Central Valley Corvettes of Fresno - August 2016

My second President’s Mystery Run is now
history and I hope future presidents have
as much fun putting them on as I have.
The hardest part is coming up with a run
that includes some new and unique places,
roads and experiences. It’s a real
challenge because in twenty five years it
seems like the club has been everywhere
and done everything.
We started out by taking the back way via
Highway 41 to Morro Bay for lunch at the
Bayside Café. They were nice enough to
reserve the whole patio for us even with a
long line of folks waiting to get in. We than
took the back roads to The Luffa Farm in
Nipomo. I think we all learned some new
and exciting things about Luffa. We
proceeded from there on Highway 1
through Guadalupe to Santa Maria and our
hotel, the Santa Maria Inn. After evening
Margaritas (provided every evening by our
intrepid bar maids, Freida Null and Kim
Fosnaugh), we enjoyed a Santa Maria style
BBQ meal at the hotel. The next day we
drove back roads to Lompoc and toured
the few flower fields that are left in the
Lompoc valley. After a drive to the ocean
we had a box lunch at a gem of a park,
Miguelito Canyon, in the hills behind
Lompoc. That afternoon we toured La
Purisma Mission and took some more neat
ba ck roads back to the hotel. We saw a silly
but entertaining show that night at the
Melodrama in Oceano. Friday we headed
out through back country roads to Los
Olivos for a stop at Clairmont Farms, which
is a lavender farm, and some shopping in
town. We had lunch at the Cold Spring
Tavern and did a tour and some wine tasting
at the Cambria Winery back in the Santa
Maria area. Dinner that night was at the
historic Hitching Post in Casmalia. Great
food and service. The next day we headed
home. It was a fun trip with a couple
exceptions. Mike Lebda got sick the first
night and headed home. Nothing serious
but we hated to see them leave. Keith and
Debbie Garrison’s Corvette had a major
malfunction on Friday and they had to rent
a car to finish the trip. With the help of
Patrick Garrahan and Chuck Lanningham,
Keith got the car home and repaired.
I must once again express my thanks to my
bride Jan and Dale and Sue Comer. Jan’s
ideas and encouragement really helped me
through the whole process. Dale and Sue
sacrificed both time and money helping me
put the run together and their help was
invaluable. The group director at the Santa
Maria Inn, Kristen Palera, was a sweetheart
to work with. She gave me some great ideas
(think luffa and lavender farms) and made
our stay at the Inn a great experience.
As you guys know, putting on a run like this
is a lot of work but having members telling
you that they enjoyed it makes it all
worthwhile. Check out the pictures on page
26-48. See you all at the next meeting.