2011 NW Club Cobra Coastal Cruze (Aug 19-21, 2011)

[Jake]

Yes, we hit traffic as well.Scott and I ended up taking Hwy 12 and going all the way to Morton and going the long way back to Puyallup. Got in the Cobra at 0830 and got home at 7pm. One of the longest days I have ever done in a Cobra! Here are a couple pics. I will get the photoshow done in the next week.

[DonC]

First of all I want to say thanks to Jake and Kim for setting up a really great event. Having done a couple of these myself I can appreciate the amount of work it takes to put something like this together. GREAT JOB.
Day one started out clear but by the time we got to the rendezvous point the overcast had caught up with us. That's the northwest for you. If you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes and it'll change.
Everyone got together in the McDonalds parking lot and we had a mini car show for all the locals. I think the count was 13 by the time we were ready to leave.




We left Lakewood via I5 south and traveled down to Olympia where we took off west headed for the coast. Within 5 miles of heading west we drove out from under the overcast and could enjoy the sunshine and blue skies.



A little later and we were back under the overcast but it was warming up so we had high hopes that things were improving.



A bit of a way down the road Jacob had the his rear spinners loosen up on him and had to pull over to try and sort them out. On the plus side I had my Mother Thumper mallet, safety wire and safety wire pliers with me so we were able to get the spinners tightened up and rewired. Jacob got a little energetic with the mallet and the driver side spinner ended up with only two rather than three ears but the ear with the hole drilled in it was in tact. We got everything re-stowed and off we went to catch up with the rest of the crew. The weather started cooperating again so we had a pleasant run the rest of the way to the Astoria bridge.

[DonC]

As we got to the Astoria bridge Tom Ryon ended up pulled over in the shelter of some construction equipment. He had lost his alternator about 30 miles back and was trying to make it to Seaside with just the battery. Ended up about 25 miles short.
Matt Brown and I pulled over to see what we could do to help and decided to put Tom's wife Erica in my empty seat while Matt and Michelle got back in their car and we crossed the bridge to Astoria in search of the NAPA store to find a replacement alternator.
Once we found the NAPA store we learned that the nearest alternator was in Portland and the soonest they could get it was the following morning. Alternate plan B was to buy a fresh battery for him and see if he could limp into Seaside on just the new battery.
Erica and Michelle took Matt's car to meet us on the way back over the bridge while Matt and I took the new battery back to Tom's car.
As luck would have it the replacement battery didn't quite fit the mounting point for it so we took my jumper cables and just connected the new battery to the cables from the now dead unit and Tom got going with Matt and I riding drag in case things failed again.
The Karma gods were smiling on us because Tom made it all the way into Seaside on the new battery.
By then the weather had turned again and Seaside was socked in but hey, we were at the hotel so things were good.
View from my room at the hotel.


.

[DonC]

Day 2 dawned with clear skies much to everyone's relief. We were at the NAPA shop a little after 8 and picked up the new alternator and the correct size battery. Too bad they couldn't take the non-fitting battery back but can't really blame them. So two batteries and one alternator later we were back on the road. All the parts went in without a hitch and Tom didn't even crush a finger getting the serpentine belt back on using a screwdriver to lever up the idler.
The weather stayed in our favor for the entire day. We stopped in Newport for lunch and met up with some of the Cascade Cobras folks who had driven over from the Willamette Valley to meet us. Great lunch by the bay in Newport where we could watch one of the local seals fishing for lunch and some folks throwing crab pots into the harbor.
At this point my camera gremlins put in an appearance in the form of an iffy battery and I was unable to do much by way of stills. Really hate it when that happens because day 2 was over some really great coastal scenery. My video camera continued to work but it'll be several days yet before I get the videos compiled.
Did manage to get a couple of shots but they don't really do the scenery justice.

Coming into Waldport over the bridge.


Just cruising down the coast.




Got into the hotel and everyone had a chance to clean up before we all got together for the buffet. I know Matt got more than his money's worth and I'm sure a couple more folks did as well.

[DonC]

Day 3 dawned overcast again but it was supposed to clear off.
We managed to get a shot of the stars of the trip in the parking lot before we headed out.
.

Once on the road again we retraced the lower half of the day 2 route but backwards so we could see what we'd missed in out rear view mirrors.
We went over bridges


Through tunnels


Along the highway cut into the coastal cliffs


Over more bridges


And along more coastal roads.

[DonC]

Coming into Newport from the south took us over the Newport Bay Bridge which was sort of cool since it was just rising out of the fog.

[DonC]

We had a very pleasant lunch in Lincoln City and we were off on the final leg back over to I5 and home.
Just as we were leaving Lincoln City we drove out from under the overcast and back into sunny and rapidly warming weather going over the coast range.


A quick stop in Grande Ronde to peel off most of our cloths because it was pushing 80+ and we were back on the way towards Salem and I5 north. We got through Salem with no trouble and were running well up the freeway until we go about a mile from Wilsonville.
I had forgotten about the construction at the I5 and I205 junction. We hit the back of a 6 mile 3 lane traffic jam with the temp pushing 90 degrees. On the plus side this is sort of my back yard so I was able to lead us off the beaten path and around the mess and got everyone back on I205 and heading north before I shunted off at my exit.

All in all another great Cobra trip. Great people (as always), great cars and weather that by and large cooperated. None of our problems created any major delays and we couldn't have asked for much more.
Thanks to everyone on the run. It goes without saying that Cobra folks make up about the best group of people I've ever had the pleasure of associating with.

DonC