The Independent American Magazine for all Mini Owners
Issue link: http://mc2.epubxp.com/i/33538
___________________________________________ CCMC drives to the Mission San Antonio de Padua he Central Coast Mini Coopers (CCMC) had a great drive to Mis- sion San Antonio de Padua in Monterey County, California this past November. What made the trip so good were the wonderful roads used to get to the Mission. It was an eight hour, 260-mile trip, all told, but it was well worth the time. Two MINIs started off in Orcutt, CA (between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo) under rain-threatening clouds and headed up to San Luis Obispo to meet the rest of the group. From there a total of eight club members, in four MINIs, continued the drive. We drove 40 miles up scenic Hwy 1 to San Simeon for lunch at Sebastian’s store. No rain for us! The clouds had partially cleared to create a nice 67-degree day, so we were able to enjoyed deli sandwiches on the patio, with views of the Pacific Ocean and the famed Hearst Castle. From San Simeon we continued up the breathtaking Hwy 1 for another Come join Mini enthusiasts and have fun with their cars and celebrate the new and classic Mini June 17-19 2011 35 miles, twisting and climbing in the hills above the coast until we reached Nacimiento-Fergusson Road (75 miles north of San Luis Obispo & 60 mi S of Monterey). CA Hwy 1 is always rated as one of the top 10 drives in the US and every time I drive it I understand why, because it is a challeng- ing ribbon of road that hugs the ragged coastline and is cut right into the steep cliffs, but it has awesome views. (Now if we could only keep the slow sightseers in motorhomes off the road!) From Hwy 1, we headed east on Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, which quickly rises up from Hwy 1 and provides a spectacular view of the rugged Big Sur coastline. The Nacimiento-Fergus- son Road makes Hwy 1 seem straight. For the next 16 miles we navigated through about 200 curves on a road that included sharp turns, steep cliffs, beautiful fall colored trees, leaf covered roads, and even tarantulas. This road through the Los Padres National Forest is less than two lanes wide (no center line) but nicely paved and well maintained. We drove the road mainly in 1st and 2nd gear which was reminiscent of a long Auto-X course. We did not catch another car in the whole 16 miles, what fun! We then traveled through Fort Hunter-Liggett (www.liggett.army.mil) the WWW.MINIMEETNORTH.COM VARAC Vintage Racing Festival Mosport International Raceway 44 MC2 Magazine www.mc2magazine.com T Hearst Castle (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc