fall tour photos 2014

[nize]

let's see the pics!

[pete3799]

My wife and I hosted a tour with 19 others.

[Charlie V]

OK, I'll bite..........

Tour location was in NE Oregon south of The Dalles. Always a great area to enjoy some fabulous scenery and amazing roads. For those not familiar with the area - high desert with a few mountain passes and numerous canyons. Oregon has got to have the best highway maintenance program - smooth asphalt while still maintain the old alignments which means lots of twisties. Driving heaven.

First off, I would like to thank Al for organizing and route selection. As usual, he did an excellent job.

I would like to also thank the participants. We had fun together enjoying the adventures and being classy - no BS, no politics and no drama. I believe we ended with 12 cars.

Al was originally trying for the October 17 - 19 weekend, but it needed to delayed 1 week to October 24 - 26 for various reasons. This puts it a little closer to winter.....more on this later.

The Canadians from the Vancouver area gathered early Friday in Bellingham with a departure for 7:00 AM. Our objective was to meet the Seattle area folks in Enumclaw between 10:00 and 11:00 AM. One can never gauge the Seattle area traffic so a large cushion is always needed. Well, Friday traffic was not that bad with limited stop and go. We managed to get to Enumclaw a little after 10:00 AM. Opportunity to reconnect with friends and talk cars.

After grabbing lunch supplies, we head out along the east side of Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. Love this route. However, it does get a little rough south of Randle with the road slipping down the mountainside in spots. Just sharpens ones ability to pick the correct lines.

The tour begins......



As we climbed towards Rainier, there was fresh snow on the local mountains and the temperatures were dropping - there was a couple of us going topless.



An engineering masterpiece or a work of art??



Fall colours (that would be Canadian colors, eh )



Froze my butt off even with the heat on full. Mt. St. Helens in background.

[Charlie V]

So, the road to the east side of Mt. St. Helens is simply amazing.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/46.2302031,-122.1501125/46.3244054,-121.9729928/@46.3338996,-121.9714536,12z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

The scenery is spectacular.



Hmmmmm, looks like somebody lost concentration.

[Charlie V]

Saturday morning - the plastic lens on my point and shoot camera is not the best. Could be the operator too.



Alf and Gail got a new car. Oh my - nice one too.



Amazing roads.

[Charlie V]

Grouping up again near Grass Valley.



Some roadside adjustments.



Road food thanks to Paul.



We stopped in Condon because of some car problems. The town was decorated for Halloween. Kinda cool.

[Charlie V]

Ross can certainly pedal this one...........



We stayed in The Dalles. The group was heading for dinner and the power goes out.....for 1/2 the town. After walking a few blocks we found a restaurant that had the lights on and the grill cooking. Interesting.

Sunday morning in the morning sun.



More Fall colours. A storm came through the area the night before. Sections of the road was covered in an inch of leaves and twigs. Several large trees fell across the road. But, we pressed on.



My mistress Rosie was a faithful companion. Over 304,000 kms on the clock and she ran flawlessly



Collecting leaves.



And then we hit snow!!!!! That getting closer to winter weather when touring in the mountains in late October. Holy crap, this was exciting.



Ross dropped the tire pressure a little. Nobody got stuck, but there were moments when.........try driving in this stuff with performance summer tires at the wear bars. Yikes!!!!

[atomic80]

Here are my photos from the drive. I was the first one to arrive at Starbucks.
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

It wasn't long before everyone else arrived
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Big bad crew, Guy, Jodie, Al and Bruce
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

She was definitely easy on the eyes
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

I was really impressed how clean Bruce's wheels were!!!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

A motley crew of cars! Russ and I were the only non-Porsches in attendance
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Brad's classic 356 is still one of my favorites
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Time to hit the road starting with Hwy 410
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

I had cars in front and in back.
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

This was a preview of things to come for the crew (without me)
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

[atomic80]

I still can't believe that Charlie drove topless! He's a brave soul
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

We had some fun roads!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Not long before we lost Bruce
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Guy trying to show us how to fly
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Flying up FR 25 which was pretty bad in most places
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Mt St Helens was also covered in the white stuff too.
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

The really fun stuff!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

The gang (minus me)
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Our small caravan
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

It wasn't long before the roads really got covered with leaves, debris, etc.
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

[atomic80]

It really started to get wet
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

I still don't know how Brent was able to wear shorts. It was so cold!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Crossing the Hood River bridge was pretty cool...and what's even more cool is that the toll guy let me pass without paying because I didn't have any cash and I wasn't local
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

I wish we had more time to explore this place!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

GT2RS,....the BEAST!!!! Alf had quite the surprise!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

620 HP..close to what I have...625 HP!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

[atomic80]

On the second day...it was relatively dry.
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Ready to go
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Driver's meeting
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

One of the many times we had to regroup and wait for people
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Finally we hit some good roads
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

It really was fun following Guy..and I happened to be taking video when I spotted that deer that barely missed him!!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Alf and I were flying in our 600+ hp machines!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

On the loose!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

We hit some really foggy areas!
Black GT2RS (Explored) by atomic80, on Flickr

[atomic80]

As we got lower it cleared up thankfully
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Yet another break
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Nice interior
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

This was a cool fishing spot (for Indians only)
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Two 600+ hp machines
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

We were about to hit some really fun roads
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

It was all uphill from here! Wheee!
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Regrouping
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

One bad ass beast
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

It was like this a lot out here
Fall Can Am Drive 2014 by atomic80, on Flickr

Not long after this is when I got that flat! I didn't take any pictures of the group drive here because naturally I was stuck.

[Steve@Rennsport]

LOVE those pics!!!!!!!

[Brent Seattle]

Thanks Al for organizing amazing roads.

I could not believe the snow they had driving home and love the photos Charlie!
Jason pictures the color just pop, so I going try to us Photoshop and see if I can start to do what Jason does. Jason little back window on the McLaren and you are still able to take excellent pictures.

We traveled Saturday 395 miles with Elevation min 102ft max 4,621ft


Sunday group photo as everyone ready to departure, but Guy thought group car photo so left to get his Porsche.

[Rich Lambert]

Looked like a fun trip...till I saw the pictures of the Mustang in the snow. How was that even possible?

[RSBob]

Rich. The great thing about the Stang in snow is that the motor can quickly switch position from front to back where the rear wheels are now the fronts taking advantage of front wheel drive. Some type of advanced torque sensing rear wheel steer traction control. I bet your has it too but driving while looking over your shoulder can get tiresome.

[atomic80]

Why are you guys shocked about a Mustang in the snow? What about Porsches too?

[RSBob]

Porsches, unless you have fat or summer tires, are not that bad in the snow. Used to see plenty of them at the ski areas in the Sierras. But a 302 is a whole nuther beast

[Rich Lambert]

Originally Posted by RSBob

Porsches, unless you have fat or summer tires, are not that bad in the snow. Used to see plenty of them at the ski areas in the Sierras. But a 302 is a whole nuther beast

Unless you're driving backwards...

[RSlater]

Originally Posted by Rich Lambert

Looked like a fun trip...till I saw the pictures of the Mustang in the snow. How was that even possible?

Rich you should have brought you 2012 Boss, it's a blast chasing the Porsche's around.
Now the snow was a different story, when one of the Porsche's spun in front of me, I had to come to a complete stop. At that point I really didn't think I was going to make it, but manage to get her rolling again. So at the pull out I let a little air out of the tires, that helped a little bit.