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March 29 • Sunday
We leave at 8:00am from the IHOP and pick up POD 3 at Streeter Road at Lake of the Pines. The 28 cars travel down I-5 to Highway 12 for a gas and go. As we leave, Dave & Brenda's 38 Chevrolet blows a left front tire due to tread separation. The POD 1 group stops and the rest continue on to Santa Nella for a lunch break. We use Doug V's Chevrolet space-saver spare (more about the spare tire issue later) since Dave doesn't have a spare. The POD 1 folks follow Dave C's into Stockton to look for a rare P185 x 60 x14 tire. Eventually we get to Walmart and they have eight on the shelf. After getting two new front tires we're off to catch up to the rest of the gang headed for Pismo Beach. Mike and Audrey P. joined the lead group in Paso Robles. Mike had the flu and it continued to get worse and they returned home to San Ramon the next day. We got to the Spyglass Inn and the other POD's were having the normal cocktail hour provided by George & Claudette's POD 4 group. The weather was sunny and beautiful in Pismo. The wind had blown at our backs all day. The majority of us had dinner at McClintock's Saloon and Dining House, which is located on the other side of Highway 101 in town. I purchased three baskets of their world renowned 'turkey treats' to share amongst the eight tables. You can ask Pat Brothen where these come from (only Tom turkeys know)! The battery is dead on our '51 Ford Woodie and am using the Dave C.'s portable battery pack. We will address the issue in the morning.

March 30 • Monday
We go to the local Kragen Auto store in Grover Beach and get a new Autolite battery at no charge since it was only six months old. Lynn Z. and Jim G. have starter trouble on the '55 Studebaker station wagon and get towed into San Luis Obispo for a rebuild and they join us in Long beach at 8:30pm. Jim T. and Martha B. had stayed behind at the Spyglass Inn with Lynn and Jim so they join us and we caught up with the lead group down beyond Thousand Oaks. Dennis T. is the new substitute trip leader since we were in Grover Beach pursuing a new battery. He wanted to know since he was 'in charge' could he rearrange the POD assignments? We do quite well running in the carpool lane on the 405 Freeway through Santa Monica, LAX and into Long Beach. We get to the Long Beach Best Western Hotel, which is newly renovated with covered parking but a risky neighborhood. The owner has a shuttle van and he has one of his employees take three trips (42 of us) to the Queen Mary ship for a wonderful 1 hour private guided tour. We then reverse the shuttle van gig back to the hotel. We later had cocktails provided by Wayne and Alzina's POD 3 gang. The majority of us had a great dinner at the Claim Jumper restaurant on PCH. The weather continues to be beautiful and 75 degrees. Terry & Mary's new '59 Chevy pick-up is having some battery-alternator issues.

March 31 • Tuesday
At around 8:00am the shuttle bus starts taking groups of 12 -14 to the Catalina Express Landing in Long Beach so the fifty-two of us could leave on the 10:00am boat for the one hour ride to Catalina Island. Those who were making the trip for the first time were encouraged to take the island bus tour and the tour of the round Casino dance hall (5,000 could attend) and the lower level art deco movie theater (seating for 3,500). This was built in 1931-34 by the island owners, the Wrigley's. Many of us helped out the local economy with purchases of clothing, curios, lunch and adult beverages. We all made the 3:45pm return boat ride to Long Beach. Since most of us left our cars at the Best Western, we took taxi cabs back there and left for a 30 mile trip to the Holiday Inn Express in Newport Beach. Due to the time constraints we blow off the nightly cocktail party, check in and proceed to the Yard House for dinner. Phill and Pat S. joined their friends in POD 1 with their red '40 Ford Woodie to continue on to Encinitas. Again the weather was perfect for Bermuda shorts and t-shirts with no fog or wind.

April 1 • Wednesday
We have continental breakfast and then 42 of us leave at 9:15am for Disneyland in Anaheim for the 10:00am opening of California Adventure. This theme park is a more adult oriented environment. The kids have to be so tall to get in with their parents. We ride most of the rides plus some of them twice. We return to Newport Beach at 5:00pm for cocktails from the POD 1 gang of Teague and company. The majority of us go to the Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach for dinner. They had just celebrated their 40th anniversary the night before. Our normal routine was getting to bed around 10:00pm each night.

