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 back yesterday. I'm tired, I'm cranky, and I'm crazy...and I've got a track day on the motorbike tomorrow. Am I crazy or what?

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
-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. HUMMM 3 (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!

Oh yeah, pictures...that's coming up. I've got to sort through them all you know.

Here's one picture taken on a corner on Mission road...I needed a break.


Following J and his 997TT


The funny thing is that ALL of the 997TTs had custom license plates, RT WINS, ATOMIC and NUKLEAR.

 

Gotta love road trips. Glad you made it back safe! Can't imagine how the Unf*c*withables road trip will be compared to this one..

 

Jason ready to go to Arkansas.

 

When do we go?

 

cannot wait for the pics... and video!

welcome back!

 

Alright break is over. Lets see the 3200 pics of the girls you took?

 

Very nice, Jason.

Glad to know you guys had a good time.

 

Did you really think I could let you guys get away without capturing you guys?

 

Looks like you guys had lots of fun. Glad you made it back safe.

 

Here's the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArgPweh7A0

 

Jason -- I saw you heading north on I405 (nr Renton) on the 6th (I was coming back from the airport). Your gorgeous machine did not look dirty enough to have been to cali and back....
Love the fisheye lens shots :-)

 

Memo to California Highway Patrol: Cancel the APB's on Washington state license plates ATOMIC, NUKLEAR, and RT WINS. They have exited the state.

Arrest warrants have been canceled effective May 6, 2008.

 

Jason, I hate to break the news to you, but our drive on SR 36, and SR 3 was some of the best with the exception of a CHP following us out of Hayfork halfway to Weaverville.

We also enjoyed another goat trail out of Garberville with lots of deer, cattle and sundry critters on the roadway. I think Steve got a picture of me herding cows with the turbo.

For me the highlight of the trip was the up hill run on CA 1. The opposite direction of your U tube video. My juices were flowing and I'm sure I knocked about 4 minutes off my downhill time.

 

What a great trip!

Larry - Thank you so much for all of your work organizing this trip (roads, routes, accomodations, suggestions, warnings, etc.)! I had a blast and will always remember it.

Jason - Great pics and video! I can't wait until you post more, I know these aren't even the tip of the iceberg.

 

Oh my gosh! Now that is my kind of road and driving - LOVE THAT - WOW! Looks and sounds like a super trip. Thanks for sharing the pics/video!