Highway 1 Coastal Run to Big Sur - March 14, 2020

Your Hosts For The Event:
Dolores and Rick Sanchez

Enjoy a beautiful casual scenic run through the south bay farmlands from Morgan Hill through Watsonville to the coast. It is an amazing drive down Highway 1 past Moss Landing, Sand City, Monterey, Carmel and on down to Big Sur. Beautiful scenery we all love and enjoy. 

If the weather gods are good to us it will be a gorgeous run. Bring your cameras to capture the wildlife and scenery along the coast.

Meet Up Location
Peet's Coffee
755 Cochrane Road
Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Meeting Time/Departure Time
9:00 am/9:30 am

Route Google Map

https://goo.gl/maps/SwVfnmiWVVhEv54v7

Everyone, please park on far side of parking lot opposite Peet’s Coffee. We will line up against the back white fence prior to leaving the parking lot.

We will exit parking lot then turn right onto Madrone Parkway. At intersection, we will turn left onto Cochrane Road and then veer right onto Highway 101 South. We will continue on South 101 for 41 miles to Exit 347 for Highway 129 West to Watsonville. At the off ramp turn right onto Highway 129.

In approximately ½ mile, pull over on right shoulder at Lupita’s Catering to meet up with other members.

Meeting Point 2:
Highway 129/Highway 101 Turnout
2201 Chittenden Road
San Juan Bautista, CA 

Arrival Time/Departure Time

Approximately 10:00am/10:15am

We will continue on Highway 129 for 14 miles and continue through the city of Watsonville. There are 7 signal lights on Highway 129 in town. Stay in the left lane thru town and continue to the onramp for Highway 1 South to Monterey.

Re-grouping Point:
Steaming Hot Coffee and Espresso
7990-C Highway 1
Moss Landing, CA 

Upon arriving in Moss Landing city limits, we will park in front of Steaming Hot Coffee and Espresso (next to The Whole Enchilada Restaurant) to regroup. We will stay for about 15 minutes. NOTE: The coffee shop has ONE bathroom.

From here, we will then merge back onto Highway 1 and continue south for 35 miles to the famous Bixby Bridge.

Note: there are 4 signal lights going through Carmel so we may become separated but communicate via radio so we can stay as a group. Our approximate arrival time to Bixby Bridge is 11:45.

Photo opportunities at Bixby Bridge:

Option 1
We will attempt to park across Highway 1 on Old Coast Road to take photos of the bridge looking towards the ocean. More details during the drivers meeting

Option 2
Those not interested in photos can park at the large turnout near the Hurricane Point View. Again more details during the drivers meeting.

Depart Bixby Creek Bridge at approximately 12:15 and continue south on Highway 1 for 10 miles. Arrive at the Big Sur River Inn and Restaurant (park in the lot on the east side of Highway 1). The run is officially over at this point.

Lunch: 
There is NO formal group lunch, however, feel free to bring your own food to picnic in area or check out the options below.  If you're interested in the restaurant at Big Sur River Inn you might consider making a reservation based on our proposed timeline.

Big Sur River Inn Restaurant is open lunch
https://www.bigsurriverinn.com/restaurant-at-big-sur-california/

FYI, River Inn Restaurant will not allow outside food eating on their patio.

You can also purchase food at the General Store & Burrito Bar.
River Inn General Store
https://www.bigsurriverinn.com/big-sur-general-store/

Also, there are other places to eat as well as you motor a little further south.

Please RSVP for this event via MotorSportReg:
https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/highway-1-coastal-run-to-big-sur-norcal-minis-531223

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January 2020 Backroads Bay Area Run Recap

Your Hosts For This Event: Anita Weemaes & Christoph Fritsch


The first NorCal Minis run of 2020 was a great success! Due to popular demand, we started an hour later than usual, meeting in Woodside at 9:30am on a sunny Sunday. Despite having communicated this time change in all of the media outlets, there were still almost 10 cars there before 9am, they were so eager to get started! We had 23 cars including some new members on their first run and 2 Facebook members who joined on a day pass (we hope they had such a great time they will join the paid membership with full benefits for 2020). We also had 3 dogs join us - hope they didn’t get car sick on the twisties!

We started the run with a slow jaunt through the town of Woodside, avoiding most of the car clubs and big groups of bicyclists with our late-morning start. The climb up Kings Mountain Road was scenic, and the few bicyclists we encountered were courteous and waved us on to pass when it was safe. When we reached Skyline, the lot across the road was NOT a mudpit, so we gathered there and waited to regroup. It turns out we had too many cars to fit, so we had to move out. We were fortunate to keep the group together with not many non-Minis in the mix.

As we turned on Highway 84 and passed Alice’s restaurant, we gawked at all the motorbikes and other fancy sports cars, and I’m sure we turned a few heads too! The drive down to Pescadero was twisty and fun, except for when we were slowed down by an SUV or Prius (yes, really).

We spent about an hour in the sleepy town of Pescadero, and it ALMOST felt like a mini version of MINI TAKES THE STATES 2016 when we swarmed into a small town, wandered their shops buying local crafts, and freshly-baked pastries (and garlic artichoke sourdough bread).

Instead of heading straight out to Hwy 1 from there, we took the long way around on Stage road, which was a beautiful drive through the hills, albeit with some loose gravel to keep the speed reasonable to avoid rock chips.

We arrived at Moss Beach Distillery, which has its own ghost (too bad we didn’t see her though) https://mossbeachdistillery.com/history-ghost/.

The parties with dogs went out to the patio, which got quite crowded until it started raining, and then they braved the cold and the rain to move into the GOOD seats by the fire when everyone else moved inside.

Our big group of 35 were seated after a short wait, and the service was excellent for such a large group. We even celebrated Vanessa’s 14th birthday!

Thanks to everyone who came out to kick off the new year, and we look forward to seeing you on the next run!