📓 Journals Graham's Road Trip CA-WA

[GrahamClark_60-68]

It was only after my trip that I realized that in bugging out of Scotts Valley so hastily I missed a golden opportunity for some twistys on CA-9 straight into a redwood forest and Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. And it only would have been a 15 minute detour. Never been there but looks like it would have been a spectacular drive. You Nor Cal boys can tell me all about what I missed out on here. I'm truly kicking myself.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Since I felt I had plenty of time to make it to Callahan's by dinner time, and not expecting a lot of stops along the route I chose (basically bypassing San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge altogether and heading up the east bay the quickest route to pick up I-5 just north of Sacramento), I decided to contact an old friend and racing buddy in Mountain View for coffee and a quick bite. He races his MazdaSpeed3 at Laguna Seca but drove up in his old red (and pristine) convertible bug on this nice California summer morning. Later, he made this post on his facebook page, LOL.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

After spending WAAAY too much time catching up with my friend, I headed on up the road to Oregon. Some interesting things to note on this journey.
1. My center screen, which was displaying a split CarPlay view of my nav and my tunes blanked out. Just went dark for no reason. Then, it seemed to be rebooting. Hmm... After a few minutes it found its brain again, and picked up where it left off and was fine. Tunes were back and the nav was back navigating. For awhile. Several hours later it did the same thing. I think this may have repeated 3 times over the course of 6 hours or so.
2. Somewhere in between those events, I noticed the map display hadn't updated for awhile, and the tune on the display was not the one playing but one that had played awhile ago. CarPlay was still playing my tunes but the display had frozen. This took some doing, and I think I had to disconnect my phone and reconnect to get this unfrozen. This didn't repeat.
3. The toll bridge camera on the Benicia-Martinez bridge caught this rather cool pic of my car at highway speed, which was mailed to me along with my bill for the toll.

 

[scc.131.fe]

After spending WAAAY too much time catching up with my friend, I headed on up the road to Oregon. Some interesting things to note on this journey.
1. My center screen, which was displaying a split CarPlay view of my nav and my tunes blanked out. Just went dark for no reason. Then, it seemed to be rebooting. Hmm... After a few minutes it found its brain again, and picked up where it left off and was fine. Tunes were back and the nav was back navigating. For awhile. Several hours later it did the same thing. I think this may have repeated 3 times over the course of 6 hours or so.
2. Somewhere in between those events, I noticed the map display hadn't updated for awhile, and the tune on the display was not the one playing but one that had played awhile ago. CarPlay was still playing my tunes but the display had frozen. This took some doing, and I think I had to disconnect my phone and reconnect to get this unfrozen. This didn't repeat.
3. The toll bridge camera on the Benicia-Martinez bridge caught this rather cool pic of my car at highway speed, which was mailed to me along with my bill for the toll. View attachment 50255

That toll was worth it!

Thanks for sharing the trip details, can't wait to get mine away from home for a while.

 

[FlyNavy01]

When I originally ordered my car from Lotus of Bellevue I had planned to do a similar route but in reverse. Olympic National Park down to Malibu along the entire west coast, but the delays meant I had already been stationed back in Florida by the time my car arrived. I've enjoyed reading your adventures and seeing the photos makes me certain I will return to do this with my Emira one day. Thanks for the afternoon escape.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

That toll was worth it!

Thanks for sharing the trip details, can't wait to get mine away from home for a while.

Yep, pretty remarkable for a toll bridge camera, and that's the original pic, unretouched. And yes getting away for just a few days and enjoying the car and the scenery was pretty special.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

When I originally ordered my car from Lotus of Bellevue I had planned to do a similar route but in reverse. Olympic National Park down to Malibu along the entire west coast, but the delays meant I had already been stationed back in Florida by the time my car arrived. I've enjoyed reading your adventures and seeing the photos makes me certain I will return to do this with my Emira one day. Thanks for the afternoon escape.

You're very welcome, and glad I'm not boring everyone! And I know what you mean, I'm vowing to return myself, hopefully when I can spend more time, and definitely once Hwy 1 through Big Sur all the way down the coast is finally reopened (and before the next landslide)! Maybe retrace the route of the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic from Kirkland to Monterey https://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/participants/pebble-beach-motoring-classic-information/ Since you are certain of your return with your Emira, look me up when you do and let's team up for this journey!

