Day 8: Tahoe to Monterey, via Napa and the Golden Gate; 445 Miles; “Finish Line in Sight”

[From 2009]

Today was a great way to finish off our journey, as it captured the essence of the trip: scenic twisty mountain roads, highway sprints, gourmet dining and takeout pizza, broiling in the sun and hurrying to make up time.  The day started out with a leisurely cruise down the Eastern (Nevada) side of Lake Tahoe.  It’s fascinating how much the shoreline route around the lake can change in just a few miles.  There are pristine mountain curves in the park area, preceded by expensive lake-side mansions and followed by the pure American capitalism of the slightly-cheesy casinos. 

Route 50 leading out of Tahoe was scenic and fun, allowing some good shots by Brian Konosoke, a photographer from LA, who spent much of the day shooting from the passenger seat of the 16M.  When we hit the flats, we crossed Sacramento in traffic.  Dan decided that having made it all the way across the country with minimal traffic, we should try a short-cut to Napa, so we picked up routes 128 and 121.  This added a few miles, but was a lot more fun, especially once we made it past a convoy of three rented RVs slowly picking their way down the narrow mountain curves.

In need of a slightly more upscale repast, we stopped at étoile at Domaine Chandon.  A magnum of champagne for the table (just a glass each), and we feasted on everything from oysters to foie gras, tea-smoked duck to steak tartare.  We slowly rolled our way back to the cars in the 95+ degree heat, and made our way to the Pacific coast.

Shoreline Highway, Route 1 in California never fails to impress, whether slightly inland at Point Reyes National Seashore or right on the edge of the ocean at Mt Tamalpais.  If you could live in a place as beautiful as Marin county, would it be worth the hassles of living in California? 

Once we made our way past Muir Woods, we dove towards the Golden Gate bridge.  Alas, we hit some traffic, from everyone trying to get back to SF on Sunday evening.  Still, as we rolled through the big tunnel just North of the bridge, everyone wanted to hear the brutal sounds coming out of the 16M.  Gleeful waves, thumbs-up and quick horn beeps from nearby cars all called out for encores of the throaty exhaust cacophony.  

In San Francisco, we debated whether to take the cars down the curvy, touristy section of Lombard street. Dan was game for it - I had done it in a Lamborghini Gallardo last year, so we knew it was possible -- though it’s intimidating as heck to pull up to the intersection and see nothing but sky out the windshield; no road beneath you, no pedestrians in front, nothing!  But as we got to the Van Ness / Lombard fork, the long line of cars awaiting their turn up then down the street dissuaded us, particularly as it was now evening and we had to make our way down to Monterey to meet up with the transporter with the McLaren, and pick up the keys for the house in Pebble Beach.

So we started bogeying down the 101, keenly aware of the CHP patrols and thinking about the distance covered thus far without a single police stop, much less a ticket.  Coming down RT 17, it felt like one last great run to us, with curves seemingly banked more than Daytona Speedway - folks here commute on this daily?!?

We rolled into Monterey late into the evening. We pulled the McLaren out of the truck, and all four supercars loped into the exclusive enclave that is Pebble Beach.  The guard at the checkpoint just waved us through, and we finally parked at the end of our journey.  Since it was nearly 11pm and we still didn’t eat, we took the 612 out again for some take-out pizza and a 12 pack of beer. Sitting around the kitchen, eating, drinking and making toasts, we were exuberant, content and exhausted.  4600+ miles, no accidents, and zero tickets (never did get the scanner working at all).

Study after scientific study has come to the conclusion that true happiness in life can be had by spending time with friends, particularly doing memorable, fun things with your buddies.  Clearly, the impetus behind the trip had been the cars, but we’d like to think that even without the rolling concours, we’d have had just as much fun together.