I went on a week long road trip with 2 other 997TTs, an E46 M3, an E39 7 series and a E65 7 series to the annual Bimmerfest down in Santa Barbara, CA leaving April 30 and getting on May 6th.

What I've got to show for the trip:

-1 In & Out burger non-animal style + vanilla shake consumed
-2870 miles covered
-3/4 quart of Mobile 1 oil consumed
-Loose tailight (screw fell out)
-Loose driver's seat (too many twisties?)
-Lots and lots and lots of bug stains on my front end
-REALLY dirty car
-3200+ pictures (including quite a few of girls and oh yeah, cars too)
-6+ hours of video footage (thanks Vincent for the awesome camera mount idea)
-Finding the worst 30+ mile stretch in all of California history, (Orr Springs Road). If you value your teeth fillings, do NOT go on this road.
-Finding one of the sweetest smoothest best twisty road shortly afterwards. (Comptche-Ukiah Road)
-Road going through Hunter Leggitt reservation leading to Hwy 1, one of the 10 most scenic roads in America.
-Countless fun encounters with other daring-do wannabes. Some notable highlights were, XR4Ti flying around the corners, Ford Ranger nearly losing it a couple times on PCH 1, Honda Accord keeping up with 997TT in the twisties til it smoked it's brakes, Honda Civic Si holding us back on PCH 1 til it finally pulled over, Subaru Forrester holding its own.
-Going on 22 miles of the best stretch of PCH 1 off 101 downhill and then again uphill a few days later.
-And many many many more....

Places visited were:

-Santa Barbara Pier
-State Street in Santa Barbara
-Hearst Castle
-Briefly meeting Cannga
-Bimmerfest 2008
-Nethercutt Museum
-Benbow Inn (this place was REALLY cool....and I didn't even notice that my room didn't have a TV either)
-Lots and lots and lots of vista points

A notable encounter with the CHP was this. There's a road called Stewart Point down in Napa Valley that's a favorite of ours. wide 2 lanes with sweeping banked corners, hilly terrain, etc. Unfortunately it's also a favorite of many others who have managed to get hurt or even killed over the past few years. The cops have started to crack down on anyone who even looks like they're heading in that direction to speed or race. Our motley crew of sports cars plus me with a camera mount on my windshield made it pretty obvious what our intentions were. The cops wasted no time pulling me over and telling me to remove the camera mount because it's illegal to have anything on there. He also threatened me with arrest if I'm even caught speeding or racing on Stewart Point. He told me to stay off his mountain if that's what I was planning to do and emphasized his point by showing his handcuffs. I was definitely convinced and after a short meeting with my friends, we all decided to leave instead. On our way out the cops started clapping as we left with our tails between our legs. All was not lost for us though. We managed to find another road to have fun on.

And of course countless other memorable roads permanently etched into my memory banks. This is one road trip I will never forget. 3 997TTs flying around. Larry was the one who came up with most of the driving routes. He is the man when it comes to finding good roads. Thank you Larry!

One of the last bit of fun that I had was punching it through a LONG tunnel between the California/Oregon border on Hwy 199, windows down and camcorder recording! Man that exhaust of mine sure sounds good!

At the start of the trip


Passing through Tacoma


Larry getting gas in Battleground just before crossing into Oregon


My camera mount


Rain!


Stopping for lunch in Roseburg, OR


We never had an encounter with this


J feigning arrest in O'Brien, OR


One of the countless one lane roads we encountered


Beautiful scenery

 

Ingomar Club


Larry's beautiful 997TT


Samoa Cookhouse


Cheap and massive eats!


A stop in the Redwood Forest


Following J and his 997TT


A man and his machine


A pair of tree huggers


We were tiny among the Redwood trees!


One of the many fallen giants!

 

The trio terrors strikes Hwy 1


One of the videos I took
YouTube - Turbos terrorizing Hwy 1

Finally making it to the other side we took a break


Larry was being a little camera shy


4 road warriors


Some of the stunning sceneries


Discussing our "drive" so far


The two Cobalt faces


Troy's E46 M3 did very well too


These brakes worked great!


Taking a catnap on my favorite road

 

Our "drivers"


Heading down PCH towards Mendocino, CA


Lunch break in beautiful Mendocino, CA


Stunning floral sceneries to be had everywhere




Even those of the fair types


Our "road clan"


Life was indeedy good


After emerging from yet another highway we convened at a "pit stop"


Troy all smiles

 

This Merkur XR4Ti did a scary job keeping up with us in the twisties


Early morning "Norcal" caravan


Blue masking tape seemed to be the rage this year


Classic BMWs


Even a YELLOW 850


Porsches were there in force too


997TTs everywhere


J and I separated from the caravan to make a visit at Hearst Castle but not before stopping in Big Sur for some yummy quiche


Early morning's mist


More stunning scenery

 

Overlooking the Pacific


Which dominates?


What a pair!


Long way down the highway


Snapshot anyone?


A little touch of color


Blue haze


Elephant seals napping


The long lonely highway and a 997TT


Hearst Castle

 

Our tour guide


The massive pool area


Some of the many ornately decorated bedrooms




My favorite floral arrangement


One of many elegant statues


I loved this indoor pool


New vs old


State Street in Santa Barbara at dusk


We visited the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, CA too

 

My favorite Bugatti, the 1931 Type 51/C at the Nethercutt Museum


Rows and rows of classics


A hot lil red Austin Healey


Beautifully decorated display hall


Organ room


My favorite


Some of the more than 5,000 organ pipes




Cannga's beautiful 997TT with HRE P40 wheels


Techart GTStreetRS at the Bimmerfest

 

Bimmerfest 2008


I really liked this color on this M3


One of the attendees posing for me


Which looks better?


Or this?


I think these were almost as big as mine


I thought this M3 was very tastefully done


A new idea to evade the cops?


Close-up

 

Taking a break from driving through one of the 10 most beautiful roads in North America, Mission Road going through the Hunter Liggett military reservation


Hwy 1 can be seen in the distance


Lone Cobalt beast


On the road again


The Cobalt Twins


Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into Mill Valley


Stopping in Mendocino, CA again


Interesting track car


Well prepped too


Front end