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

You're very welcome, and glad I'm not boring everyone! And I know what you mean, I'm vowing to return myself, hopefully when I can spend more time, and definitely once Hwy 1 through Big Sur all the way down the coast is finally reopened (and before the next landslide)! Maybe retrace the route of the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic from Kirkland to Monterey https://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/participants/pebble-beach-motoring-classic-information/ Since you are certain of your return with your Emira, look me up when you do and let's team up for this journey!

I used to have a list of the stops along the Motoring Classic route but can't find it now. But here's some pics. https://www.pebblebeachconcours.net/events/pebble-beach-motoring-classic/ I think the entry fee is around $15,000 AND you have to be chosen after you apply based on the provenance of your car. It leaves from hotel in Kirkland just walking distance from me. I watched the cars leave last year (pretty special) but missed it this year.

 

[seriously]

It’s fun when driving your car can be a vacation.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Ok, after some hiatus (I was moving, Kirkland to Kirkland, settling into new digs now), time to continue with Day 2 (after some detours in my story). After that interesting toll bridge pic in Northern Cal, things got pretty boring for awhile. Like THIS boring (Phil Collins on my random tunes rotation says it all).

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

But very happy my display was still reporting "No Warning Messages"!

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

And still later on Day 2, equally happy Mr Petty was wrong, and there were in fact NO breakdowns.

There was however one WTF moment when a piece of foam seem to come unglued from under the hood and was flapping around. After watching it for some time, I decided it wasn't going anywhere and not worth stopping for. So at my next gas stop, I managed to press it back into place (seemed to be a good amount of sticky glue left on the underside of the hood), but for good measure bought some gorilla glue in case I needed to make a repair at the hotel that evening. Not sure why this happened, but the outside temp was running around 90 at the time. E

Edit: One other thing I noticed during this boring, nearly due-north stretch of road in the late afternoon California Sun: I seemed to actually be getting a sunburn on my left arm. It was intentional on my part to not tint the side windows, which was for similar reasons as my decision to not select the privacy glass option for the rear glass and side quarter glass. Namely, I wanted to be able to see the engine clearly through the rear glass and I also wanted to see the tan leather through the glass as I think it is a striking combination to the Seneca Blue. I just didn't want to hide it from the outside. Most cars (all cars?) I owned previously have at least some level of factory tint right out of the gate. In the Emira's case, it now seems to me to be to be either VERY light, or non-existent, to the point that I'm now considering at least some level of tint to cut down on that Sun effect. But who knows, as I'm in Washington now, and the Sun here seems to be much less of an issue than in California.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

And then, quite unexpectedly (because I've never been there before) I was upon Lake Shasta. Wow, didn't know. Quite stunning and another beautiful drive! Unfortunately no good pull out spots, so you and I am stuck with my questionable pics while driving.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Ok, I did stop at the first stop I saw after this, but this is all I got! :-(

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

But soon after Shasta and 90 miles from my final destination for the night in Oregon, MAGIC !!

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

As my break in miles point came at a wide open stretch of highway, of course I needed to try out sport and track mode and a few blasts to the redline, and yup, it's what I was waiting for, and worth the wait! But was getting late in the day for me and I was tired so I didn't push it much further than that. Plenty of time for that later, I figured! Soon after this, The Ides of March provided an appropriate soundtrack.

So after a pretty nice drive into the mountains, I crossed the border into Oregon and made it into Callahan's Mountain Lodge just before 7:30 (and most importantly just before the restaurant and bar closed at 8).

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

The reward at the end of day 2 !

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

My room, with a view of my car, as requested! Slept with the window open. Good night y'all.

Edit to this: Had my ring camera sitting on the window ledge pointed at my car all night, armed and ready to alert me on my phone (with a dog bark)! Yes, overly paranoid I know!! Did have one old dude in the parking lot that night before bedtime staring at the car that I was initially concerned about but then he came clean about his previous Elise ownership, loving it, and he clearly knew my car, so we had a nice conversation.

 

[Speedy Emira]

View attachment 50877

This is my favourite picture you have taken. I love it when owners post pictures of their cars with awesome countryside, bridges, unusual building and stately homes in the background.

 

[badger6sp]

Great post - I may do a very similar trip soon! Depends on if the car arrives...