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 Through some of the most beautiful countryside in California, approximately sixty antique cars went touring. It was the Old California Tour, which was sponsored this year by the Central California Regional Group in conjunction with the Modesto, Santa Cruz, Bay Area and Santa Clara Regional Groups. The tour this year was centered in Soledad, California. Soledad in Spanish means solitude and loneliness. This tour was not solitude and lonely!! It was very active with great things to do and see. On arrival the first day, we were treated to a short drive through lush farmland towards the Michael Griva Ranch. In the most beautiful gardens imaginable, we sipped locally made wines, tasted delicious hors d’oeuvres and then sat down to a BBQ supper. If that wasn’t enough, we then viewed a very interesting antique tractor and farm equipment display. The second day was a challenge for some of us with open horseless carriages. We drove to the beautiful city of Carmel by the sea. The day started with just a few clouds hovering in the distance. The distance is where our cars went, straight into the rain. We now understand the true driving experience in the early horseless carriages. We drove over eighty miles in the pouring stuff. Not to be daunted we arrived at Carmel, walked through this very beautiful city, shopped and ate lunch in the rain also. We had a great time. On the following day, the weather was picture perfect, clear, sunny and cool. We drove to the very historic town of San Juan Bautista via the old De Anza trail. This is a town full of great antique shops, a very interesting mission and a delicious bakery. We arrived early, before most of the shops opened except for the bakery, and were greeted by many colorful roosters. We thus watched the roosters strut and sampled more than our share of great tasting cookies, coffee cakes, bread, etc. The next day we toured to the beach via Scott Henningsen’s restoration shop. This shop is not your ordinary automotive repair facility. It contains many gorgeous antique cars in various stages of restoration. It also contains one of the most impressive collections of stationary engines you can imagine. Some of these engines were started and then run for all of us to see, hear and smell the smoke. They were awesome. The final banquet was held at the Braga Barn. This was a very interesting place with many antique tractors, farm equipment and memorabilia. There was even an antique barbershop. Our horseless carriages parked next to all of these antique tractors created quite an awesome ending to a very fun four days of touring. In order to create such a fun time, there were many people that worked very hard to make this event happen. A large thank you goes to Ken Ryan, Bob Strieter, Paul Watts, Tony Wollesen, Bill Lewis, Bill Gularte, Scott and Brent Henningsen, Michael Griva, Jim Riley, Diane Braga and many more.
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