One One Fun Run -- January 1, 2014
by Mike Hinton, Redwood Region Vice President, photos by Bob Shoenherr,
Redwood Region Membership Director
After a historically dry calendar year 2013, what kind of weather would
you predict for the Redwood Region's 2014 One One Fun Run?
If
you guessed crystal clear and dry, you won the prize!
This year's run abandoned the traditional Novato starting point for the
friendly confines of the Owl Café parking lot located on old U.S. 101 in
downtown Cloverdale.
When Brenda and I arrived there were
only a handful of cars present.
Shortly thereafter,
Porsches old and new began streaming in and completely filling the
parking lot.
Don Magdanz, our event coordinator, headed up the drivers' meeting with
the standard safety checklist followed by asking if anyone was
participating in their first Redwood Region event.
I
believe that there were four or five newcomers, which is fantastic!
One
of those folks was driving one of those EYE-TAL-IAN cars (AKA Ferrari),
and he accepted the expected ribbing in good humor.
We
offered to let him lead to make sure that the course was free of law
enforcement! :)
Our route for the day was long, over 130 miles, but simple:
turn
left onto Highway 128 out of Cloverdale, then when Highway 128 ends,
turn left on Highway 1.
What could be simpler?
Bob
Schoenherr agreed to lead the first segment of the run in his beautiful
1976 912E.
Bob's segment of Highway 128 wound its way
through the rugged hills of the Coast Range, through the village of
Yorkville, and then into the flatlands of the Anderson Valley.
Even
with less than 100 horsepower, Bob's 912E maintained an entertaining
pace up and down the hills, and around the many tight turns on the way
to Boonville.
The group of 20+ cars filled the curbside parking in beautiful downtown
Boonville as we paused for refreshments and a bathroom break.
Following
the pit-stop, I was assigned to lead the group to the next rest stop in
Gualala on the Mendocino coast.
I was eagerly awaiting the
drive through and past Navarro, as Highway 128 sweeps through a long
stretch of curves which are (closely!) bordered by ancient redwood
trees.
Of course, since it was approaching noon the group
had to deal with the usual nemesis:
very slow-moving
traffic.
Not long after I began leading the group we closed quickly on the first
slow car of the day.
Then amazingly, the driver pulled over
and let our entire group by. I was flabbergasted!
Incredibly
enough, that same scenario repeated itself five more times before we
reached Gualala.
Thanks to those unnamed drivers who were
paying attention, and allowed us to proceed briskly on our way.
Kurt Fischer graciously consented to lead the home stretch of the run to
Jenner in his Weissach Edition 911SC.
As you may know, the
stretch of Highway 1 along the Mendocino and Sonoma coast is beautiful,
with a mix of straight sections and hair-raising hills and turns.
Kurt
had good luck with the slower traffic as well with our group only being
held up on the final run into Jenner.
Almost precisely on schedule our group met at the Jenner Inn for lunch.
We
also had several other members who were unable to participate in the
drive join the group for lunch.
Our group filled one of the
large dining rooms to capacity, and it was time to relive and share the
experiences of the drive.
I do think that the size of our
group overwhelmed the staff of the restaurant as our table was finished
with our meal before others had been served. I know that the servers did
their best...
All in all, this year's One One Fun Run was again a success.
Many
thanks to Don Magdanz for his tireless efforts in designing the route
and securing the lunch venue.
On behalf of the Board, I'd
like to welcome and thank those members who made this event their first
Redwood Region event.
I hope to see all of you soon at
another event - just check the calendar on the website to see what is in
store for 2014.
Bob Schoenherr's complete collection of great photos of the
One One Fun Run can be seen by clicking here.