Recap - Highway 1 Coastal Run To Big Sur - March 27, 2021

Your Hosts For The Event - Rick and Dolores Sanchez

What a beautiful day it was to start this 88-mile trek to Big Sur. Our day started at Peet’s Coffee in Morgan Hill off Cochrane Road. We had 30 cars attend this event. A few new faces joined us on this run. Jenna Dexter and Adam Shook were a few of the new member that joined us as well as some old members that had not been in a run for a while. Kerry Bonner with her Yellow Mini, and John and Caroline Mifsud. The Mifsud’s brought a newer Red Clubman for today’s run. It was good to see Jim and Kim Cunningham who were on the Mainland for today’s run. A big shout out to Alison Lee for her handmade face-masks that she offered to all of us at no charge. Thank you, Alison! 

Welcome to the club Jenna!!!

After the driver’s meeting we lined up to start our run. Pat and Michelle Lewis were mid car and Vickie Casacca, Mick Brown and their dog Dirk were caboose. So glad to have support from our fellow Directors on these events. It makes the event go so much smoother and gives our members confidence that we won’t abandon them when we get separated. Our run took us south on Highway 101 to San Juan Bautista. We continued onto Highway 129 West and proceeded to wind through the farmlands of River Oaks, Chittenden and Logan. We eventually reached the city limits of Watsonville. We separated in Watsonville as we had to go through 7 signal lights to get through town. To make it worse, the signal lights were not timed. After traveling through Watsonville, we merged onto Highway 1 South to the city of Moss Landing. It is here were we regrouped at the Power Plant Coffee. We just barely all fit in the back parking lot. 

It was fun to see all the Minis parked side by side like you would see at a car show. Our planned stop took longer than expected as a lot of Bio breaks were required by our members. We had a drawing at this stop and we had one of our new members pull the winning ticket. The winner was long time member, Gary Chin. He won a Big Sur T-Shirt and seemed surprised to have won. Congratulations Gary! 

After about 45 minutes, we left the Power Plant Coffee parking lot and merged back onto Highway 1 South toward Monterey. As I said earlier, the day was gorgeous and those that had a convertible definitely took advantage of the weather. We hit traffic in Monterey and Carmel due to signal lights. Once we passed Rio Road it was a 2-lane highway to Big Sur. As expected, there was much pedestrian traffic at Point Lobos Natural Reserve. 

Once we reached the Bixby Creek Bridge, we slowly crossed the bridge so photos could be taken by those who had navigators. We did not stop and park as we had too many cars to be able to park safely off Highway 1. The coastal view was wonderful. 

The hills were green, the ocean was very visible and the beaches looked very welcoming. In about ten miles south of the Bixby Creek Bridge we reached our final destination at the Big Sur River Inn. There was plenty of parking on both sides of Highway 1 for all to park. This was the official end of our run. Many members decided to stay and patronize the local Deli and River Inn Restaurant. There was outdoor seating for those that stayed. 

All in all, it was a good day for a run.

Rick and Dolores