The kick off of the Summer crusin season for the California Roadsters (CR) is always our May run up Highway 1 to the beautiful Central Coast, to meet our roadster buddies from the San Luis Obispo (SLR) and Bay Area Roadster (BAR) clubs.  Our good friend Sherm Porter, SLR, volunteered again to plan this long weekend.  Well, not only did Sherm do an outstanding job planning runs & meals, but he ordered up some of the best weather we’ve ever had on our annual SLO runs.  

            On Thursday morning, of the last weekend in May, we left SoCal in two groups and met for some lunch at the Beach Club in Santa Barbara.  Ken Thurm was running with the northern group, just about a half hour out of Orange County, when the distributor in his red roadster took a dump.  Lucky for Ken, he owns Kendon Industries, which manufactures trailers, and one was a phone call away.  He loaded up the roadster, dropped it off back home, jumped into his 32 Ford Hot Rod Pickup and met us in time for lunch.

          We usually only have one roadster breakdown per run, but Jim St. Martin decided to make it two.  His yellow '32 doesn't particularly like the rear end setup with Aldan coil overs, because it threw the left one before we got on Highway 1 from the 405 Freeway, and broke the same one before last year's run.  Jim made a decision to continue the run on his bump stop, which was a pretty rough ride.  He was able to have a new Aldan over-nighted to the Peachtree, which was an easy install with ample help from the gang

            After lunch, it was time for a power run up Highway 1 to our favorite home away from home, the Peachtree Inn, in SLO.  This year we reserved the whole place and shared it with our roadster buddies from BAR. We can never thank Claire, Sandy and Hitch enough for running the best little inn in the Central Coast and for putting up with some hot rodding party animals.  Once, we got settled in, the evening was low key, with most going to downtown SLO for their weekly Thursday night farmer’s market.  

            Friday morning, Sherm planned a several hour run up Highway 1 to Norman Vineyards.  Sherm likes country roads and we took a few on the way north, arriving about noon for a very nice catered lunch at the winery.  There was also a film crew awaiting us, filming a commercial for the winery.  We managed to get our roadsters and mugs in a few shots, which are now running every fifteen minutes on the local cable access channel.  After lunch, we were on our own, with some taking in some more wineries.  

            Sherm had another surprise for us back at the Peachtree, which started with one of our famous deck parties and a transcended into a wonderful catered Mexican fiesta. Sherm left the best for last, with an early Saturday morning run to the historic town of Los Alamos, again down some twisty country roads.  We took a break to inspect the Union Hotel, first opened in 1880 as a stagecoach stop. Then we progressed onto Buellton to visit the Mendenhall Museum, noted for it’s auto and gas station memorabilia, just in time for a very nice Santa Maria BBQ by Mark Mendenhall and his family.  We were free for the rest of the afternoon, with only an hour run back to the Peachtree for a nap.  Another deck gathering and pizza party, pretty much capped the long, but very enjoyable weekend.  

            Sunday morning came all too soon, with the BAR guys heading north and the CR’s going south on Highway 1, and our SLO buddies getting to stay in paradise.  We’re already looking forward to next May, so Sherm, take a couple of weeks off and start planning for the return of the roadsters!