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Devek Days 2004, Sunday Fun Drive - August 8, 2004


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Those of us starting the drive at Devek gathered together between 8 and 8:30am Sunday morning. Near 8:30 we lined up on the street outside of Devek while waiting a few extra minutes for some stragglers that were running about 5-10 minutes late but had called. One thing I'd like to point out is the slightly humorous, awkward moment when Susan asked for a volunteer to bring up the rear. We all stood around looking at each other for a minute, nobody wanting to say anything... until Ron spoke up and volunteered. Yep, DEFINITELY a crowd of Porsche drivers.




Of course, the gratuitous pic of my OB...




We're all patiently chomping at the bit... The extra few minute's wait made for a photo op. I can tell Ron's got something up his sleeve; here you can just see him(green shirt) casually tinkering with the many antennae sprouting from the back of his car.




Here's a stitched-together group panorama of the cars lined up. Susan Thomas led the group in the silver Cayenne. At about this time Ron ran a test on his prototype bear-jammer. He won't talk much about it, only mumbles vague hints and something about "classified". But, as you can see, the "real" Ron has completely disappeared from behind his car, and three decoys have appeared starting about 4 car lengths back. Apparently this is designed to distract bears from their true quarry. In this mode the decoys are all saluting; I'm guessing that's a ruse to make the bears think he's one of them so they'll leave even the decoys alone. Nice touch. Let me know when you have a production prototype, Ron!

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So, with all the Fun Drivers ready to roll, we proceeded to wind our way out of town.




Getting close to the freeway...




North of Golden Gate park, approaching the bridge.




There is some space right near the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza where Susan pulled over to let the sharks regroup. We had become a little strung out on 19th avenue due to the many traffic lights.




Here is a quick "Stick the camera out the window, hope for the best, and squeeze the shutter" moment. Shortly after this a particularly mean variety of bridge-dwelling bear showed up and shooed us away with his red lights. He gave us an escort across the bridge but he didn't seem amused.




There was a bit of fog up till this point, but on the bridge approach it began to do some serious looming.




Just past the South anchor, the fog bank is in full looming mode. The bridge itself seems to have its own weather, and it's fog.




Approaching the south tower. This stuff is really thick!




A quick look back; good, I'm not the only one with lights on.




So here we are, approaching the North anchor, and the fog looks like it's going to go on forever!




Then suddenly, just past the North anchor, the fog just disappeared. It was like we crossed some space-time barrier into another dimension! Later though, I found myself wishing for the fog....




Here I am tailgating a bowling ball that was heading the same way...




Here is an overview of the first leg of the drive, North up the peninsula to the Golden Gate. The road near the word "Inc" at the bottom center is Highway 280, 4+ lanes per direction winding through the hills on the SF Bay peninsula(Well, it's more windy south of this location, anyway). Near the horizontal white line about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the pic, the route turned to pure city, stoplight after stoplight. This is where we became strung out, thus the need to regroup at the bridge.

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After crossing the bridge we headed north on Highway 101 through Marin county to the IHOP restaurant in Novato, indicated by the map pin at the top of the frame.

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So here we are, figuring out where to park in front of the IHOP where we were to have breakfast. We joined up with a number of North Bay dwellers, Beth, Jessa, and others.




Of course, gotta get a shot of my shark... with Ron's 86.5(cloaking device off) IDidntGetTheName's S4....




As more people trickle in...




OK, time to quit goofing with the camera... everyone's headed off to breakfast!




The interior of Don's gorgeous S4. I didn't take any pics at breakfast... too busy gabbing.




So here is an overview of the main route, looking North. We started at the lower left, at the IHOP on Vintage way. I've marked the turn points on the map with push pins. We headed North on 101, and cut back to 37 on Atherton avenue. We turned NorthWest on Lakeville, jogged right then left, winding our way Northward then East across the hills. I think the place where we stopped alongside the road was that last push pin before the red arrow. Or maybe the one before. Anyway, in that area with the red arrow, the road was extremely narrow and I have to say Beth drove like it was nothing... she definitely had my attention, trying to keep up as the 3rd car. Beth, you are fearless! James was in front of me, then Beth. Right behind me was Keith Widom and honestly, I didn't see much of anyone else on this stretch except at the regrouping points. After winding our way through the hills we regrouped on 29 and drove a few miles north to the V. Sattui Winery, at the yellow arrow. It was a very exciting drive... been a while since I've been on a fun drive where I saw air under the tires of the guy in front of me.

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So here we are finally on our way after breakfast. This is on the first part of Atherton Ave.




End of Atherton Ave leg of trip, coming up on 37.




There were few opportunities to take interesting pics.... either the road looked like every other stretch of road in Napa or it was far too technical for me to try any picture taking. Here's a look back at Keith.




Here we are regrouping just before the twisties. The's Beth on the left, probably thinking "Muwahahaha... you all are in for a treat"...




So, here we are at the winery... Sharks in the vineyard? SITV? The Flamous Louie Ott and his wife look on...




I really wish I had brought my car cover... I bet my shark was hot enough inside to melt lead before I walked 50 paces. Oh, well... I'll be better prepared next time.




So we schmoozed around the winery, tasting wines, sauces, cheeses, etc.

Overall I think it went fabulous. No casualties that I am aware of, very few stray sharks. I'll have to do more of these. I schooled with Ron and Jessa for part of the homeward drive south; we needed to head in separate directions and they hooked west while I headed down 680.

One thing I discovered on this drive, in heat approaching 100°F... My shark is not cooling as it should. It never was over 200°F as far as I can tell from the gauge, but when it got hot it took too long to cool back down at freeway speeds. I'm going to have to investigate... I feel Shark Attack Round 15 coming on....

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