March Drive - Shamrock Shuffle
 

All right, we haven't been north in a while, so I've got a pretty good outline for the March drive ready to go. I need to check a few things to be certain on the exact route, but Chuckanut Drive will definitely be in the mix.

I'm assuming there may be a large number of people planning on being hung over on the 18th ;) but I'd like to know what weekend works best for most of us.

If we're still trying for Sundays, the only ones I have open are the 4th and 25th. The other 2 weekends I'm in classes.

Cool - I might finally make one of these.

Any Sunday works for me. I've got to be in Vancouver, BC by ~5:30pm on Sunday the 25th but that should be easily doable if we're going to be north anyway. :)

I can't make the 18th. Robbie and I are going to a hockey game. :angel:

I don't know if I will be able to drive that much anyway, though. I still haven't been cleared for regular driving yet.

Im a maybe so far on the 25th.

Well, the 25th is looking pretty popular, which is cool 'cause that'll make it the first drive of Spring. ;)

Just registered at your website - maybe this year I can come out and play. :)

Cool. I hope so.

Lemmie check and see if we have anything on the calendar yet. If not Jen and I will be in.:)

New bumper, new MazdaSpeed exhaust..... I'll be there :mdrmed:

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sweet im pretty close to chucknut so i might be able to make this one...

The details are ironed out. We'll be making this run on the 25th. All the info you need is posted at the-winding-road.

http://www.the-winding-road.com/modu...ent.php?eid=13

Thank you for putting the address(1717 s 13th st, mt vernon WA), because my nav system only fount a park in California with that name (hillcrest park).

Jen and I won't be able to make it. We're going to go away for the weekend for our birthdays.

Just signed up and registered. This will be my first group drive, and I am really looking forward to it. I hope the passes hold out!

That's great! Where are you coming from...?

I will not be able to go, I have inventory. Will see you all in the next one!!!

:( Sorry to hear that, Anibal. You'll be missed. I guess you'll just have to work your way up to regional so you don't have to worry about that ;)

Sojourner, welcome. I look forward to meeting you.

Thanks for the positive response guys. I am coming over from Wenatchee. I just drove over yesterday, and the passes were great... not even wet.
I am excited to meet some other 8 owners that care about their cars. The few that are over here do not seem to share the same entusiasm that I do.

Return of the Map. I just added a map link to the drive page. It's in the heading right before the directions. It's not ideal, but it does give you a feel for development path the-winding-road is on. Hopefully I'll be able to embed the map right in the page soon. But for now, this will have to work.

Just checked out the map link on your site. Very cool. I like the way it lays it out in sections so you can get precise directions. Keep up the good work!

OK I'm in,

I will be Shotgunning for 05TiGr8Lady, So long as she doesn't come to her sense and realize what 240lbs of dead weight is going to do to the RXs performance.

I figure I could go along in my RX but heck, I've been driving mine and never get to be a passenger so it should be fun.

Besides, I'd like to have a couple face to face words with a couple of you...

Woohoo! You made a public committment, so no bailing on me, or my other friends will pwn you!!!!!! :p:

This could be intimidating... you taught me how to drive my 8, so don't flip me too much sh*t ;)

No Promises, But I'll be sure to have a couple drinks before we get started.

Ummmm.........Sorry? :shrug:

I don't think he meant it in a bad way...

I'm sure not. I was just being a smart-@$$ :D

'Course, if he has a few drinks before we leave - who knows?! :lol:


(WOOHOO - Post #700!!!!!!!)

OK So are there details somewhere? Or should I not worry about it cause I'm just shotgunnin anyhoo?

Sorry, I'm a lazy Tech guy who doesn't like typing twice.

http://www.the-winding-road.com/modu...ent.php?eid=13

See you all tomorrow. Really looking forward to this since I missed last month's drive (my 8 was in the shop getting a new bumper then).

Kristopher, Is there a way on your website to see who is signed up to go on a drive? I used to be able to see, but I can't now. Am I doing something wrong?

For anyone who is thinking of bailing because of the rain...

It rained this much when we went to Leavenworth back in October and we still had a blast. Everyone's tires seemed to be doing well.

So What time and where... Linda I'll email ya.

Whee. That was fun. 4 '8s (I think it was 4), 2 '7s (my '79 and an '86), a couple of Subarus, a Corvette, MR2 and S2000 showed. Maybe one or two others? It was going great... right up until my oil cooler line broke in half... which knocked me out of the trip and drenched Sojourner in oil. In case he wasn't already tired of all the fuel fumes and fireballs shooting out the back of my car I added an oil slick.

