto tranny and bell housing. If no one wants them I'll donate to OGTS if they want them.
Well, I wish Gil's was the destination for next weekend, but I have entered the GT in Kool April Nites. It's a car show in Redding, CA. Last year over 1500 cars on display, just about every car you could imagine, but funny thing is NO OPELS. Had to make sure there was at least one there. Now if you remember, I got beat by a VW at my first car show. I am hoping to do a little better this time. Went out and started the GT for the first time this year, sounds perfect, just the way I put her away for the winter.
I would have like to meet some of the folks here on the site at Gil's. maybe next year or at a different event. I know there are a few events in the bay area in California, so I will be looking for those, and can hopefully attend.
You folks have fun and Gil's and down one beer for me. (No more than one)
Once again I'm a No Show. Had hoped to get together with someone to share driving
and expenses but it's not working this year. So in honor of the fine occasion here are
a few pics from recent drives. Before I had a digital camera, I took Kodachrome slides
and D8 video, there are boxes of that stuff, not unpacked since move to AZ.
So first pic is from 2008. There is a nice copper colored Kadett (?) at the end of
the row, but I can't find any more pics.
Next 4 from 2011. I think Dieter S. took a pic of each car and driver that time.
Last pic here is from 2012 near Sacramento.
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