Today’s adventures start with something I’ve been saying for years: if I could have just one car, it would be an Aston Martin. In fact, it would be this one: The 2007 V8 Vantage I’ve had since I purchased it new in November 2006, 12 years ago now. It does everything well, and still gives me a sense of “occasion” whether I’m taking it to the grocery store or a long road trip.
Today, my wife and I decided we should take a hike, and one of our favorite spots nearby also happens to have a nice set of roads leading to it. So naturally I was excited to take the Aston and let her stretch her legs, just as we would be doing.
First stop... the gas station. For my out of state friends: yes, this is what we pay here.
Getting back into the car, I often forget to look down at this little detail on the door sill. Most people don’t opt for this level of personalization on the factory sill plate, because some day they’ll sell the car. I never considered that would be an issue. So I like it...
I also like the instrument cluster, the “crystal” surround on the start button, the counter-direction tachometer, and the lighted words on the dash when you start it up that light up sequentially... “Power...Beauty...Soul”
Our destination today is Redwood Regional Park. It sits atop a ridge straddling the bustle of Oakland and the quiet town of Moraga. It’s just a 25 minute drive from my house, and although it is minutes from a big city, it is world’s away in feel. If you come from the East, Moraga, you come up Pinehurst Rd and the Redwood Highway through a crazy cool little town of Canyon. There’s some history there, but that’s for another discussion. Suffice to say that the roads are so seldom travelled, that the detritus from the oaks and redwoods barely gets swept away by car traffic.
We arrived at the north gate to Redwood regional Park. We hiked down the stream trail along what is now a dry creek, but during the winter and spring is quite wet. If you go here, spend several hours getting lost in the quiet solitude of the trees.
After a few hours, we made it back to the car and enjoyed a slow drive home along Skyline ridge. I am reminded that this is possibly my favorite car, ever.
Upon arrival home, I got a call from my vintage racing friend, Bruce, who invited me to a screening of “Smokey and the Bandit” at the “Cobra Experience” museum in Martinez, CA. It was worth the short drive to see this great place that is dedicated to all things Cobra and Shelby. The owner of the place even purchased a bunch of the original tools and furniture from Carroll Shelby’s original shop. Super cool place. Check it out at www.cobraexperience.org
In today's episode, I attempt to answer a question I often get: "do you drive all your cars regularly?". The answer is yes, I try to rotate through them on a daily basis to keep them all exercised. Not every day is an epic drive, but usually something fun comes out of it.
So yesterday I took the 1969 E-type Roadster out on another sunny November afternoon. I had worked around the house all day, so I went for aa short drive before going to a basketball game with some friends (more on that in a sec).
Ever since I put in a smaller Moto-Lita steering wheel (14" diameter vs 16" OEM), the Jaguar is much easier to get in and out of. And with the new Bell large-bore exhaust and recent tune up, the car is just a pleasure to tool around in. Just driving around our little town of Danville today, but the late afternoon sun was wonderful in the hills west of me.
I ended up at the historic "Tao House", which was built by Eugene O'Neill in 1936. Eugene O'Neill is America's only Nobel-prize wining playwright, and he used his Nobel Prize money to build the Tao House right here in our little town of Danville, CA. It is now a National Historic site. At this home between 1937 and 1944, O'Neill wrote his last plays including "The Iceman Cometh" and "Long Day's Journey Into Night", for which he won a Pulitzer prize (one of 4 he received). I drove around the area and snapped a couple other photos along the way, and made myself a promise to come do teh full tour here at my first opportunity! O’Neill turns out to be a fascinating guy, a son of Irish immigrant actors, born literally in Times Square, NY, who went on to change the face of American playwriting.
I put the car away as the sun descended and jumped into a Lyft (being anti-Uber today), and headed down to Oracle Arena to join some friends at the Golden State Warriors game. They have courtside season tickets, which gets you very close to the action, as well as access to the "BMW Club" for dinner and drinks pre-game. Being a few feet away from people like Kevin Durant makes me recall that I'm damned short (5'-9"). Steph gets all the love, but Durant has to be one of the best-ever acquisitions in the history of basketball.
Also, the prices are so high for pro-sports tickets these days that the crowd is clearly "corporate", and it makes me sad for the average fan. Yet it was a super-fun evening, only my third time I’ve attended a Warriors game. The Memphis Grizzlies played hard the first half to break at halftime in a tie. But as often happens, they got tired by staying on pace with the Warriors’ deep bench and the Warriors pulled away by 20 in the 3rd quarter, giving the Warriors Dancers a reason to celebrate.
So that is how you tie together a Jag, a playwright, and a seven-foot millionaire.
So in today’s episode of “what to do in Northern California in November”, we took a trip to Sonoma Raceway and Napa Valley.
The Shelby GT350R was the car of choice today. I've had it for a few months now, and I have had it out to Sonoma Raceway for a few track sessions, then to Thunderhill Raceway at a slightly higher level of "push", and finally again to Sonoma Raceway to almost take it to its limits (more accurately, to MY self-imposed limits). So now with 1,000 miles on it, the tires are already toast...
The outside edge of the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s are subject to lots of wearing in stock format, even just while street driving, due to a lack of negative camber, so they look pretty worn on the outside edges after just 1000 miles and a few track days. Darrell Anderson at AV8 Supercars will be installing camber plates so that we can dial in a bit more negative camber for better turn-in and less outer edge wear. So we drove the "Orange-a-Stang" (nickname credit to my friend Robin) to Darrell's shop at Sonoma Raceway. A short 40 minute drive from home to the track took us across the bird-full marshland along Highway 37.
We watched some local track action as I dropped the car off. While there, I got to inspect the damage my friend just did to his blue GT350R. This is what happens when you get on the power just a tiny-bit too abruptly in turn 8 at Sonoma. No bueno. Keep in mind, this is a driver who is accustomed to a GT3RS and a Formula Mazda, so he knows how to drive. The Shelby R is a beast, but demands respect.
We moved into the family sedan and headed out to pick up wine at a few wine clubs we belong to. First stop at Walt in Sonoma Square. In addition to a few little tastes, we got fed and picked up our latest wine club allocation. A magnum of Walt “Bob’s Ranch” Pinot Noir would be perfect for thanksgiving turkey, but we already have enough Pinot Noir!
Next stop, Del Dotto historic wine caves on Atlas Peak. The fires last year came very close to this great facility. Picked up some limited member-only Zinfandel and Sangiovese. Go here, folks. Tour the wine caves.
Then we headed up north along the Silverado Trail... the best route through Napa Valley, IMHO. The grape leaves are turning yellow post-harvest. Great time to be up here.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at one of my favorite tasting venues... Duckhorn Vineyards.
Today was Winter member pick-up, and we were grabbing some Howell Mountain Cabernet and Stout Vineyard Cabernet. Both excellent, but hard to beat the 2011 “Discussion” Cabernet they poured us...and the “Ten Degree” Pinot Noir from their sister winery Goldeneye. A good day at Duckhorn. A must-stop if you come here to Napa.
After walking off my few tastings, and having a fantastic plate of pasta carbonara at Pizzeria Tra Vigne in St. Helena, we headed home. As the sun slowly descended on this magical valley, we vowed to be back soon. If the weather is right, next time we will bring a drop-top.