Then the tow truck cracked my front spoiler and fender! argh!

Surprised nobody has posted about this event yet. How'd it go after, you know, I dropped out?

Wow, you made it back already!! We were all so sorry your car broke down :( Sorry to hear that the tow truck messed it up more. Glad you weren't stuck out in the boonies all night.

Rest of the trip was great. Made it into Anacortes and had lunch at a good spot, then everyone headed out.

4 RX8's
2 RX7's
1 Corvette
1 STI
1 S2K
1 MR2

This makes 7 for 10 on weather, and a great turn out too. I had a blast (except those jerks on Chuckanut itself). I will say, sometimes the extra grunt those Vettes have would be nice. He passed myself and 3 other cars in space I wasn't comfortable passing the 3 in front of me. Believe me, at that point, if I had the torque for it, I'd have done the same.

Sojourner - We noticed you have the fog-light insert in the rear rotary accent on your car. Did you get the DerWankel version? If so, did you get his puddle lights too?

Yeah, great turnout. Nice job again Kristopher!

Hey Kris,

Glad it went well and sorry we couldn't make it. Sounds like you had a good turnout and the weather held again. Hopefully we can make the next one!

What happened on Chuckanut? Just ordinary tourists?

I got home about 8 pm. The fun didn't stop with the breakdown - after hitching a ride into town I found that none of the tow companies would pick me up in town as they are not licensed as taxi operators. So, I had to get a taxi to take me back out to the site. Then the tow driver couldn't find it at first (not totally unreasonable, looking at a map, that area looks like a plate of fettucini). Then I had to find a mechanic, catch ANOTHER taxi to take me from the mechanic to the bus station, catch a bus back to Seattle, then the bus was late, then a fight broke out on the bus. Overall it was actually pretty entertaining although I do hope I don't break down again next time :)

Man, that sucks. Yeah, just the usual tourists. Some jerk an SUV doing 10 under, followed by a sedan and a motorcycle. When the SUV finally got out of the friggin way the sedan kept doing 10 under. When the motorcycle and I passed him, the motorcycle continued to do 5 under, and accelerated to 15 over at the one remaining passing opportunity, and promptly slowed back down when that was over. I really NEED the extra passing grunt a SC would give. :)

Yeah, the SUV and sedan were probably just tourists, mildly annoying but no real harm in that, it is a tourist road after all. But the motorcycle guy was obviously just deliberately being an ass.

Takes a lot of bravery to deliberately piss a dozen people off... while riding a bike.

:) Yeah, I don't know. He was riding awful upright. Maybe he just isn't all that experienced and wasn't comfortable with the twisties. :dunno:

BTW...
I've posted my pics in the Shamrock Shuffle Gallery at The-Winding-Road. Anyone else who has them is more than welcome to post pics there. But at least share them some how. ;)

I blinked! Man, everything went wrong for me on this trip ;)

Woah, glad you made it home somewhat okay :Freak_ani . Your adventure sounds expensive! Kris, great job at another ride, I will try to make a future event, as they are sounding prety fun!

Goodbye,
Edgardo

Yes, my fog lamp is from Derwankle, and I also have the puddle lamps which I just installed new side facing LEDs into, and man are they bright now. I highly suggest this if you are thinking about getting them.

Considering the minimal amount of carnage (only one oil cooler line), I would say it was a very good trip overall. Although I would have liked to stop once on Chuckanut to take some pictures. Very friendly group, looking forward to the next one.

And to all of those that did not show up due to weather, you really missed out. It was georgeous the whole time.

My drive back over Steven's Pass was terrific. Clear skys the whole way. I even went the long way home down the Chumstick Canyon so I could extend my drive a little.

Anyway, it was nice to meet everyone, and I am glad everyone made it home okay.

Fluffysheap, glad you made it home alright. That was quite an adventure for you. Yeah, my car is filthy after the drive home, but I have extremely nice weather over here, and a little quality time with my baby is never a bad thing.

Worst part is, I think if I had paid closer attention I would have realized I didn't actually BREAK the line... it just blew off the fitting. Which means I probably could have gotten home with a couple of zip ties and a gallon of oil. :( I'll find out later this week when the mechanic gets done replacing the line.

Added to my travel kit for the next time: Zip ties, and boards to drive onto to raise the front wheels.

Oh well, live and learn :)