Lipstick Red, Part II

Kathi and I landed in LA the Saturday before MogWest. Dennis picked us up at the airport and we went off to his shop to pick up the new car. Tony took Kathi for her first driving lesson. She returned excited and happy (with the car, of course) saying it was like a more powerful version of her MINI. Tony confided that she was a bit quick over a speed bump but then, who needs all those little spaces between vertebrae?

Dennis looked at the roller suitcase, two carry-on soft bags and my laptop computer and said "I don't know how you are going to get all that stuff in that car!" I replied that the laptop and one carry on would go behind the seats and the rest would go on the luggage rack. But there was no luggage rack on the car... We did a hasty check on the original invoice and found that a luggage rack was ordered so Dennis scrambled and had one installed.

About fifteen minutes down the freeway Kathi notices that the gas gauge was below empty. I forgot to put gas in last month when I did my check-out drive! Oops; got off the freeway and literally sputtered into the first gas station to figure out how to get the gas cap off etc. Left the gas stop and BOOM! Grey smoke blew up through the louvers near the cowl. Visions of +4 overheating danced like sugarplums in my head. It all dissipated in a few seconds so I rediagnosed it as a blown A/C condenser or something. Kathi called Tony and it was arranged that we would drop the car by on Monday morning. Fortunately we were heading south to visit the Wilburn's before returning north for Cambria

Dined with Gerry and Barbara at the Long Beach Yacht Club, a real treat, and stayed over with them so we could return to the club for brunch the next day. Brunch was followed by a trip to the LB aquarium and then: Off again. Dinner was with friends in Glendale and the social part of the trip is off to a fine start.

Monday morning I had the Roadster at Morgan West when Mike, the service manager, arrived. The car went to the radiator shop and despite a long line of cars waiting, the job was done in about an hour. I talked at length with the service person to try to determine what went wrong since the car just had the A/C recharged. A seal had blown but there was no indication of what may have caused it. Perhaps it was just the result of sitting for six months

So... Off again!

Gerry Willburn suggested an itinerary and route. Great recommendations! We spent two nights in Santa Barbara where along with the usual walking, dining and beach combing we did a picnic at the Botanical Gardens. Nice. Next leg was through the San Ynez Valley stopping several times just to enjoy the scenery. We checked out the art galleries and bought deli stuff in Los Olivos then drove to a winery for a proper lunch spot and something to wash it down with. I don't like "tasting" particularly at $7 for a few 1 oz pours. I fall more into the "quaffing" category. I found that I did quite nicely by asking for a cold white to go with lunch. We were always offered tastes (no charge) and always found something satisfactory. Any leftover wine was served with dinner, before dinner, after dinner, whatever. From Los Olivos we continued on to Morro Bay where we stayed at a place as forgettable as the one where we stayed in Santa Barbara.

From Morro Bay it was a short run up to Big Sur and another forgettable motel. Lunch at Nepenthe was required according to Gerry and several other consultants so we enjoyed something best described as expensive fast food with a fabulous view of the mountains and coastline.

That wuz nuthin.

Another friend suggested having dinner at the Post Ranch. Kathi napped while I drove over to make reservations. The sign was somewhat subtle and I missed it the first time. When I did go up the road leading to the place there was a guard shack and a nice German lad who asked what I wanted. "Und ver are your papers ?"... well not exactly but he did add my name to a list of visitors and instructed me to continue up the road to the Reception Building and to proceed to the second floor and onto the restaurant where I could enquire about reservations. Gawd awful beautiful place! Very understated but dramatic with art selected by someone who knows what they are looking at and a receptionist that again directed me up to the restaurant. I chose a late sitting (8:45) but we arrived much earlier determined to get maximum return for what was obviously going to be a significant investment. Wonderful experience; five star food and service while the sun set in the distant fog and, as the marketing types say, much more.

And off again up the coast to Carmel and the back route to Cambria along the winding Carmel Valley road. In some places the trees touched overhead, a sun mottled tunnel while at other places we were on high passes with vineyards to the horizon. I don't think we passed more than three cars the entire leg. We drove the whole trip with the side curtains in place and the top stowed. Typically it was cool enough in the morning that we had the heat on. (note: a heater that works when it is cold! What will Morgan think of next: Wipers that work when it rains?) By noon we had the A/C running. Just think: cool feet in an open car on a hot day; how decadent.

Mogwest is best recalled for the friends we meet never more than once a year. Kathi drove in the rally, one of those where the objective is to match some ideal time rather than speed. She missed the part about matching time and instead tried for fastest time of the day.

I put the Roadster on the transporter Monday afternoon so it could be home in time for LobsterMog. We headed for the airport and the red-eye flight home. Now I'm trying to find an excuse to do it all over again..