Slipstream - November 2012

“Sunday” Drive: Grapes to Wine Tour/Rally
By Brendan Eagan and Gareth Maurice
The Maverick
PCA
Sunday
drives start out as
a thought - a glimmer
- with a destination
in mind.
John Harvey, the
Maverick Region’s
Tourmeister,
back in May had
already zeroed
in on Grapes to
Wine, a boutique
wine store in
Bartonville, for
the September drive destination.
“Where’s Bartonville?” I asked.
Our laptops opened up. We picked
a start point in Allen and then
zoomed in/out of the maps looking
for interesting roads, twists and
turns, probable rest stops – and getting
the Porsches OUT of the cities.
For the last several drives we have
had three groups, with each lead
car having a GPS with the route
downloaded. With a known route
and a GPS to point the way, our
goal has been to keep each group
on track, reduce the chances of
getting lost, and remove any anxiety
or stress of ending up lost!
Another successful Drive
organized by John and BJ Harvey
22
Next: the roads have
to be driven. Tested.
Scoped out. For this
single Sunday drive
(which was actually
on Saturday, September
29) we test drove
it four different
times. John Harvey,
Gareth Maurice and
I all drove the route
in May – thumbs up.
In the three weeks
prior to Sept 29 we
re-drove the route
three times. We left
at dawn from Allen
and were treated to
a beautiful orange
sunrise on Hwy 380.
Gareth was double-checking the
printed directions, circling minor
errors and watching the GPS track.
Photos by Brendan Eagan
The Tour and Rally Group after the
wine tasting and lasagna dinner
Shortly thereafter we came around
a country corner to find a large barrier
across the road: “Road Closed.”
We got out and looked around
– the bridge was completely gone
about a half mile ahead. We tried
to figure roughly where we were
and what road to take to get back
on course. We drove this way and
that way and furiously tried to get
the GPSs to reroute us, but they just
didn’t want to cooperate. Finally
our chosen Farm Road reappears,
but with another “Road Closed”
sign. This time we just laughed.
Driving on, we came to a road
where about 50 yards of it were
gone – all gravel and dust.
We crept at 20 mph wondering
aloud how many Porsche
drivers would curse us.
We ended up at Grapes to Wine,
our proposed destination. We drove
around back to the meeting room
we’d be using. “This can’t be the
place!” It was gutted! Bare metal
posts. Debris everywhere. Electrical
wires and boxes protruding
from the ceiling. Trashed. Gareth
took a picture and got it off to
our Social Chair, Christy Payne, to
double check that it was going to
be finished for our club event!
As the days crept closer to the
29th, I watched the weather forecast
which showed the chance of
rain at 10% a week out. It climbed
10% every day. Saturday ended up
being forecast with a 70% chance
of rain. Not fun. And, sure enough
at our appointed gathering time
at Saxby’s Coffee in Allen – steady
Mike Doherty, Maverick Region
member and Grapes to Wine
member, helped coordinate the event