Those of you who anticipated a long, wet drive and therefore decided not to attend, really missed out this time.

Yes, it was a long, wet drive, but it was accompanied by some great enthusiasm, fun and unusual Fiats, wonderful people, good grub and lots of time to "kick tires" and generally get to know other Fiat fanatics (with an emphasis on the "fan") from foreign places. Considering the general weather conditions along the Oregon Coast, especially in May and especially this year, what else would anyone expect? Ask Les or Norm or me; we did have a great time.

About seven cars caravaned up the coast all the way from the Bay Area of California. It took them almost 12 hours (and you think our 6-7 hour drive was impressive!), arriving around dusk on Friday night. The only mechanical problem was due to a bad fuel fill (with plenty of water) which caused several stops to clean out carb jets on Jason's 128 wagon. Norm and Les Smith and I drove from Seattle; the Smiths arrived earlier on Friday (with plenty of time to explore the back roads), and I left home about 2pm, arriving at 8pm with enough light left to set up my tent. Two other Washington cars came down, the red 600 Abarth and Mark Plain in a nice X1/9. Mark is new to the Seattle area, lives in Redmond, and promises to pay us a visit soon. He worked for years with Chris Obert at Fiat Plus (now called C. Obert & Company) in Santa Cruz, plus is an avid autocrosser. Saturday started (for us hearty or foolhearty campers) with a bacon, egg and potato breakfast around the campfire. Gradually the "motellers" (wimps-smart wimps) started to show up, along with most of the Oregon contingent (about 6 cars). Lighter skies saw us off, some with optimistic tops down, for a run down the coast and out a scenic back road along a local river.

As soon as we left the coast the skies opened up making for some interesting driving (especially for Mark in the 600 with no wipers). After regrouping several times and stopping for a group photo shoot (with yours truly up in a tree), we decided that enough was enough and turned for home. After a pizza lunch/dinner in Florence we met at the campground for more "tire kicking" and some beer and barbecue. We even had an informal tech session, where we jacked up the front end of a spider (mine) to inspect various front-end components. Kelly Dicker of Wine Country Motors in Napa brought along all the tools (including a jack and jack stand) and Eli Caul did most of the teaching.

The party there went on till all hours, with a short break to install a 25 foot tarp over the picnic table as the rain started again. It was about midnight when I discovered that the area where we'd pitched our tents was the drainfield for our site. After moving my tent to higher ground, I did manage several hours of "deep" sleep.

Sunday morning brought more visiting in the campground as we broke camp. We rendezvoused for breakfast in Florence and gradually departed in various directions. Most headed for home, while the Mike Richmond and family (gorgeous '78 white spider) headed for the parade in Florence, Mike Mittelstead (X1/9 racer) and Mike Hokanson (also an autocrosser with X1/9s) headed to the autocross in Eugene. No, not everyone there was a "Mike." Norm and Les introduced me to some incredible back roads enroute to Seattle. We all had a chance to meet and get to know some great Fiat fans. Eli Caul from Santa Rosa deserves special thanks for being the "lead" coordinator of the California contingent. We all look forward to Oregon'99!

Want to see how much fun we had last year? Check out the Oregon97 link!