April 2 • Thursday
We leave Newport Beach and head down Pacific Coast Highway through all the beach cities in Orange County. We turn in at Corona Del Mar and cruise by Lanny N's cousin Victor and his wife who have a home over-looking the Pacific Ocean at Newport Beach. We then make a coffee stop in Dana Point and then travel down I-5 toward our night's lodging at the Days Inn in Encinitas. I spend Thursday afternoon installing an alternator on my Woodie that Tommy T. happened to have in the trunk of his '40 Ford. The alternator was the problem and not the battery in Pismo Beach (not enough output to charge the battery). We have a wonderful cocktail party around the swimming pool provided by the Larry & Colleen's POD 5 group. The majority of us go to the nearby El Callojon Mexican Restaurant for dinner. The weather continued to be great.

April 3 • Friday
At 9:00am we leave together and travel about 5 miles down to the Del Mar Hilton to register our cars for the Goodguys show. The adjacent Del Mar Fairgrounds was built in 1936 by Bing Crosby and friends, who all lived in nearby Rancho Santa Fe. The car show had some very nice street rods that we don't see in Northern California. We all parked together out towards the back of the paved lot. We sat under Lynn Z.'s E-Z Up cover talking about everything from soup to nuts and 'did you see this particular car', etc. The driver side window on our Woodie came out of its channel and dropped down in the door. Yes, it will be a little cool Sunday AM on the trip over the Grapevine. We returned to the Days Inn around 4:00pm for more BS sessions and cocktails around the pool again provided by the Dale & Barbara's POD 2 team. The group toasted Norm and Leslie D., who were celebrating their anniversary. We then walked to the Leucadia Pizzeria for an Italian dinner.

April 4 • Saturday
We left at 8:00am for the car show and just barely got a spot out back to park all of our cars together. Had we had ten more cars it would not have been possible. It appears they had approximately 2400 cars in attendance. The club ladies made a lot of trips to eyeball the jewelry that Leslie D.'s friend Jane had for sale. Larry Eckman tried to get everyone to look at a '37 Chevy coupe that was for sale and likewise Doug V. was snooping around every '50 Olds Club Coupe he could find. They both must have received some 'stimulus dollars' from you know who. Wayne D. attempts to put the top up on the '55 Ford 'Bumble Bee' convertible when it stops half way up and will not move. Now you think that won't be a little chilly going home!?! Larry and team remove the back seat and jumper the relays to get it to close down. We leave the fairgrounds at around 3:30pm without any new car purchases or awards. It was easy to pick out club members in their 'surf blue' trip shirts. We received numerous positive comments about our shirts. Everyone gathers up all the left over wine and snacks and we meet at the swimming pool for one last party. Most of us walked across the street to Mr. Peabody's Bar and Grill for dinner.

April 5 • Sunday
The majority of club members were going home in a myriad of different directions. The largest group left at 6:00am with Larry E. and they planned to run quite swiftly. I left at 6:05am with a small contingent with the planned 65-70 MPH range and going all the way home (565 miles). Others were going to spend the night at Harris Ranch. Dave & Brenda were in the 'Larry's Speed Society' and wouldn't you know it they had a rear tire blow out this time just outside Harris Ranch on I-5. It takes 'two men and a boy' to get Dan G.'s spare out of his '57 Chevy (it appears he put air in the spare after putting it in the tire well). Come to find out the rear bolt pattern was Ford (the previous Sunday it was a Chevy bolt pattern on the front). They used the new '67 Mercury Cougar spare tire (Ford bolt pattern) from Larry E. Dan & Nikki followed Dave & Brenda into Fresno to a Pep Boys store where Dave got two new rear tires. Lynn Z. and Jim were experiencing a nasty exhaust leak which began around the top of the Grapevine. We get home at 4:05pm after a ten hour trip.

This was the first time since 1998 that we did not experience any rain. It was also the first time that the majority of car problems were in POD 1. To my knowledge no one became pen pals with the CHP. The cheapest gas on the trip was in Grass Valley at $2.17 per gallon. A special thank you to Dave & Brenda for the donated 6 cases of wine - it was wonderful. The next trip will probably be in the summer of 2010 and going to __________________?

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