Day One of the 2004 Mille Autunno

Badly hungover, and recovering from a sinus cold is not a good way to start a rally. At least this one is not a competitive TSD rally, so I don't have to use my brain too much. We have a quick breafast buffet in the hotel and the cars all leave one by one from the foggy north end of the Bay, heading roughly North East. We work our way through moderate traffic out of Novato, by Sears Point Raceway, and out to Napa. After we find some errors in the route directions, we finally find our way out of the congestion of Napa and on a great little road heading east over the hills towards Lake Somethingorother... highway 128 I think. Little, twisty, fun. Unfortunately for you I was driving and it was VERY foggy, so I didn't get any pictures. I have to head this way to go home next week, so maybe I'll make a point to get some pictures or footage here. After making our way through the hills we descend into the San Joaquin Valley and emerge into the sunshine. Heading several miles north on I-505, we pass a few rally cars, including the awesome Aston-Martin DB2 owned by Bob and Ellen Cole.

Our first stop is at a gas station just off the Interstate. While there, the guys in the MG TF are trying to fix an electrical problem. Ah yes, Lucas, The Prince of Darkness has visited again! They've lost a wire off their generator, and I loan them some tools and parts (a ring terminal and a nut) to get the wires reattached. It takes about 45 minutes to get the old MG running again.

They take off while I repack our trunk (the tool kit is of course at the back!). Dad is driving now and sure enough, about four miles we find the MG at the side of the road. We pull over and enquire about their condition, but smoke escaping from the area of the generator answers the question. They are close to home (Stockton) so they plan on re-joining the tour later in the day, after swapping either a generator or a whole car.

The route winds along the Sacremento River, frequently on top of the dike. It is a nice twisty way to cover ground in an agricultural area where roads are usually straight.

After leaving the river we head north and around the Sutter Buttes, and stop for gas. Eventually we make our way to Gridley where we stop for lunch. Our meal is at a great Mexican place called "Casa Lupe" which has very fresh veggies, killer hot sauce and some awesome Chile Verde.

The only thing wrong at Casa Lupe is the fact that I leave my cell phone there. Of course, I don't figure that out until much later. Anyway, we hit the road after lunch and head off into the Sierras.

The route takes us up through the foothills. The road is great... twisty, curvy, and mostly going uphill, so the wonderful XK engine and it's vast torque in any gear makes the route even better. But just about when it was getting to be too much fun, we all ground to a halt.

We ended up being held up by construction. We all stood around for almost 30 minutes while some road work was being done, and a pilot car was coming the opposite direction. I passed the time shooting pictures:

Above: A Ferrari 250 short wheelbase, and an Alfa Romeo GTV.

For example, here are two wonderful cars. The Ferrari 250 SWB is owned by Fred and Melody Burbank. They were planning on bringing a 1953 Jaguar C-type (which I would have preferred to see!) but brought this one instead. The 1971 Alfa GTV is being driven by another one of the father/son teams here, Jeremy and John Kelly. It is a beautiful example... very well preserved (or restored, I don't know.)

As I was wandering around, shooting pictures, somebody smarter than me was charming the construction-traffic control woman, who cheerfully had us all move to the front of the line. This ensured that when we got past the construction we wouldn't have a bunch of sports cars stuck behind pickup trucks.

We then made our way through the construction zone. This of course, is where having an SUV might make it OK, but little sports cars don't like mud and gravel and the like. Thankfully it only lasted a few miles. You can get a sense of what it is like though by playing this. It is an 11 second QuickTime movie from my digital camera. The quality isn't great, but you get the point. However, we left the SUV's *way* behind once back on pavement! The next stretch was fantastic. I started out behind the GTV, but wasn't too happy with his corner technique (sorry Jeremy!) and hopped around him as soon as I could. That put me behind the SWB Ferrari. That was a blast. The E-type probably has more horsepower and torque than the Ferrari, so I was able to stay glued to his tail all through this wild road. Up, Down, Left, Right... all through the hills.

After that bit of down and up, we were stopped at another construction zone and we all got out of our cars... huge grins on our faces and compared notes with each other on how much fun we were having!

After that construction zone was passed we made our way to the River Pines Resort, where we spent the night. Day one's total driving was 261 miles.

Above: The lineup at the River Pines Resort. Right to left: 1955 Jaguar XK-140MC, 1967 Jaguar E-type 2+2, 1957 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1965 Jaguar E-type, 195X Aston-Marton DB2, 1960 AC Ace Bristol.

Once we got to our room, I figured out that my phone was missing, and replaying the day back in my mind, I realized that I left it at the lunch stop. I used my dad's phone to call Casa Lupe in Gridley. They said "yes"... they had my phone. Great. I figured I could swing by the town on my way back up to Washington, since it wasn't too far off of I-5. Then Dad, looking at a map, said that we could probably make a run up there Sunday after the rally was done. I called them back and asked what time on Sunday they were open, and made plans to pick it up on Sunday morning. I called home, and work, and let them know that they would have to call my Dad's cell in order to reach me. Since I didn't get enough sleep the night before, I immediately crashed for a nap, and according to my Dad, slept like a rock. He woke me up for dinner, which was a catered affair out by the pool. The best part however, was stopping by to look at Robert St. John's big Mercedes-Benz 300SE. He was checking the oil in his injection pump. Then, recognizing me, he told me that he had my phone! It turned out that he and his wife were the last to leave Casa Lupe and noted my phone. They picked it up and brought it along. He reached into his car and pulled it out. who hoo! Thanks Robert!

This made dinner even better.

I didn't drink much, just one beer. Afterwards, I slept very well.

On to Saturday...