7/24/16
Yesterday was heavenly. Or at least the drive was. I participated in the GPX Region of PCA drive from Ventura to Frazier Park. I prefer to refer to it as the Highway to Heaven. In this case the gate to heaven is found at the top of Highway 33 at the scenic point looking east at the rolling hills out towards Maricopa, Taft and, far into the distance, Buttonwillow, with its legendary racetrack.
There is no doubt about it. The drive up Highway 33 from Ojai to the scenic point at Pine Mountain is heavenly. The road is nicely paved; it has nice radius turns; it climbs slowly; and, it is lightly travelled. This makes for an incredible opportunity to let the Cayman GTS, or any Porsche, stretch its legs and rev its engine. I have driven Highway 33 a handful of times. Each time I revel in the experience. Until yesterday, I have always driven it myself, usually after I have dropped Pam off at the Ojai Valley Inn where she can luxuriate by the pool while I luxuriate in the feeling I get negotiating the turns on the highway. Yesterday was the first time I drove it in a group, which enhanced the experience.
When I learned that the GPX Region was going up Highway 33, I knew I had to go, and I knew it would be at least a 250 mile drive. I love driving my Cayman and it is for the most part my daily driver as well as weekend playmate, but I do like to minimize the number of miles I put on it. So for several weeks before the drive, I prayed for cool weather which would enable me to leave my Cayman in the driveway and drive my 912, which does not have air conditioning, to work and back in relative comfort and without the rubber on its Targa top melting onto my hands as I took it off and put it on. My prayers were answered for the most part, and I put several hundred miles on the 912 instead of the Cayman.
The GPX route was magnificent. Not only did it include Highway 33, but it included breakfast in Ventura, Lockwood Valley Road, lunch in Mt. Pinos, and an optional drive down on even more exotic roads, including Gorman Post Road, Old Ridge Road and Lake Hughes Road. In all about 120 twisty miles. A great drive to say the least. More than enough for any single day of driving, but, but, but…to get to Ventura I had to drive by the start of Mulholland Highway, another of my favorite roads. I knew I would have to leave early enough to drive Mulholland Highway on the way to breakfast in Ventura. My only dilemma was whether to take Mulholland all the way to PCH and then go up PCH to Ventura or just get back on the 101 North at Kanan Dume. After much internal debate, I opted to exit Muholland at Kanan Dume.
With my route set, I was ready to go. Well almost. On Friday, the day before the drive, I got my car washed and waxed. The unwritten rule of driving with others is that you just cannot show up with a dirty car, even though the car will get filthy on the drive. It’s sort of akin to cleaning the house before the housekeeper gets there. Not logical, but necessary. I also reformatted the route instructions to make sure I could read them while driving without a navigator and while staying on the road. This is not as simple as it sounds. Over time I have settled on using 36 point font in a three column format to make it easy to read. Column one is used for the turn direction. Column two is used for the street name. Column 3 is used to mark cumulative miles to the point at which the turn is needed, though recently I have been debating moving the third column to the first column. The last thing I took care of was packing my backpack with essentials, including camera, walkie talkie, water, sun block, visor or hat.
Then I was really ready to go. Well almost. Saturday morning dawned with off shore winds emanating from the desert. On Friday a serious brush fire started in the Agua Dulce area off the 14. The off shore wind was driving the fire down Big and Little Tajunga Canyons and was driving the soot and ash right out to the coast. A whole lot of it landed on the Cayman. Obviously, a little ash on my car pales in comparison to the hardships the people in the path of the fire were facing and it was by no means a big deal, but I was a bit irked that I had to rewash all the windows and had to set out with a fine layer of ash coating my freshly washed car.